Lab questions

1. If the collected water sample isn't filtered, this oversight will result in the TDS (total dissolved solids)
reported value to be too high. This is because filtering the water sample removesthe TSS (total
suspended solids), therefore skipping that process will result in obtaining thee TS (total solids) both
suspended and dissolved. The result reported therefore willbe higher.

2. The evaporating dish wasn't properly cleaned of a volatile material before its mass was determined.
When the sample is heated to dryness, the volatile material is removed.As a result of this technique
error, the reported TDS will be too low. This is because, the mass of the evaporating dish will be
reported as higher compared to the mass of the evaporating dish after it is heated and the water
evaporated. This discrepancy ultimately affects the calculated TDS.

3. Some spattering of the sample onto the watchglass occurs near dryness. The chemist does not return
the spattered solids to the original sample and skips the first part of Part A.3.

The reported TDS will be too low in this case as the mass of the spattered sample was not returned and
the weight of the sample will be affected.

not return the spattered solids to the original sample and skips the first part of Part A.3. The reported
TDS for the water sample will be too low. Since the chemist chose not to return the solids to the
evaporating dish and reheat it slowly on low heat, those solids willnot be acknowledged and the mass of
those solids will be unaccounted for when determining the TDS.

4. The sample in the evaporating dish is not heated to total dryness. Since the dish is notheated to total
dryness, this error in technique with cause the reported value for TDS to be too high. This is because the
mass of the remaining wet sample will be recorded in the final mass of TDS when the water should not
be left in the evaporating dish. The recorded value for TSS will be too high as well. If complete
evaporation occurred before the mass measurement, it wouldn’t be recorded and the number would be
lower.

5. The condensation on the outside of the evaporating dish will cause the reported TDS to be higher
than the true value. This is because the condensation will be recorded when finding out the final mass of
the total dissolved solids.

6. The sample in the evaporating dish is not heated to total dryness. As a result of this technicalerror,
the reported value for total solids (TS), will be recorded as too high. This is due to

7. Suppose the water sample has a relatively high percent of volatile solid material. How would this have
affected the reported mass of:

a. dissolved solids -- too high, too low, or unaffected? Explain. TDS will be unaffected

b. total solids -- too high, too low, or unaffected? Explain. TS will be too high because of the presence of
the volatile solid

c. suspended solids -- too high, too low, or unaffected? Explain. TSS will be unaffected

8. When several drops of 0.010 M AgNO3 are added to a test sample, a white precipitate forms. What
can you conclude from this observation? Explain One can conclude from this observation that halides
are present in the test sample. A qualitative test for halides is adding the silver ion, AgNO3, which will
result in a white precipitate, a silver halide precipitate.

Conclusion

In this experiment, the students were able to conclude that the relative reduction potentials for a
number of redox couples can be measured experimentally through the use of a multimeter that is
attached to two electrodes which are the cathode and anode. They learned that, in a galvanic cell,
reduction occurs in the cathode and oxidation occurs in the anode, thus, the electron always move from
the anode to the cathode. Then, the salt bridge will aid in balancing the charges of the two electrodes by
providing ions; such that cations flow into the cathode and anions flow into the anode. Also, they
learned that a positive cell potential indicates a spontaneous or product-favored reaction, whereas a
negative cell potential indicates a reactant-favored reaction. The factors that affect the measurement of
cell potential are the temperature and atmospheric pressure. Experiment is done on a non-standard
condition, causing error in the experiment.