Preparation of anhydrous magnesium chloride salt, and determining the percentage yield of the salt

obtained.

Kothamasu Pranavasai Bhavesh (15)

FN 302
SJI

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Introduction
The objective of the study is to produce an anhydrous sample of a magnesium chloride salt using
Magnesium powder and hydrochloric acid, such that its percentage yield could be determined.
Background Information

Substance Properties
Formula: Mg
Ar: 24
Density: 1.738 g/cm³
Appearance: Gray
Magnesium Powder
Solubility in water: Insoluble
(s)
Melting point: 650 °C
Solid at Room Temperature

(Sigma-Aldrich, 2021)
hydrochloric acid (aq) Formula: HCl
Mr = 36.5
Density: 1.49 kg/m³
pH: 1-2 (very low, strong acid)
Ionizes in water into H+ and Cl- ions
Appearance: Clear, colourless
Solubility in water: Soluble
Boiling point: 100 °C (for 1M HCl)

(National Library of Medicine, 2021)

magnesium chloride Formula: MgCl2
(s) Mr = 95
Density: 2.32 g/cm3 (anhydrous)
Appearance: white granules
Solubility in water: Soluble
Melting point: 714 °C
Solid at Room Temperature

(National Library of Medicine, 2021)

Table 1: Table of properties of substances used in experiment

Magnesium reacts with hydrochloric acid according to the following equation:

Mg ( s ) +2 HCl ( aq ) → MgCl 2 ( aq ) + H 2 (g)

This reaction can be explained using the Collision Theory (British Broadcasting Company, 2021). The theory
states that in order for any chemical reaction to be initiated, molecules must collide, and in order for the
reaction to occur, the collisions must be sufficiently energetic such that it is able to overcome chemical
bonds. Hence, atoms of Magnesium and ions in hydrochloric acid must collide with sufficient energy to
break chemical bonds in order for the reaction to take place. After the bonds are broken, the atoms and
ions rearrange to form new bonds and make the products, which are the magnesium chloride salt and
Hydrogen gas.

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Given that magnesium chloride is soluble in water, the procedure “Adding excess insoluble reagent to acid”
must take place to obtain the salt, where the insoluble reagent is Magnesium powder and acid is
hydrochloric acid. Hence, the limiting reagent is the hydrochloric acid, which helps in avoiding the
contamination of the salt produced with acid.

Note: Given that there is no relationship being studied between any independent or dependent variables,
and that the main objective of this experiment is to just obtain a salt, there is therefore, no hypothesis for
this experiment.

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Apparatus and Chemicals

1) 50 cm3 Measuring Cylinder (x 1)

2) 250 cm3 Beaker (x 1)
3) 100 cm3 Beaker (x 1)
4) 250 cm3 Conical Flask (x 1)
5) Evaporating Dish (x 1)
6) Filter Funnel (x 1)
7) Filter Paper (Fluted) (x 1)
Apparatu 8) Glass Rod (x 1)
s 9) Beaker Tongs (x 1)
10) Dropper (x 1)
11) Tripod Stand (x 1)
12) Wire Gauze (x 1)
13) Bunsen Burner (x 1)
14) Retort Stand (x 1)
15) Boss Head Clamp (x 1)
16) Electronic Mass Balance (x 1)

1) Magnesium Powder (> 0.120g)

Chemicals
2) dilute hydrochloric acid (1M, 10.0 cm3)

Table 2: Table of apparatus and chemicals used in experiment

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Procedure
Procedure Justification, wherever necessary
3
Measure 10.0 cm of dilute hydrochloric acid (1M) using To collect necessary hydrochloric acid
1 the 50 cm3 measuring cylinder. required for experiment.
Transfer the measured dilute hydrochloric acid (1M) into
2 the 250 cm3 beaker. For the boiling of hydrochloric acid.

Heat the beaker with acid until the dilute hydrochloric

acid (1M) is brought to a boil.
Increases probability of reaction taking
3
place.
~ Set up the apparatus as shown in Figure 1.

Weigh a sample of at least 0.120 g of Magnesium powder To ensure that Magnesium going to be
into a 100 cm3 beaker. added to the acid is in excess.

Calculations to derive to >0.120g

4 Mg: HCl=1: 2
10
Moles of HCl = ×1=0.0100 mol
1000
0.0100
Moles of Mg = =0.00500 mol
2
Mass of Mg = 0.00500 ×24=0.120 g
Add the weighed Magnesium powder slowly into the
beaker of acid until no more effervescence is produced. For the reaction to occur and
5
magnesium chloride to be produced.

Stir the suspension of excess Magnesium powder and The excess magnesium powder settles
6 aqueous magnesium chloride with a glass rod. to the bottom of the beaker, which
aids filtration.
Heat the suspension of excess Magnesium powder and
aqueous magnesium chloride until visible bubbles are
spotted. Increases the yield of the magnesium
7 chloride salt obtained from
~ Set up the apparatus as shown in Figure 2. experiment.

