DISCUSSION

1) This experiment highlighted on the gravimetric analysis method to determine the

amount of precipitated from the sample of unknown chloride salt reacting with
3.
Overall Equation: ()+3() = ()+3()
2) The theory suggests that AgCl, a white cubic crystalline solid (nearly insoluble in
water) is formed if there is a white precipitate when silver nitrate is added solution to a
completely unknown chloride solution. Ionic equation below explain more.
Ionic Equation: +()+ ()()
3) Therefore, to get the amount of chloride salt, gravimetric analysis is applied, which is
to determine the amount of components using a weighable form. Basically,
gravimetric is a common procedure to determine the amount of a substance by
calculating its mass and then using the mass calculated to calculate the quantity of
the substance. Stoichiometry for balance equation was also used for the calculations.

4) In this experiment, the first step was to dissolve dried unknown salt in 150mL of
distilled water and 1mL of 6M of HNO3 solution. In this solvation process, we
dissolved the salt with the distilled water first, followed by addition of nitric acid into
the mixture. Then, we further added the mixture with AgNO3 solution. The purpose of
addition of AgNO3 solution was to form precipitate of AgCl and this step was carried
out slowly with continuous stirring and add it phase by phase to ensure reaction
reaches completion.. In order to avoid incomplete reaction, the following measures
can be taken:

Precipitate from a dilute solution

Add reagents slowly and stir mixture.

Precipitate from a hot solution and leave mixture to stand for a sufficient
amount of time.

5) The beaker containing the salt was covered entirely with aluminum paper to prevent
the exposure of light because this reaction may involve the photodecomposition of

AgCl salt. Thus, we can reduced the error as photodecomposition may affect the
results.

6) The boiling the solution must be avoided since it is possible to lose some of the
solution through spattering. Thus, the heating process should be supervised well.
7) In this experiment, results that we obtained have a standard deviation up to 1.067.
There is standard deviation in the experiment due to some possible sources of errors
that affect our final results as stated below:

Error due to contaminants. If there are extraneous components or contaminants

present in any of the reagents used in this experiment, chemical reactions may
occur and other precipitate may form. Other possibilities are contaminants present
in the beaker, container or whatever instruments used if not properly cleaned
before using it.

Human technique error also occur during the handling or carrying out the
experiment. During adding the substances, heat the substances, and transfer the
substances to the other room or lab to dry using oven, there is high possibility of
substances to spill or lost during handling as during the transfer of substances not
every drops of solution was transferred. For instance, during the vacuum filtering
process, there might be chances that some of the crystal residues remain on the
wall of the filter, which caused the loss of some crystals

Photodecomposition error where the decomposition by light occurs can also

affect the result.

8) The technique of handling the experiment should be enhanced to make sure that
there is less error in the final reading. All apparatus have to be washed with distilled
water first before using it, in order to remove contaminants. The reagents used must
be freshly prepared and stored properly. A few measurements are taken to take the
average readings to increase the accuracy. Distilled water is used to rinse from the
walls of the apparatus used to ensure that all the crystals are transferred during the
vacuum filtering process.