Chemical Reaction Lab Report Essay

Purpose: The purpose of this experiment is to: determine the limiting reactant of a chemical reaction that involves iron filings and a copper sulfate solution. Second, to determine the mole ratios between iron and copper and to show that a single replacement reaction occurs when iron and copper sulfate react with each other. And lastly, to determine/calculate the percent yield to better analyze the chemical reaction between iron and copper sulfate to produce copper and iron sulfate. The method used to perform this lab will be to combine a metal with a solution to produce a chemical reaction causing one element to replace another element and isolating the product from the liquid to determine its mass.

Background: A chemical equation shows all substances that are involved in a chemical reaction. It shows the chemical formulas of substances that react (reactants) with each other and the substances that are produced (products) because of this
During this experiment, I combined 10g iron filings and 200 ml 1 M copper sulfate to see how they would react with each other. During the reaction, the blue copper sulfate solution began to turn green. This is because the iron was reacting with the solution. The iron began to turn a copper color because the iron was reacting with the copper sulfate solution. This demonstrates a single replacement reaction. Because iron is more active than copper, the iron displaced the copper from the copper sulfate solution. Therefore, iron and copper sulfate are the reactants while copper and iron sulfate are the products. Then, I set up a filtration apparatus consisting of a piece of filter paper to separate the copper from the iron sulfate. Finally, the copper was left to dry in an oven for a couple of days. Calculations were then performed to determine the efficiency of the reaction (percent yield) and to determine the results of the