Filter the heated suspension and collect the aqueous

magnesium chloride as filtrate in the 250 cm3 conical flask.
8
~ Set up the apparatus as shown in Figure 3.

Measure the mass of the empty evaporating dish.

9

Transfer the collected filtrate of aqueous magnesium

For the evaporation to dryness of
10 chloride to the empty evaporating dish.
aqueous magnesium chloride.
11 Strongly heat the evaporating dish until all the water from To collect anhydrous magnesium
the aqueous solution has evaporated away. chloride salt.

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 ~ Set up the apparatus as shown in Figure 4.

Measure the mass of the evaporating dish with anhydrous

12 magnesium chloride salt.

Subtract the value in (9) from (12) to find the mass of

13 anhydrous magnesium chloride salt obtained.

Calculate the percentage yield of the anhydrous

14 magnesium chloride salt obtained from the experiment.

Table 3: Table of procedures for the experiment

Constant Variable
There was one constant variable, which was the volume of dilute hydrochloric acid used in the experiment.
It had to be kept constant at 10.0 cm3 till the reaction with Magnesium Powder.
This is because calculations were made as to how much Magnesium Powder was required to add to the
acid until it was in excess. Suppose if the volume of the dilute hydrochloric acid were to increase, then
there would be a possibility that the reaction between the Magnesium Powder and Hydrochloric acid
would not be complete as Magnesium Powder was not added in excess.
Hence, this would result in a less effective experiment because this would lead to salt contaminated with
acid, which leads to the true value of the percentage yield of anhydrous magnesium chloride salt obtained
from the experiment to be unknown. Therefore, it must be ensured that the fixed amount of 10.0 cm 3 of
dilute hydrochloric acid was to react with the Magnesium Powder.

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Precautions

Safety precautions Practical precautions

1. Read bottom of meniscus while measuring
hydrochloric acid to avoid parallax error.
2. Ensure all apparatus used in the
1. Prevent hydrochloric acid from contacting
experiment are clean, dry and not
skin because it is corrosive and irritative to
contaminated, in order to obtain a pure
body tissue. (Velocity EHS, 2021)
sample of anhydrous magnesium chloride
2. Avoid heating hydrochloric acid till
salt.
decomposition, or else it would emit acrid
3. Ensure the filter paper remains in one piece
fumes. (Velocity EHS, 2021)
whilst filtrating the suspension of
3. Prevent Magnesium powder from
magnesium chloride and excess Magnesium
contacting skin because it is irritative.
powder, or else aqueous magnesium
(Sigma-Aldrich, 2021)
chloride would not be received as filtrate.
4. Do not hold hot beakers or evaporating
4. Avoid overheating the aqueous magnesium
dishes with bare hands because it can
chloride or else it can oxidise or decompose
cause burns.
and anhydrous magnesium chloride salt
would not be obtained from the
experiment.
Table 4: Table of Precautions in the experiment

Figure 1: Figure of the setting up of apparatus for Procedure 3.

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Figure 2: Figure of the setting up of apparatus for Procedure 7.

Figure 3: Figure of the setting up of apparatus for Procedure 8.

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Figure 4: Figure of the setting up of apparatus for Procedure 11.

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Results
Mass of 100ml Beaker Mass of 100ml Beaker Mass of Evaporating dish Mass of Evaporating dish
(empty) (with Magnesium (empty) (with anhydrous
Powder) magnesium chloride salt)
62.990 g 64.254 g 72.693 g 73.039 g
Mass of Magnesium Powder used in Experiment Mass of anhydrous magnesium chloride salt obtained
from Experiment
64 .254 g−62.990 g=1.264 g> 0.120 g 73.039 g−72.693 g=0.346 g
Table 5: Table of Calculations from the Experiment

Theoretical Mass of Anhydrous Magnesium Chloride Salt obtained:

Mg ( s ) +2 HCl ( aq ) → MgCl 2 ( aq ) + H 2 (g)

MgCl 2 : HCl=1:2

10.0
Moles of HCl= ×1
1000
¿ 0.0100 mol
Moles of MgCl 2=0.0100 ÷ 2

¿ 0.00500 mol
M r of MgCl 2=24+2 ×35.5

¿ 95
Theoretical Mass of MgCl2 =0.00500× 95

¿ 0.475 g

Percentage Yield of Anhydrous Magnesium Chloride Salt obtained:

Mass of Actual Yield
Percentage Yield= ×100 %
Mass of Theoretical Yield
0.346
¿ × 100 %
0.475
¿ 72.8 % (3 s . f .)

