EXPERIMENT 5 IDENTIFICATION OF A GROUP II CARBONATE

Introduction A pure compound was known to be the carbonate of a Group II metal. A student was asked to identify this carbonate by titration of a sample of the compound with hydrochloric acid. The method chosen by the student involved using a dry weighing bottle that had been previously rinsed with pure water and then adding 1.00 g of the carbonate to the bottle. The contents of the weighing bottle were then transferred to a conical flask. About 20cm3 of pure water were added to the conical flask. The student filled a burette with 1.00 mol dm3 hydrochloric acid. The sample was titrated with the acid solution, using methyl orange indicator. The student then repeated the titration using further 1.00 g samples of the carbonate. Record your results in a suitable format in the space provided below. Two tables are required, one for recording the mass of carbonate used in each experiment and another to record your titration values. In this titration, hydrochloric acid and the metal carbonate react in a 2:1 mol ratio. Write an equation for the reaction, representing the metal carbonate as MCO3 Equation MCO3 + 2HCl MCl2 + CO2 + H2O Results 1 Mass of MCO3 weighed / g 1.04 2 1.03 3 1.01 4 1.04

1 Final Burette reading / cm3 Initial Burette reading /cm3 Volume of HCl used /cm3 Volume of HCl per g MCO3 /cm3 19.85 0.05 19.80 19.05

2 20.65 1.05 19.60 19.10

3 19.85 0.65 19.20 19.00

4 19.85 0.00 19.85 19.10

Assessment Skill: Analysis 1 Use all of the concordant results in the table above to determine the mean titre. 19.05 + 19.10 + 19.00 + 19.10 = 19.05 cm3 4

Use the mean titre to calculate the number of moles of the metal carbonate present in 1.00 g of the sample. Mols of HCl used in titration = 1.0 mol dm-3 (19.05 10-3)dm3 = 19.05 10-3 mol 2 mols HCl reacts with 1 mol MCO3 mols of MCO3 used for titration = (19.05 10-3) = 9.525 10-3 mol 2

Using your result from part 2, determine the relative formula mass, Mr, of the metal carbonate. 1.00 g = 108.1 9.25 10-3 mol

Use your result from part 3 to show that the Group II metal present in the carbonate is calcium. 108.1 (12 + 48) = 48.1

Assume that the maximum errors for the apparatus used in this experiment were balance total error 0.01 g burette total error 0.15cm3 (from two readings and an endpoint error) Calculate the maximum percentage errors in using the balance and in using the burette in this experiment, and hence the overall maximum percentage error. Balance error: 0.01 100% = 1% 1.0 Burette error: 0.15 100% = 0.78 % 19.05

Overall maximum error = 1 + 0.78 = 1.78 %

Skill Assessment: Analysis and evaluation. A student from another lab obtained the following results Titration Number Final Burette Reading/cm3 Initial Burette Reading/ cm3 Titre per 1.00 g of carbonate 1 19.60 0.05 19.55 2 19.20 0.05 19.15 3 19.35 0.05 19.30 4 19.15 0.10 19.05 5 25.85 6.75 19.10

Questions 1 Comment on the consistency of the titres. Suggest one possible reason for an anomalous result. 3 concordant results (2,4,5) and 1 good result (3) 1st titration probably rough titration 3rd titration possibly overshot or misread end-point ......................................................................................................................................................... . 2 Calculate the difference between the experimental Mr value determined by the student and the actual Mr value of calcium carbonate. Express this difference as a percentage of the actual Mr value of calcium carbonate. (If you could not complete the calculation in part 4 of the Analysis section, you should assume that the experimental Mr value is 106. This is not the correct answer.) Difference ....108.1 100.1 = 8.00 Percentage (8.0 / 100.1 ) 100% = 7.99 % 3 Comment on the significance of the difference between the actual Mr of calcium carbonate and your calculated value. Assume that this difference is not due to impurities. Percentage error is greater than apparatus error . Error is probably due to student error in weighing. The mass of carbonate weighed out was very small, resulting in large percentage errors.

State two ways of improving the students method of weighing the metal carbonate. In each case explain why the accuracy of the experiment would be improved. Improvement 1 Add the washing from the weighing bottle into conical flask / add metal carbonate directly into the conical flask(do not use weighing bottle) /reweigh the weighing bottle + residue

Explanation . Make sure that all the carbonate is transferred to conical flask before titration.

Improvement 2 Use a balance that can weigh upto 3 decimal places / use a larger mass of carbonate

Explanation .Reduce error due to weighing