Lab 9: Composition of a Copper Sulfate Hydrate Lab

Introduction: In this lab we heated Copper Sulfate hydrate and noted the difference after the water evaporated and left anhydrous salt behind.

Copper Sulfate Hydrate before heating:


Copper Sulfate Hydrate after heating:


Calculations/Lab Questions:


5. 



Our high percent error of 19% can be attributed to the inaccuracy of our scale and the misplacement of the plastic bag on the scale.  Folding the bag in such a way that it would fit completely on the scale was difficult, so the mass of the substance and bag may have been skewed. Also, the scale allowed for very little precision since it only measured to one decimal. 

Tangentially, I predict that the actual value for the coefficient of water should be higher than what we attained. This is because the true percent composition of water in the hydrate, 36.0%, is significantly higher than ours. 

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