CHEM 212 Laboratory Determination of Water of Hydration

Reference: General Chemistry Laboratory Experiments, Suzanne W Slayden, 1999, 3rd edition, Pages 127-130 Data: After you have noted down all the masses, enter your own data into the appropriate Webbased data entry form, using a computer in the lab. In your measurements and calculations, remember to pay attention to uncertainties and significant figures. Results: Outside of class, retrieve your data in spreadsheet form (along with that of the entire class) from: http://chem.gmu.edu/results/. Then use Excel to calculate the Weight of hydrated salt, Moles of hydrated salt, Weight of anhydrous salt, Moles of anhydrous salt, Weight of H 2O lost, Moles of H2O lost, Moles of water released per mole anhydrous salt, Theoretical weight percent of water in hydrated salt, Actual weight percent water in hydrated salt, and % Error. Your lab report should include the following in addition to the pages from your lab notebook: An Excel sheet Raw Data showing the raw data for the entire class (as downloaded). A typical example of the raw data sheet is shown below: DATA ANALYSIS SUPPLEMENT
RAW DATA A g_K3FeOx3_3H2O 12.123 11.867 B g_K3FeOx3 10.345 9.453

1 2 3

Explanation: g_K3FeOx3_3H2O = Weight of hydrated salt g_K3FeOx3= Weight of anhydrous salt

A 2nd Excel worksheet Results showing the calculated results for each student in the class each in a separate row. Make sure to show an example calculation for each column. This can be done by copying the equation to a blank cell below the elements in the table. An apostrophe in front of it makes it text instead of an equation. Each table should be formatted as in previous classes with lines separating the table headings from the contents. A line below the contents should also be drawn. A typical example of the results sheet is shown below:
1 2 3 4 A Results B C D E F molH2O/ molH2O molHydratedS molHydrated massH2O lost mass%H2O lost alt Salt %Error 1.778 14.666 0.099 0.0246 4.024 34.1 2.414 20.342 0.134 0.0241 5.560 85.3

Explanation

Cell A2

Column Name massH2Olost

B2 C2 D2 E2 F2

mass%H2O molH2Olost molHydratedSalt molH2O/ molHydrated Salt %Error

Explanation mass of H2O lost from the compound after heating. Obtained by subtracting the mass after heating in the oven from the mass after heating. E.g. A3 in the results table is calculated by subtracting the contents of B2 from the contents of A2! Sample calculation: =RawData!B2-RawData!A2 mass % of water in the hydrated compound. E.g. =100*A3/RawData!A2 moles of water lost from the hydrated sample E.g. =A2/18.01 moles of the hydrated salt used E.g. =RawData!A2/491.25 Mole of water divided by the mole of hydrated compound E.g. =C3/D3 E.g. = =100*abs(E2-3)/3

An Excel chart showing a histogram of the distribution of Actual weight percent results. Use equally spaced bins chosen to display the spread in the class results. Refer to the histogram tutorial on the website.

Printing Tables: Large tables should be printed in the landscape mode and sometimes it might be necessary to go to page setup and select Fit to 1 page to make the page fit on one page. Include column and row headings on the printout so that the instructor can more easily understand equations used. This can be done by going to File Page Setup Sheet tab Select Row and Column Headings. Discussion: In your discussion section address the following questions: o What is a Hydration number? o How are water molecules bonded to the metal ion or anion? What happens to them on heating? o What may happen to the crystal structure and color of a compound when it is dehydrated? o What are the possible sources of error in this experiment? Refer in your answer to the class histogram as well as to your own results. o Discuss your % Error in terms of errors in measurements. What is the major source of error? o Using the histogram, discuss how your mole ratio compares with the mole ratio of the rest of the class. o Discuss the shape of the histogram. What does it tell you about the nature of the error in the class measurements?