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 CuSO4.5H2O, which indicates that five moles water of hydration are present for
each 1 mole of CuSO4 salt. Copper sulphate pentahydrate is a blue crystal, while anhydrous salt,
means without water.

CuSO4.5H2O

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

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 x100

mass of sample

OBJECTIVE
1) To calculate the number of mole water in barium chloride hydrate using percent composition
concept and atomic mass.
2) To identify the unknown hydrated salt (Compound A)