Chem 1A Chemical Formula of a Hydrate

Chemical Formula of a Hydrate

Objectives:

1. To explore the relationship between mass, moles, and molecules of a compound.

2. To learn proper technique for using the laboratory equipment such as: Bunsen burner
safety, strong acid safety, and vacuum filtration processes.

Introduction:
In today’s experiment, you will be working with a category of ionic compounds called hydrates.
Hydrates are compounds that have a specific number of water molecules attached to them. An
example of this is magnesium sulfate can have seven water molecules attached to it in its normal
structure. The systematic name for this compound is magnesium sulfate heptahydrate, and its
formula is written as MgSO4·7H2O (its common name is Epsom Salts). The water molecules can
be driven off through heating, leaving MgSO4, which is often referred to as anhydrous
magnesium sulfate. Today, you will be determining the chemical formula for an unknown copper
chloride hydrate with the formula CuxCly·ZH2O, where x, y, and z are all integer values.

While we know that the elements in chemical formulas must have whole number ratios of each
other, the ratio of the atoms in today’s experiment is unknown. As such, we will try to isolate
each part of the chemical formula and use the ratio of moles between the various parts to
determine an unknown chemical formula. In the first part of the experiment, we will drive off
the water attached to the unknown to turn it into an anhydrate. This process causes a color
change from the blue-green color of the hydrate to a mocha brown color of the anhydrate. The
solid that is left behind will only contain copper and chlorine atoms and the mass of the water
that left the unknown can be calculated. In order to separate the remaining copper from the
chlorine in the solid, the solid will first be dissolved in water to create a green solution. To the
green solution you will add an Aluminum wire. When elemental aluminum comes in contact
with ions of copper an oxidation-reduction reaction occurs, where the aluminum will reduce the
copper ions into solid copper metal. Separating the solid copper from the solution allows for
isolation of just the copper which can be weighed. If you have taken careful mass measurements
up to this point, the mass of chlorine in the original unknown can be determined by difference.
Once the mass of each component is determined, an empirical formula can be calculated by
converting from the mass of each component to the moles of each component, before creating a
ratio of the moles of each component to one another. If your ratio values do not end up as whole
numbers, please round to the closest integer for this experiment.
Chem 1A Chemical Formula of a Hydrate

Procedure:
1. Weigh a dry, clean crucible on analytical balance and record the mass.

2. Using your spatula, weigh approximately 1.0g of the unknown copper chloride hydrate
into the crucible. Make sure to record the precise mass of the crucible and the unknown.

3. Set up your crucible heating apparatus by placing a clay triangle on an iron ring
connected to your ring stand. Connect one end of the Bunsen burner hose to the natural
gas line on your bench top. Make sure that the Bunsen burner is in the proper
configuration for lighting safely (usually one full turn open on the gas valve and two full
turns open on the oxygen control).

4. Light the Bunsen burner away from the clay triangle.

5. Place your crucible into the clay triangle and move the Bunsen burner under the crucible
to gently heat the unknown sample inside. As you heat it, the color of your unknown will
change from the blue-green color to the mocha brown color. (Caution: If you hear a
popping sound in your unknown, you are heating too quickly. Move the heat source away
from your sample in this case).

6. Once all of the unknown crystals are brown, gently heat for 2 more minutes, without
allowing the sample to turn black.

7. Place the crucible cover on the crucible and allow the sample to cool to room
temperature.

8. Weigh the crucible with the brown, anhydrous copper chloride sample.

9. Transfer the brown crystals into an empty 50 mL beaker by first pouring the crystals from
the crucible into the beaker, then rinsing out the crucible with two portions of ~8 mL of
deionized water and pouring the water into the beaker.

10. Swirl the beaker gently to dissolve the crystals. The solution should appear a blue-green
color at this point.

11. Obtain an aluminum wire and gently coil it into a lose spring shape.

12. Place the aluminum wire into the solution so that it is completely submerged. As the
oxidation-reduction reaction takes place you should notice 3 main things: there will be
hydrogen gas (H2) bubbles being formed, solid copper will start to appear on the wire,
and the solution color will start to disappear. This process may take up to 30 minutes to
complete with the initial reaction proceeding quickly, but then slowing down and the
solid copper prevents aluminum from reacting as quickly. Upon completion, the solution
should be colorless!
Chem 1A Chemical Formula of a Hydrate

13. Add 5 drops of 6M hydrochloric acid (HCl (aq)) into the solution to dissolve any
aluminum salts that may have formed.

