Period 8; Albert Ki, David Luo; H Chem Hydrate Lab Lab 9 Hydrated Compound David: red Albert: blue

Pre-lab Problem Write a balanced equation: CuCl2 X 4.37H2O

Create a data table to organize the data:

Mass
18.173g

Items
Crucible

20.612g

Crucible with hydrated salt Mass of hydrated salt

20.612g 18.173g = 2.439g

19.711g

Crucible with dehydrated salt Mass of dehydrated salt Mass of H2O

19.711g 18.173g = 1.538g

2.439g 1.538g = 0.901g

1) What is the mass of the ionic compound without water (also called the anhydrous compound)? How many moles is this?
Mass of CuCl2: 63.55g + (35.45g x 2) = 134.45g CuCl2 Mole: 1.538g x (1 mol / 134.45g) = 0.011439 mol CuCl2

2) What is the mass of the water heated away? How many moles is this?
Mass: 2.439g 1.538g = 0.901g H2O Mole: 0.901g x (1 mol / 18.02g) = 0.05 mol H2O

3) What is the mole ratio of the ionic compound to the water?

0.011439 mol CuCl2 : 0.05 mol H2O Divide by a factor of 0.0118 (the least number of both) 0.011439 mol CuCl2 / 0.011439= 1 mol 0.05 mol H2O / 0.011439= 4.37 mol =1 mol CuCl2 / 4.37 mol H2O

4) What is the formula of the reactant hydrate compound?

Since the compound contains 4.37 moles of H2O for every 1 mole of anhydrous, the formula is CuCl2 X 4.37H2O.

5) What is the name of this compound?

Copper (II) Chloride tetrahydrate

Discussion Questions:

1. What was the actual ratio you obtained (with all significant digits)? What was your rounded ratio to whole numbers? Is your actual ratio higher or lower than the rounded ratio? Research what the actual ratio should be. Is your answer too high or too low? What is the percent error?
Actual ratio we obtained: 1 mole CuCl2 / 4.37 mol H2O Rounded ratio to whole number: 1 mole CuCl2 / 4 mol H2O. Our actual ratio is higher than the rounded one. The actual ratio according to research is 1 mole CuCl2 / 2 mol H2O. http://www.webqc.org/molecular-weight-of-CuCl2(H2O)2.html This shows that my answer is a bit off from the theoretical one because the percent error is huge (-) / ()= 50% Our actual ratio of the compound to the water was 1 mol CuCl2 : 4.37 mol H2O. Our ratio rounded to whole numbers was 1 mol CuCl2 : 4 mol H2O. The actual ratio was higher than the rounded ratio. Based on my research the actual ratio shouldve been 1 mol CuCl2 : 2 mol H2O.

2. How would your ratio change if you did not dehydrate the compound fully?
It would because there would be more water. The ratio would change because more water would still be left in the compound.

3. Suppose some of the compound fell out of the test tube before heating but after massing. How would that change your ratio?
It would lead to the miscalculation of ratio because the difference between the hydrated compound and anhydrous compound would be greater, thus affecting the accuracy of the ratio. If some of the compound were to fall out of the test tube before heating, then the mass would obviously be decreased based on the greater difference.

4. How would your ratio change if the test tube was wet when the hydrated compound was added to it at the beginning of the experiment?
The ratio would change because excess water would then be unreasonably taken into account.

The ratio would change because it would consist of an increased amount of water due to the H2O from the test tube.

5. How would your ratio relate to another groups who used the same compound, if you used 2.0 grams and they used 2.5grams?
I think the ratio will still be the same because the mole ratio between water and the ionic compound is always constant regardless of the amount. I think the ratio will be less than the other groups considering that the greater weight will mean a greater amount of the compound, which will simultaneously include more H2O.

6. Suggest what might happen if you left the anhydrous compound to sit overnight before weighing it for your data?
I think the weight of the compound will have decreased judging from the fact that some of the salts weight could have evaporated due to its lack of water. Then I think the data that you obtain would have been invalid because some of the salts weight could have evaporated due to dehydration.

7. If you could improve this lab, what would you do differently and why? Discuss at least three feasible improvements and why with reference to the other discussion questions and errors. (Note: relate this to #1 and the answers for the other questions).
One thing to improve is to conduct the lab in a more cautious manner and pay attention to the details. After answering the above discussion questions, I am now aware that even small mistakes like putting chemical in a wet test tube or uncarefully letting some compounds falling off the tube when heating can actually cause significant error in our result in reference to the huge percent error, which is 50%. As a result of this learning experience, I propose the following three strategies that I should follow for improvement: 1. Concentrate on collecting the data and not to worry about answering the lab discussion questions when conducting the lab 2. Ensure all the equipments are dry before conducting the experiment 3. Be better prepared and do some research before conducting the lab so that I could have known what to pay attention to when I am doing it.

If I could improve this lab, I would record more observations during and after the lab because of some of the information that we were missing. In addition, I would also take less time in completing the lab considering that we were one of the last ones to finish, and lastly, I would make sure to to measure the correct data.

Conclusion Statement: Through this lab activity, we learnt that the way to retrieve the formula of a compound is by finding the mole ratio between the two separate components of the compound.