INTRODUCTION
This practical experiment is based is based on the theory of Law of Conservation of Mass stated by Antoine Lavoisier. Antoine Lavoisier was a French nobleman who had a major influence on the history of chemistry and biology. Today he is considered to be the “father of modern chemistry.” In all his experiment he supported the Law of Conservation of Mass. Antoine stated this in his theory, “The law of conservation of mass states that mass can neither be created nor destroyed in a chemical reaction. Thus, the amount of matter cannot change.” He also wrote on a further explanation, “This law says that when a chemical reaction rearranges atoms into a new product, the mass of the reactants is the same as …show more content…
This experiment must demonstrate and prove the Law of Conservation of Mass to observe changes. This experiment must be followed correctly by using the correct masses and steps. Also, this will help in determining how atoms are conserved during the different reactions taken place in this experiment. The chemical formulas made will help determine the correct atoms in each reaction.
HYPOTHESIS
In this experiment is is hypothesised, that if the amount of copper is equivalent throughout the whole procedure and the end mass of the copper is equal to the starting mass of the copper, then this experiment demonstrates that it has correctly followed the Law of Conservation of Mass. The Law of Conservation of Mass states that “mass can neither be created nor destroyed in a chemical reaction. Thus, the amount of matter cannot change.” This law means to say that when a product has undergone a chemical reaction and rearranges atoms in a new product, the mass of the reactants before the chemical reactions is equivalent to the mass of the new products. In this experiment, the independent variables would be the chemicals that is going to be started with. The dependent variable would be the resulting product and the controlled variable would the amount of chemical in each beaker. If the amount of chemical will change then it will affect the dependent variables because it will destroy the …show more content…
After the reaction had stopped the liquid was disposed off and the copper precipitate was left. The filter paper was used to filter the copper precipitate. During this process there was no chemical reaction but the variables were changed.
QUESTIONS
1.Calculate the mass of copper obtained at the end of the experiment. How does this compare with the starting mass of copper?
The mass of the copper that was obtained at the end of the experiment was 2.732g without the 1.434g of filter paper. This end result was 1.249g more than the original mass of the copper which was 1.483g. The result show how a solution might have been added inaccurately, because the end result of the copper mass should have been the same as the starting copper mass.
2. Calculate the percentage recovery of the copper
The percentage recovery of the copper was 54.23%. The mass of the copper must have been lost during the chemical reaction.
3. Explain where some of the copper might have been lost in the