What’s in a TUMS®?

– Stoichiometry Acceleration Lab Name: ______________________________

Purpose: To determine the amount of active ingredient in a TUMS® antacid tablet.

Materials – extra strength TUMS® tablet, 3 M HCl, 150 mL beaker, glass stirring rod, mass balance, safety goggles, gloves

Part I – Background and Calculations

1. Use Google to do a little bit of research to answer the following questions.

a. What type of acid is in our stomachs?

b. When/why do people typically take TUMS®?

c. How do TUMS® work?

d. What is the “active ingredient” found in TUMS®?

2. We now need a chemical equation to show the reaction of the active ingredient in TUMS® with the acid in our
stomach. Balance the equation below using coefficients.

_____CaCO3(s) + ______HCl (aq) → ______CaCl2 (aq) + ______CO2 (g) + ______H2O (l)

3. What is the mole ratio of HCl (hydrochloric acid) to CaCO3 (calcium carbonate)? _________: __________

4. Each extra strength TUMS® tablet contains 750 mg of the active ingredient CaCO3. Convert this amount to grams
by dividing by 1000.

5. Use your grams of CaCO3 from #4 to now calculate how many moles of HCl it should take to react with the
tablet.
 6. Since the HCl is an aqueous (aq) solution, it is dissolved in water. We will treat it like a liquid and measure it
using a graduated cylinder. Since a graduated cylinder measures in mL, we need some way to connect our moles
of HCl from #5 with an amount in mL that we should measure out. This is where we will use the molarity
formula. The molarity of a solution tells us how many moles of a substance per liters of a solution. The molarity
of our HCl is 3.0 M. We know the moles from #5, so we should be able to solve for liters.

Molarity = 3.0 M
𝑚𝑜𝑙
Moles = _____________________ (your answer from #5) 𝑀=
𝐿
L=?

Plug in your values into the formula and solve for liters (L). Show your work below.

Be careful with your algebra. Since Liters is in the denominator, it will be equal to mol ÷ M.

7. Since our graduated cylinder measures in mL instead of L, take your answer to #6 and multiply by 1000 to
convert to mL of HCl.

This will tell you how much HCl you need to add to react with your active ingredient to form the products.

8. One of the products is carbon dioxide. Using your grams of CaCO3 (from #4) as your starting value, calculate how
many grams of CO2 you should theoretically produce.

Key Connection: We will use the production of CO2 to track the reaction. Since it is a gas, it will escape to the
atmosphere. It will look like we are “losing” mass. This “loss” of mass will tell us how much CO2 was produced, and
therefore how much CaCO3 reacted.

Part II – Experiment and Data Collection

9. Retrieve a TUMS® tablet from the supply table and mass it in your weigh boat (zero your weigh boat first).
Record the mass of the tablet in your data table. Place your TUMS inside a 100 or 150 mL beaker and record the
total mass of the beaker + tablet in your data table.

10. Have one person wear gloves and obtain the 3 M HCl from the supply table. Use a graduated cylinder to
measure out the number of mL of HCl that you calculated in #7. Add 1.00 extra mL of HCl to your graduated
cylinder to ensure this reactant is in excess (there is plenty to react). Record the total HCl volume you use in your
data table.
 11. The density of 3 M HCl is about 1.05 g/mL. Take your number of mL and multiply by 1.05 to obtain the mass of
your HCl. Record this in your data table.

12. Carefully add the HCl to the beaker with the tablet and stir with your glass stirring rod. You should begin to see
the formation of CO2 gas appear as bubbles. Watch as the mass goes down due to the gas escaping to the room.

13. Continue stirring until bubbles stop being formed. Record the final mass of the products and beaker. If the
reaction takes longer than 3:00 minutes, go ahead and record your final mass even if the reaction is still going.

14. Clean-up by pouring the contents of your beaker into the sink followed by lots of water. Wash your beaker with
soap and water. Leave it out to dry.

Mass of TUMS® tablet (from step #9) g

Mass of TUMS® tablet + beaker (from step #9) g

Volume of HCl (from step #10) mL

Mass of HCl (from step #11) g

Total Mass of Reactants and Container

g
(add together the gray values above)

Total Mass of Products and Container

g
(from step #13)

Part III – Data Analysis and Post-Lab Calculations

15. To find the mass of CO2 released, take the “total mass of reactants and container” and subtract the “total mass
of products and container.” Write the value below.

16. Calculate the % yield of CO2. (The actual yield comes from your results in #15 above. The theoretical yield comes
from your calculation in #8.)

17. If 2.34 g of CaCO3 had reacted with 2.34 g of HCl…(a) Which reactant would be limiting? (b) What would be the
theoretical yield of CO2? Make sure to clearly label the limiting reactant and box in the theoretical yield.