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Discussion
From the experiment, a white granule salt is obtained (Figure 5). It is also similar to how magnesium
chloride looks like; white in colour and granular texture (Figure 6). Hence, it can be concluded with a high
certainty that the salt obtained from the experiment is anhydrous magnesium chloride.
However, it would have been more accurate to conclude the salt obtained from the experiment as
anhydrous magnesium chloride if the density of the salt obtained was to be calculated and compared with
that of the literature density of anhydrous magnesium chloride. This is because every substance has its
own unique density due to its size, mass and arrangement of atoms or molecules (Courses Lumen Learning,
2021). Therefore, if the salt obtained had the same density as the literature density of anhydrous
magnesium chloride, then the salt obtained is without a doubt anhydrous magnesium chloride.

Figure 5: Figure of salt obtained from the experiment. Figure 6: Figure of anhydrous magnesium chloride

From the results, it can be seen that the percentage yield of the anhydrous Magnesium Chloride salt
obtained from the experiment is 72.8%, which is relatively high. This shows that the procedure carried out
to obtain the anhydrous magnesium chloride salt was adequate and efficient.
Strengths of certain approaches used
Approach 1:
In the experiment, the dilute hydrochloric acid was boiled before the reaction with Magnesium
powder (Figure 1).
This was done so to increase the probability of the dilute hydrochloric acid with Magnesium powder, and
can be explained via the collision theory and kinetic particle theory.

The collision theory states that in order for any chemical reaction to be initiated, molecules must collide,
and in order for the reaction to occur, the collisions must be sufficiently energetic such that it is able to
overcome chemical bonds. Hence, atoms of Magnesium and ions in dilute hydrochloric acid must collide
with sufficient energy to break bonds in order for the reaction to take place. This means that these atoms
and ions must be moving fast enough with enough kinetic energy (i.e., Activation energy) such that they
collide with sufficient force such that the bonds are overcome. Based on the kinetic particle theory of
matter, the kinetic energy of a molecule is directly proportional to the temperature. Hence, when the
temperature rises, the ions in dilute hydrochloric acid and atoms in Magnesium would gain kinetic energy

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and hence, there is a higher probability that they would be moving with the necessary activation energy for
a reaction to happen during collision. (British Broadcasting Company, 2021)

Therefore, in the experiment, by boiling the hydrochloric acid before the reaction with Magnesium, it
would increase the kinetic energy of the ions in hydrochloric acid. Hence, when Magnesium was added to
the hydrochloric acid, there was a higher probability that the ions in hydrochloric acid would move with
sufficient activation energy for a reaction to occur during a collision with magnesium atoms. This would
result in more magnesium chloride salt to be produced, hence resulting in a greater percentage yield of
anhydrous magnesium chloride salt obtained from the experiment.

Approach 2:
In the experiment, the suspension of excess Magnesium powder and aqueous magnesium chloride
was heated (Figure 2) before the filtration, and then added slowly to the filter funnel. Fluted filter paper
was used in the filtration set up (Figure 3).
This was done so to reduce the amount of magnesium chloride crystallising on the filter paper, which
would have been lost as residue, thereby, increasing the percentage yield of anhydrous magnesium
chloride at the end of the experiment. This can be explained via Newton’s law of cooling.
Newton’s law of cooling states that the rate of heat loss of a body is directly proportional to the difference
in the temperatures between the body and its surroundings, meaning that the lower the temperature
difference between the body and its surroundings, the slower the rate of heat loss of a body (Davidzon,
2021). Therefore, in the experiment, by adding the heated suspension of excess Magnesium powder and
aqueous magnesium chloride slowly into the filter funnel, it increases the temperature of the filtration set-
up. This reduces the temperature difference between the suspension and filter funnel, which reduces the
rate at which the aqueous magnesium chloride cools, hence reducing the chances of magnesium chloride
crystals from prematurely forming on the filter paper (which would be thrown away eventually). Even if
they were to form, the hot suspension in the filter funnel helps to dissolve the crystals formed, thereby still
increasing the percentage yield of the anhydrous magnesium chloride salt obtained at the end of the
experiment.
Furthermore, the fluted filter paper used in the filtration set-up helps to increase the rate at which
filtration takes place, because it lets air enter the conical flask along its sides, hence bringing about
pressure equalization between the surroundings and inside the flask, which forces the aqueous magnesium
chloride to pass through the filter paper at a faster rate (Nichols, 2021). Also, due to the fluted filter paper
having more bends compared to a normal folded filter paper, it has a larger surface area for the aqueous
magnesium chloride to seep through (Nichols, 2021). This also increases the rate of filtration. Thus, by
increasing the rate of filtration, it reduces the time whereby magnesium chloride is on the filter paper,
hence reducing the chances of it crystallising on the filter paper (Nichols, 2021), thus increasing the
percentage yield of the anhydrous magnesium chloride salt obtained at the end of the experiment.

