INTRODUCTION

Several salts that formed naturally in nature or that can be purchased from your local retailer
are hydrated salts. A hydrated salt is a salt which has a number of chemically bound water
molecules attached to the salt within its crystalline structure. These water molecules may be
referred to as the waters of crystallisation or water hydration.
In most situations the number of moles of water will remain fixed as a function of the moles
of salt present. The formula for a hydrated salt is represented by the formula for the
anhydrous salt followed by a dot and the appropriate number of water molecules. The
formula for copper sulphate pentahydrate is CuSO, SHO, which indicates that five moles
water of hydration are present for each I mole of CuSO, salt. Copper sulphate pentahydrate is
a blue crystal, while anhydrous salt, means without water.
Cuso4.5H2O-CuSO4 + 5H20
However, some salts have their water bound so tightly that producing an anhydrous salt is
nearly impossible as in the case of iron trichloride hexahydrate. The salt would decompose
before the anhydrous salt would be formed. The mass percentage of water in a hydrate can be
determined by heating a known amount of a sample until complete dehydration is
accomplished.
Hydrate salt-Anhydrous salt + water
The dehydration step will result in a lower mass reading, so it is possible to determine the
amount of water that is present within the salt sample.
Total mass of hydrate salt = mass of the anhydrous salt + mass of water of hydration
The percent mass of water in the hydrate may also be easily calculated using a formula:
Percentage of water = (mass of water loss/mass of sample) × 100
OBJECTIVES
-To calculate the number of mole water in barium chloride hydrate using percent composition
concept and atomic mass.
-To identify the unknown hydrated salt (Compound A)

APPARATUS
Crucible and Lid, Bunsen Burner, Crucible Tongs, Tripod Stand, Clay Triangle, White Tile
CHEMICALS
Distilled Water, Barium Chloride Hydrate, Compound A (CaSO₄∙2H₂O)
PROCEDURE
1. A crucible and a lid is obtained. The crucible is cleaned and checked for any stress cracks,
fractures or fissure before using
2. The initial mass of the crucible and lid is recorded.
3. The crucible is heated gently for five minutes before heating with an intense flame.
Heating of the crucible is continued for two to three minutes with an intense flame until the
bottom of the crucible becomes red.
4. The mass of the “fired” cool crucible and lid is recorded. Two crucible and lid mass
reading that differ by no more than 10mg or 0.010g is obtained by repeating step 2.
5. 1.5 and 2.0 grams of hydrated salt is added to the crucible and the combined mass of the
crucible, lid and salt is recorded.
6. The crucible and the sample on the clay triangle and remove the crucible lid is placed to
ensure the evolving water molecules to escape during heating.
7. Sample is heated gradually by intensifying the heat. Sample is heated at a high
temperature for 10 minutes drastically. The mass of crucible, lid and anyhydrous salt is
recorded using the same balance as used in the earlier steps.
8. The sample is reheated for an additional 2 minutes with medium or high heat. The
combined mass of the crucible, lid and anyhydrous salt is weighed and this process is
repeating continuously until two concurrent readings within 10mg of each other has been
obtained.
CALCULATIONS
QUESTIONS
1. Give the reason why the empty crucible should be heated before starting the experiment?
The empty crucible should be heated before starting the experiment to ensure there is no
moisture that can disturb the initial reading.
2. Why the process of heating hydrate compound should start slowly at first?
The process of heating hydrate compound should start slowly at first to prevent the unknown
hydrated salt from spatter out of the crucible.
3. What is the importance of percentage of composition of water in the hydrate compounds?
The importance of percentage of composition of water in the hydrate compounds is important
to enable students to know the exact percentage of BaCl₂∙xH₂0 and compound A.
4. Give comments on your results. Discuss from the accuracy aspect of your results compared
to the theory.
Based on the results, for BaCl₂∙xH₂O, the results obtained are not accurate because students
should obtained 2H₂O instead of 5H₂O. For Compound A, the results obtained are accurate as
students are able to obtained CaSO₄∙2H₂O with the percentage of 26.4% as compound A with
the percentage of 22.3%.
DISCUSSION
Upon heating, a hydrate decomposes, releasing the water as steam leaving a dry salt called an
anhydrous salt. The percent composition as a compound can be calculated by dividing the
mass of the substance interested in by the total mass of the compound and multiplying the
answer by 100 to convert it into a percentage. Based on the experiment, we expected to the
mass of empty crucible and mass of an empty crucible before and after heating. This is
important due to calculate the percentage of composition water in BaCI2.xH2O. In this
experiment, the mass of empty crucible with the lid after heating is needed to calculate the
mass of barium chloride hydrate and compound A (CaSO4.2HO). These both masses were
used to calculate the percent of composition of water in BaCI2.xH20. CaSO4.2HO was
identified as compound A. This is because the percent composition of water in CaSO4.2HO
was 22.3%, which was the nearest and closest value to the actual percentage composition of
water in compound A. The actual percent composition of water in compound A that has been
calculated was 26.4%. Hence, CaSO4.2HO was chosen to be identified as compound A. For
this experiment, we had to make sure we clean the crucible and check for any cracks. We also
must obey the time given when heating and cooling crucible. When reading the temperature,
the eye must be perpendicular to the scale. We also must use the same analytical balance to
get more accuracy of the mass. In this experiment, there are some error occurs during the
experiment. The possible reason for such error occurs would probably because of the
laboratory apparatus or equipment that does not function under the situation. Due to such
mistakes, there were possibilities to inaccurate reading and results. Hence, students have to be
careful and focus when conducting an experiment to obtain the accurate results.

CONCLUSION
As the conclusion, the number of mole water in Barium Chloride Hydrate has been proven by
using percent composition and the atomic mass which is (BaCl2 x H2O) . Besides, the
unknown hydrated salt (Compound A) has been identified which is SrCl2=158.52

REFERENCES
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hydrate formation. The Journal of Physical Chemistry, 92(23), pp.6492-6494.
- Circone, S., Kirby, S.H. and Stern, L.A., 2005. Direct measurement of methane hydrate
composition along the hydrate equilibrium boundary. The Journal of Physical Chemistry B,
109(19), pp.9468-9475.
- Osegovic, John P., and Michael D. Max. "Compound clathrate hydrate on Titan's surface."
Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets 110, no. E8 (2005).