UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SARAWAK

Faculty of Resource Science and Technology

PBI1092 ACADEMIC ENGLISH 2

AE 2 Group 03

Explanation Report

SEMESTER 1 2020/2021

Submission Date : 08 January 2021

Oral presentation Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XGgyUtOpA-

QcvmtgNkY0aRsksul4LVZj/view?usp=sharing

NAME OF LECTURER MADAM MINAH BINTI MOHAMMED SALLEH

TITLE Steps in Precipitation Gravimetric Analysis

PREPARED BY 1. LENYX BONG XIN JIE 75401 (01116198382)

2. NG XUAN XIAN 76021 (0109602982)

3. VERONISA BONG SIEW FANG 77087 (01139258068)

 Burgot states gravimetric analysis is a quantitative chemical analysis method in
2012. Gravimetric analysis is used as a quantitative determination of an analyte based on
its mass ("Gravimetric Analysis," n.d.). In gravimetric analysis, a constituent sought of a
substance can be from the sample and mass is measured. There are several types of
gravimetric analysis and one of them is precipitation gravimetry. Precipitation gravimetry
is used in the calculation of the concentration of an ionic compound. In precipitation
gravimetry, the precipitate should be in low solubility, high purity and a known
composition of mass of the analyte. The precipitate must also be easily separated from the
mixture solution (LibreTexts, 2020).

There are seven steps involved in the process of precipitation gravimetric analysis.
The first step is the preparation of the solution with a known weight of the sample. Silver
chloride (AgCl) solution is the solution that is usually prepared in this analysis. It can be
prepared from the reaction between magnesium chloride (MgCl2) and silver nitrate
(AgNO3). The solution prepared needs to maintain a low solubility to obtain a more
suitable form for filtration. A few factors need to be considered while preparing the
solution, which are the volume of solution, concentration, temperature, and pH.

The second step is precipitation. Precipitation refers to the formation of a solid from
a solution. When a reaction occurs in a liquid solution and solid formed, the solid formed
is precipitate. Before conducting precipitation, a few significant conditions need to be
considered. The precipitate firstly needs to be insoluble so that it can reduce the amount
of loss due to solubility. It must also be stable under atmospheric conditions. The
precipitation process requires the addition of a precipitating agent solution to the sample
solution. After adding the precipitating agent, supersaturation followed by nucleation and
particle growth occurs. Both nucleation and particle growth are direct functions of
supersaturation.

However, during precipitation, the precipitate often contained ions that were trapped
in it. This causes a problem for the crystalline precipitates. If the trapped ions are not
volatile, their presence will eventually corrupt the weighing. Hence, the concentration of
interfering species is reduced by digestion. The precipitate is redissolved and being
precipitated out to a cleaner environment of a solution during the digestion process. The
precipitate that has been obtained during the separation is placed into a volatile electrolyte
solution and heated. Thus, larger particles are broken down to speed up the digestion
process. This solution is often heated first to increase the kinetic rates of dissolution and
precipitation. All the material will cycle from solid to solution and back since the solid is
in dynamic equilibrium with the solution. This does not speed up the chemical kinetics so
the solution will be cooled after digesting for an hour or more. The precipitate is being
prefiltered (Bialkowski, 2004).

Next step is the filtration steps. To filter the precipitates, sintered glass crucibles are
used. These sintered glass crucibles are marked as fine(f), medium(m) and coarse
porosities(c). First, the crucibles are first cleaned thoroughly and then subjected to the
same regimen of heating and cooling required for the precipitate. This process is repeated
until a constant mass differing by 0.3 mg or less has been achieved. However, colloidal
precipitates that are present cause a filtering problem if the particles are too small. Thus,
filter paper or glass can be plugged and passed right through the filter if they are not
coagulated well. Hydrophobic colloids generally filter better than hydrophilic colloids.

The fifth step is washing. Washing can remove the mother liquor and some of the
coprecipitated compounds but can also cause peptization of colloids. Thus, by diluting the
counter-ion layer causes it to get larger, forcing the coagulated colloidal particles apart.
After diluting it and forcing the particles apart, they will go right through the filter.
Washing it with a solution of a volatile electrolyte and it will be removed in the drying
step.

Next in precipitation gravimetric analysis is drying and igniting. The purpose of

drying which is heating at the temperature between 120-150oC in an oven or ignition in a
muffle furnace at temperatures in between 600-1200oC is to get a dried material with
accurately known chemical structure to accurately determine the amount of analyte
(OMICS International, n.d.). Precipitates must be dried to obtain accurate and stable mass
measurements. The temperature required to dry and ignite to a suitable weighing form
varies from precipitate to precipitate. For silver chloride (AgCl), it was dried at the
temperature of 100oC for half an hour and then at the temperature between 130-150oC for
an hour (Erdey, 2013, p. 7).

Finally, calculation is the last step in precipitation gravimetric analysis. Calculations

are based on stoichiometry. A balanced chemical equation gives the ratios, in moles, of
substances consumed or produced in a reaction. If the mass of the materials used or
produced is known, the others can be calculated consequently. However, obtaining a
100% pure precipitate and exactly of the composition represented by a chemical formula
is considered difficult (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2018).
REFERENCES
Bialkowski,S. (2004). Gravimetric Analysis. Retrieved from
http://ion.chem.usu.edu/~sbialkow/Classes/3600/overheads/Gravimetry/
gravimetric.html

Burgot, J. L. (2012). Ionic Equilibria in Analytical Chemistry. New York: Springer.

Erdey, L. (2013). Gravimetric analysis: International Series of Monographs on

Analytical
Chemistry. Elsevier. 

Gravimetric Analysis. (n.d.). Edelweiss Chemical Science Journal. Retrieved from

http://edelweisspublications.com/keyword/46/1359/Gravimetric-Analysis 

LibreTexts. (2020). 8.2: Precipitation Gravimetry. Retrieved from

https://chem.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Analytical_Chemistry/Book
%3A_Analytical_Chemistry_2.1_(Harvey)/08%3A_Gravimetric_Methods/
8.02%3A_Precipitation_Gravimetry

OMICS International. (n.d.). Gravimetric analysis. Journal of Environmental Analytical 

Chemistry. Retrieved from
http://research.omicsgroup.org/index.php/Gravimetric_analysis 

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2018). Gravimetric Analysis. In Encyclopædia

Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Retrieved from
https://www.britannica.com/science/gravimetric-analysis
 Appendix 1

Figure 1. 7 Steps of Precipitation Gravimetric Analysis