14. Using your glass stirring rod, remove the copper from the aluminum wire by gently
tapping the wire. Once all of the copper is off of the aluminum wire, remove the wire
from the solution.

15. Obtain and weigh a piece of filter paper.

16. Set up the vacuum filtration apparatus by clamping a vacuum Erlenmeyer flask to your
ring stand using a two or three prong clamp. Connect the vacuum tubing to the vacuum
Erlenmeyer flask on one end, and to the vacuum nozzle on your bench top on the other
end. Place the Buchner funnel on top of the vacuum Erlenmeyer flask. Place the filter
paper from step 15 into the Buchner funnel and seal with a few mLs of water. Apply
gentle suction by slowly opening the vacuum handle.

17. With the suction on, transfer the solution onto the filter paper. Wash the copper metal
with a few mLs of deionized water. Turn off the suction.

18. Once the copper is rinsed, add 10 mL of 95% ethanol to the copper and wait 1 minute
before turning the suction back on. Leave the suction off for 5 minutes.

19. Using your spatula, gently lift you filter paper out of the Buchner funnel. Place the filter
paper into your evaporating dish and gently heat using a hot plate for 5-10 minutes.

20. Allow the filter paper and copper to cool to room temperature before weighing it. After
weighing, put the filter paper with the copper on it in the waste container in the hood, not
in the trash. Discard the filtrate in the waste container in the hood as well. DO NOT pour
it down the sink.
Chem 1A Chemical Formula of a Hydrate

Name: _____________________
Data Table:

Mass of empty crucible: ____________________

Mass of crucible and unknown sample: ____________________

Mass of crucible and unknown after heating: ____________________

Mass of filter paper: ____________________

Mass of filter paper and copper: ____________________

Chem 1A Chemical Formula of a Hydrate

Calculations:
Please show calculations in the space underneath each recorded answer

Mass of unknown hydrated sample: ____________________

Mass of unknown dehydrated sample: ___________________

Mass of water lost during heating: ____________________

Mass of copper: ____________________

Mass of chlorine (calculated by difference): __________________

Moles of water: __________________

Moles of copper: ___________________

Moles of chlorine: __________________

Formula of unknown hydrate (CuxCly·ZH2O): __________________

Chem 1A Chemical Formula of a Hydrate

Post Lab Assignment

1. If in the heating step of this experiment, you didn’t allow the sample to completely turn
brown, how would this affect your final determination of the formula of the unknown
hydrate? Be specific.

2. Suppose a student performs a similar experiment to determine the empirical formula of a

barium chloride hydrate. Given the data collected in the below table, what is the formula of
the hydrate?

Mass of empty crucible (g) 54.000

Mass of crucible and hydrate (g) 56.443
Mass of crucible and anhydrous salt (g) 56.083

3. Another way to calculate the number of waters hydrated to an ionic compound is through it’s
precent composition. An unknown aluminum sulfate hydrate has the formula
Al2(SO4)3·ZH2O. If the entire compound is 8.10% Al by mass, calculate the Z value, or how
many water molecules are associated with the aluminum sulfate.
Chem 1A Chemical Formula of a Hydrate

Advance Study Assignment (ASA)

1. 5.00 grams of an unknown iron nitrate hydrate (Fex(NO3)y·ZH2O) was heated to remove the
water. The resulting anhydrous iron nitrate had a mass of 2.99g. The resulting solid was
dissolved in water and allowed to react with aluminum to create solid iron through an
oxidation-reduction process. The iron was isolated, dried, and had a mass of 0.690g.

a. Calculate the mass of water lost during heating

Mass of water lost: __________________

b. Calculate mass of nitrate in the original unknown sample

Mass of nitrate in the unknown sample: __________________

c. Calculate the moles of water, iron, and nitrate in the unknown sample

Moles of water____________ Moles of iron____________ Moles of nitrate ____________

d. What is the empirical formula for the unknown iron nitrate hydrate?

Formula for unknown iron nitrate hydrate: __________________