Stoichiometry and Gravimetric

Analysis Lab
Teacher: Mrs. Buron
Date: March 5, 2014
By: Sara Alfaro
Lab Partner: Amana

Purpose of Experiment:
Discover the amount of Na2CO3 in a 575 liter vat that also has an unknown amount of distilled water in
with the Na2CO3

Materials:

100mL Graduated cylinder

150 mL beaker
Balance
Buchner Funnel
Distilled water
Filter Paper
Filtering flask
Glass stirrer
Heavy-Wall tubing
Ring and ring stand
Spatula
Strontium nitrate solution, 0.30 M
Watch Glass

Procedure:
In this experiment 30.9 mL of Sodium carbonate and 71.1 mL of .30 M Strontium nitrate were measured and
mixed together then filtered through an apparatus for
vacuum filtration as shown on the left. After the
mixture of sodium carbonate and .30 M of strontium
nitrate was filtered through, distilled water was used to
flush out remaining precipitate and pour it into the
Hirsch Funnel to be filtered. After the precipitate in the
funnel has dried measure the mass of the funnel with
the filter paper and the precipitate in it. After the weight
has been calculated subtract the original weight of the
Hirsch Funnel and the filter paper in order to get an accurate measurement of the mass of the precipitate.

Observation and Data:

Name of Solution

Sodium Carbonate

.30M Strontium

Volume in mL

30.9mL

Nitrate
71.1mL

Mass of Dry Filter Paper:

Big: .598 Grams
Small: .031 Grams
Mass of Empty Filter Container
15.781 Grams
Mass of Precipitate WITH filter paper
2.654 Grams
Mass of Precipitate WITHOUT filter paper
2.056 Grams

Analysis and Calculations:

Balance Equation of the reaction between Sodium Carbonate and .30 M Strontium Nitrate:

Na2CO3(aq) + Sr(NO3)2(aq)

2NaNO3(aq) + SrCO3(s)

Moles of Precipitate Produced:

2.056 grams SrCO3

1 Mole SrCO3
148 Grams NaCO3

.014 Moles SrCO3

Mass of Sodium carbonate in the 30mL sample:

.02133 Mole Sr(NO3)2

1 Mole Na2CO3
1 Mole Sr(NO3)2

106 Grams Na2CO3

1 Mole Na2CO3

2.29098 Grams Na2CO3

Mass of Sodium carbonate in the 575 L vat

575 L In Vat

2.26098 Grams Na2CO3

.0309 L Na2CO3

33334.96 Grams Na2CO3 in 575 LK vat

Conclusion:
This experiment succeeded in revealing the amount of sodium carbonate in the 575 L vat with minimum
error. The possible causes of the error are that the solution was filtered twice in order to get the precipitate
separated from the solute and even then not all of the precipitate was filtered through. This could be noticed by

the off-white color of the solute and also lead to a lower mass measurement of the precipitate, which made the
measurements calculated with the data lower than what they should be.