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Sources of Error
The magnesium chloride salt present on the evaporating dish at the end of evaporating to dryness might
still not be completely anhydrous. This impacts the true percentage yield of the salt obtained from the
experiment.
Moving on, the boiling of dilute hydrochloric acid (1M) before the reaction with Magnesium Powder could
have resulted in some of the hydrochloric acid evaporating, especially given that the boiling point of dilute
hydrochloric acid (1M) is 100 °C and that the Bunsen burner, with the air hole open, can reach
temperatures of up to 1200 °C (Bauer, 2021). This leads to lesser hydrochloric acid reacting with the
Magnesium Powder, thus resulting in lesser magnesium chloride salt produced, thereby reducing the
percentage yield of anhydrous magnesium chloride salt obtained at the end of the experiment.

Suggestions for Improvements

Improvement 1: Use 25.00 cm3 of dilute hydrochloric acid (1M) could have been used instead of 10.0
cm3.
This would allow for the usage of a volumetric pipette to transfer the required volume of acid into the
beaker. Given that a volumetric pipette is an instrument that is calibrated to deliver accurately a fixed
volume of liquid, it allows for the transfer of dilute hydrochloric acid (1M) to a greater precision, hence
maximum reaction could have been achieved with Magnesium Powder. Thus, more magnesium chloride
salt could have been produced, hence there would have been a higher percentage yield of the anhydrous
magnesium chloride salt at the end of the experiment.

Improvement 2: Conducting Crystallisation instead of Filtration + Evaporation to dryness to obtain

anhydrous magnesium chloride salt.
Even after the filtration of the suspension of aqueous magnesium chloride and excess Magnesium Powder,
there is a possibility that there are soluble impurities, which when evaporated contaminates the anhydrous
magnesium chloride salt obtained, thus impacting the true percentage yield of anhydrous magnesium
chloride salt obtained from the experiment.
Hence, by using Crystallization, there is a higher purity of magnesium chloride salt obtained compared to
that from Filtration + Evaporation to dryness. Thus, the experiment could have been improved significantly
by conducting Crystallization to obtain anhydrous magnesium chloride crystals, which would truly improve
the true percentage yield of the anhydrous magnesium chloride salt obtained from the experiment.

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Conclusion
To sum up all that has been mentioned before, the aim of the study is to produce an anhydrous sample of
magnesium chloride salt using Magnesium powder and dilute hydrochloric acid (1M), such that its
percentage yield could be determined. The reaction between Magnesium powder and the dilute
hydrochloric acid is a metal + acid reaction, hence magnesium chloride salt, which is the desired salt, and
hydrogen gas are produced. Magnesium Powder is added in excess to dilute hydrochloric acid in the
experiment, so that the dilute hydrochloric acid is the limiting reagent. This thereby avoids the salt
obtained to be contaminated with the acid. In the experiment, filtration of the suspension of excess
Magnesium powder and aqueous magnesium chloride was conducted, and its filtrate, which is aqueous
magnesium chloride, was evaporated to dryness. The salt obtained had similar visual and textural
characteristics as that with an anhydrous magnesium chloride salt, hence it is highly likely that the salt
obtained is anhydrous magnesium chloride salt.
When the mass of anhydrous magnesium chloride salt obtained from the experiment was calculated, and
compared with that of the theoretical mass, the percentage yield of the salt obtained from the experiment
could be calculated because the formula for calculating percentage yield can be as follows:
Mass of Actual Yield
Percentage Yield= ×100 %
Mass of Theoretical Yield
Then, it was determined that a relatively high percentage yield of 72.8% of the anhydrous magnesium
chloride salt was obtained from the experiment.
Hence, the objective of the study was fulfilled because the salt obtained from the experiment most likely
to be anhydrous magnesium chloride salt, and the percentage yield of this salt was also able to be
determined.

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References

Bauer, P. (2021, September 2). Bunsen Burner. Retrieved from Britannica:

https://www.britannica.com/science/Bunsen-burner

British Broadcasting Company. (2021, September 1). Collision theory - Higher Chemistry Revision - BBC. Retrieved
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Courses Lumen Learning. (2021, September 1). Volume and Density | Introduction to Chemistry . Retrieved from
Volume and Density: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/introchem/chapter/volume-and-density/

Davidzon, M. I. (2021). Newton’s law of cooling and its interpretation. International Journal of Heat and Mass
Transfer.

National Library of Medicine. (2021, September 1). Hydrochloric acid | HCl - PubChem. Retrieved from Pubchem
Website: https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Hydrochloric-acid

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Pubchem: https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Magnesium-chloride

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Maldrich website: https://www.sigmaaldrich.com/SG/en/product/aldrich/13112

Velocity EHS. (2021, September 1). Hydrochloric Acid Hazards & Safety Tips - VelocityEHS. Retrieved from Velocity
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