28 March 2013
Identify and Unknown Ionic Compound ILI#3
Abstract:
In this laboratory investigation, 8 solutions were combined with each other and an unknown liquid #1 in order to identify the ionic compound in the unknown solution. The students performed an experiment in which the reactions between each substance were compared to the unknown solution #1’s reactions and the color of each solution was compared to help find the unknown #1. The unknown ionic compound was identified to be Zinc Sulfate as the reactions between each solution and color of the solution it formed with the unknown #1 identified with the Zinc Sulfate solution.
Purpose:
In this investigation, the student is to identify the ionic compound in a solution from a list of possible compounds given solutions of all the possible compounds. The student needs to find the reactions in between each solution including the reactions with the unknown solution #1. The colors of each solution will help to determine if the solution reacting with the unknown #1 is the same as the unknown and the different colors of the solutions are qualitative data. The reactions between each combination of solutions were also qualitative data and helped determine the unknown solution. If there was a reaction between one of the 8 solutions and the unknown solution #1, then the solution could not be the unknown. The student shall also discover how ionic compounds react physically and chemically to form one ionic compound. The students will also discover how to balance chemical equations to represent chemical reactions.
Based on the similarities in color, the unknown solution #1 is predicted to be Sodium Hydroxide.
Procedure:
Materials:
* Well Plates * Dropper Bottles with Solutions(Sodium Carbonate, Silver Nitrate, Iron(III) Nitrate, Strontium Nitrate, Potassium Nitrate, Sodium Chloride, Zinc Sulfate, Sodium Hydroxide)
Directions: 1. Use the dropper bottles to fill 9 well