Lab-3: Water of Crystallization

Introduction: Water is an important part of the crystal structure of many salts. This water, called water
crystallizaton or water of hydration, may be removed from the salt by heating. The salt crystals with water
are said to be hydrated; the salt without water is said to be anhydrous.
BaCl2 • nH2O heat nH2O + BaCl2
(hydrated salt) (water + anhydrous salt)
CuSO4 • nH2O heat nH2O + CuSO4
(hydrated salt) (water + anhydrous salt)
In this investigation you will measure the mass of the hydrated salt and the mass of the anhydrous
salt. With this data you will calculate the mass of the water lost, the MW of the hydrated salt, and
the number of moles of water in the hydrated salt.
Objective: To determine the amount of cyrstallization (water of hydration) and the percentage of
water in a hydrated salt; to calculate the number of moles of water in the empirical (simplest)
formula of the hydrated salt.
Materials: Safety glasses, Bunsen burner, porcelain crucible, balance, hydrated salt
(barium chloride or copper(II)sulfate), clay triangle, ring stand, wire gauze.
Procedure:
1. Clean a porcelain crucible and dry it by gently heating with a Bunsen burner for 5 minutes..
2. When cool, carefully mass the empty crucible to the nearest 0.001g.
3. Add between 2-3 g of the hydrated salt to the crucible and remass accurately.
4. Place the crucible and its contents in a pipe stem triangle suspended by a ring attached to a ring stand as
demonstrated by the instructor.
5. Heat the crucible gently at first, then increase the Bunsen burner flame to full capacity. Heat 15 minutes.
6. Cool and remass the crucible.
7. Repeat Procedures 4-6 until at least two successive masses are the same.
This indicates that all the water of crystallization has been driven from the crystal.
8. Record the final mass in the table.
9. If time permits, repeat the experiment.
Results: Data: Record all observations and measurements in the table on the back of this sheet.
Calculations:
1. Determine the mass of the hydrated crystal.
2. Determine the mass of the water lost through heating.
3. Calculate the mass of the anhydrous salt.
4. Calculate the moles of both the water & the anhydrous crystal.
5. Calculate the lowest whole number molar ratio of water to anhydrous crystal.
Questions:
1. Why should the crucible and its contents be cooled before weighing?
2. Why should two massings of the heated material agree before you proceed?
3. List some possible sources of error encountered in this investigation?
4. Why might the method used here be inappropriate for all hydrates?
Lab 4: Water of Crystalization Hydrated Crystal: *nH2O
Names: &
Experimental Data
Trial #

Mass of Crucible Plus the Solid (g)

Mass of the Empty Crucible (g)
Before Heating After Heating

2
Trial #

Calculated Data
Mass of Hydrated Crystal (g) Mass of Water Lost (g) Mass of Anhydrous Crystal (g)

2
Molar Ratio of Water to
1 MolesAC MolesW the Anhydrous Crystal
Molar Ratio of Water to
2 MolesAC MolesW the Anhydrous Crystal
Average Molar Ratio of Water Empirical
to the Anhydrous Crystal Formula
* H2O
Calculations: