Gravimetry

Gravimetric Methods
• Gravimetric analysis, the measurement of the weight of a substance
in a sample or calculation of the weight of a substance in a sample
from the weight of a chemically equivalent amount of some other
substance can be accomplished in various ways
• Frequently in pharmaceutical quantitative analysis, the substance to
be measured gravimetrically is separated from other substances
composing the sample by physical methods, purified, and weighed
without chemical change.
• When the other components of the sample are such that separation
by physical means of the substance being measured is impossible or
inconvenient, chemical reactions are employed to convert the
substance to a chemically equivalent amount of some other
substance which can be separated, purified, and weighed.
• Using the known weight relationship between the substance and the
substance being weighed, the weight of the former is readily
calculated from that of a chemically equivalent amount of the latter.
• In the general reaction
• A + B -> C + D
• The weight of either reactant, A or B can be calculated from the
weight of either product C or D
• For the sample reaction of
• NaCl + AgNO3 -> AgCl + NaNO3
• 55.44g of NaCl is required to produce 143.32g of AgCl or for each
gram of AgCl produced, the sample must have contained
• 58.44g/143.32g -> 0.4078g of NaCl

• A chemically equivalent amount of some product can be obtained

from a reactant (sample being assayed) by any various methods
• Precipitated from solution
• Decomposition of the product resulting from ignition of a compound
• Deposited on a electrode by electrolysis
Formula for purity using gravimetric
method
• % = W x E x 100 / S
• W = weight of the product of a chemical reaction involving the
substance being assayed
• E = Gravimetric Factor
• S = Weight of sample
How to get the gravimetric factor
• 1. Write out the complete chemical reaction with coefficients
(reacting ratios)
• 2. Write the molecular weight of the substance being ASSAYED ON
TOP multiplied by its coefficient
• 3. Write the molecular weight o the substance being WEIGHED
BELOW multiplied by its coefficient
Sample
• Get the gravimetric factor for this equation, the substance being
assayed is calcium chloride. The precipitate being weighed is silver
chloride

• CaCl2 + AgNO3 -> 2 AgCl + Ca(NO3)2

Determination of Chlorine in a
Soluble Chloride
• The weight of chlorine present in a soluble chloride can be
determined gravimetrically by calculation from data obtained by
precipitation and weighing equivalent of silver chloride.
• A solution of a sample of soluble chloride is acidified with nitric acid
and treated with excess silver nitrate.
• The silver chloride is precipitated, collected on a filter paper, washed,
dried, and weighed.
• A 0.3056g sample of a soluble chloride was analyzed gravimetrically
for Cl, and 0.7265g of AgCl was obtained. Calculate the Cl and NaCl
contents of the sample expressing each in %w/w.
• A precipitate of AgCl weighing 0.2432 was obtained from a 25mL
sample of hydrochloric acid solution.
• Calculate the HCl content of the solution in %w/w, the molarity of the
solution
• The weight of barium hydroxide that will neutralize 50mL of the
solution
• A 0.5463g sample of the silver salt of a monobasic organic acid
yielded 0.4690g of AgCl. Calculate the Ag content in %w/w. Calculate
the molecular weight of the organic acid