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Chemical Equation for Water of Crystallization

For IGCSE Chemistry, it is important to know how to determine the water of

crystallization!
Steps to determine the water of crystallization:
1. Find the mass of the hydrated salt.
2. Find the mass of the anhydrous salt after all the water has left it after heating.
3. Calculate the mass of water that is lost. (mass of water = mass of hydrated salt - mass of
anhydrous salt)
4. Calculate the amount of anhydrous salt in moles. (mole = mass / relative formula mass)
5. Calculate the amount of water lost in moles.
6. Find the ratio of anhydrous salt to water in simplest whole numbers.
7. Write the formula of hydrated compound.

👇 Let's try some examples from IGCSE Chemistry 👇

Example 1
A hydrated salt has the formula AB2·xH2O. When the hydrated salt is heated, this reaction
occurs.
AB2·xH2O → AB2 + xH2O
A scientist heats a sample of the hydrated salt until all the water has been lost. She records
the mass of the salt before and after heating.
Mass of hydrated salt = 6.1 g
Mass of salt after heating = 5.2 g

(a) Describe how the scientist could make sure that all the water has been lost.
 If there is water left in the salt, more water can be lost when heated, so the mass of salt
will decrease.
 When all the water has been lost, the mass of salt will remain constant.
 To make sure that all the water has been lost, the scientist should heat the salt until the
mass of salt does not change.

(b) Use the scientist’s results to find the value of x in AB2·xH2O. [Mr of AB2 = 208, Mr of H2O =
18]
 Name……………………………….. Date ………………………………..

Example 2
The mineral rozenite contains crystals of hydrated iron(II) sulfate, FeSO 4·xH2O. A student
wants to find the value of x. She uses this apparatus to remove and collect the water of
crystallisation from a sample of iron(II) sulfate crystals.

Here are the student’s results.

 mass of tube A = 11.96 g
 mass of tube A and FeSO4·xH2O = 17.56 g
 mass of tube A and contents after heating to constant mass = 15.76 g

(a) Calculate the mass of anhydrous FeSO4 formed after heating to constant mass

(b) Calculate the mass of water collected in tube B after heating to constant mass.

(c) Find the chemical formula of hydrated iron(II) sulfate.

Exercise

1) 11.2 g of iron powder is combusted in air to form 16 g of an iron oxide. Calculate the
empirical formulae of the iron oxide.

2) 1.05 g of lithium is combusted in oxygen to form 2.25g of lithium oxide. Calculate the
empirical formulae of lithium oxide.
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1) A sample of hydrated calcium sulphate, CaSO4 . xH2O, has a relative formula mass of 172.
What is the value of x?

2) 11.25 g of hydrated copper sulphate, CuSO4.xH2O, is heated until it loses all of its water. Its
new mass is found to be 7.19 g. What is the value of x?

3) A teacher told a student that the amount of hydrated salt in lansfordite was 0.030
mol, and that the amount of water lost on heating was 0.15 mol. Calculate the value of
x in the formula MgCO3 . xH2O?
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4) 13.2 g of a sample of zinc sulphate, ZnSO4.xH2O, was strongly heated until no further
change in mass was recorded. On heating, all the water of crystallisation evaporated as
follows: ZnSO4 . xH2O  ZnSO4 + xH2O. Calculate the number of moles of water of
crystallisation in the zinc sulphate sample given that 7.4 g of solid remained after strong
heating.

5) A sample of hydrated magnesium sulphate, MgSO4 . xH2O, is found to contain 51.1%

water. What is the value of x?

6) A hydrated salt is found to have the empirical formula CaN2H8O10. What is its dot formula?