Lab 4: Decomposition of Baking Soda

Pre-Lab 4 questions

Read the full lab and answer the following questions

1. Write the three reactions from a word equation to balanced chemical equations using the
formulas, make sure to include the state of matter given

Reaction 1: sodium bicarbonate (s) → sodium hydroxide (s) + carbon dioxide (g)

Reaction 2: sodium bicarbonate (s) → sodium oxide (s) + carbon dioxide (g) + water (g)

Reaction 3: sodium bicarbonate (s) → sodium carbonate (s) + carbon dioxide (g) + water (g)

2. Notice that the baking soda is a solid. We use it because a solid is easy to measure the
mass of. When the baking soda is heated you will have a left-over product. This product
will stay in the crucible, which will allow you to record a mass. Look at the 3 reactions
and determine what is the product left over in the crucible after heating. What product are
we aiming to obtain (and record the mass of) in each reaction? Circle the answer in each
of the reactions
Reaction 1: sodium bicarbonate (s) → sodium hydroxide (s) + carbon dioxide (g)
Reaction 2: sodium bicarbonate (s) → sodium oxide (s) + carbon dioxide (g) + water (g)
Reaction 3: sodium bicarbonate (s) → sodium carbonate (s) + carbon dioxide (g) + water (g)

3. Assume you have heated 3.0 grams of magnesium and the final mass you obtained was
3.0 g

The reaction was determined to be __Mg(s) + __O 2 (g)  __ MgO (s)

a) Balanced the reaction

b) Calculate the theoretical yield: This means we will calculate the mass of product that
should had been produced if the experiment was perfect. Therefore, you will calculate
the mass of product (MgO) using the given mass of the reactant solid (3.0 g Mg)

c) The experimental mass (or mass obtained) is called the “actual yield.” Use this mass
to determine the percent yield (how close the experimental value was to the
theoretical value)

𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑦𝑖𝑒𝑙𝑑
% 𝑦𝑖𝑒𝑙𝑑 = 𝑥 100%
𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑦𝑖𝑒𝑙𝑑

d) The percent error is the opposite to percent yield, while percent yield tells you how
close the values were to each other, percent error tells you how far the values were to
each other, we want small percent errors for accurate measurements. Calculate the
percent error

𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑦𝑖𝑒𝑙𝑑 − 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑦𝑖𝑒𝑙𝑑

% 𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑟 = 𝑥 100%
𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑦𝑖𝑒𝑙𝑑