Synthesis of Zinc Chloride Lab

We will investigate the amount of zinc needed to react with a known quantity of acid. By varying the amount of zinc we will determine the chemical composition of the product, zinc chloride. This lab will take two days and your technique will greatly impact the results. You will be graded on both your understanding of the process and your results. Your group will be given a sample of zinc. The mass of the sample for each group will vary. You must use all the zinc given and you need to know the mass of the zinc that you start with. If you have left over zinc, you will also need to know that mass. You will need the procedure outlined and two data tables in your lab notebook the day prior to the first day of this lab. You will also need to answer the pre-lab questions prior to day 1 of the lab. The first day of lab will be very short. The second day will take most of the time. As a class, we will go over the results and pool our data. Safety You will be working with strong acid and flames. Goggles will be worn at all times and you need to wear an apron. Flames will never be left unattended. You will only have your data notebook at your lab station. Procedure Day 1 Each group will be given a sample of zinc. Record the number and the mass of your pieces in data table 1. Remember to use all of the zinc given. Obtain a test tube with 10.0mL of HCl. Label a clean beaker with your group number and add zinc pieces and acid to the beaker. Record your observations. Clean a crucible for use tomorrow. It needs to be clean and dry. Carefully place your beaker in your drawer. If you spill this, you will have to start over after school or get a zero for the lab.

Day 2 Carefully retrieve your beaker from your drawer and Record your observations and record any changes in data table 1. Be careful transporting it since there might be some unreacted acid. You still need to be wearing your goggles. Record the mass of your clean dry crucible in data table 1.

Carefully decant liquid from test tube into the crucible. Rinse with a small amount of distilled water, decant again. If any zinc metal is left over in your beaker, carefully remove it from beaker onto paper towel. Dry it and obtain its mass. Record the mass in the appropriate space in the data table. Evaporate the liquid in the crucible over a low flame. You will need your clay triangle and iron ring and a Bunsen burner. The inner blue flame should just touch the bottom of you evaporating dish. If the substance is spattering, you will need to raise the crucible above the hottest point to a cooler region of the flame. See figure 1. The distance between the two should be only 1 to 2 inches. Figure 2 demonstrates the proper setup for heating your reaction liquid. Continue heating until a solid forms and all the liquid is gone. This solid will begin to melt but will return to a solid when cooled. The dish needs to be cool enough to handle easily. If the dish is hot, the mass recorded will be in error. If allowed to cool too long, it will absorb moisture from the air. Clean up your station and wash your hands prior to leaving lab.

Figure 1. The hottest part of the flame is at the top of the blue inner cone. The flame is cooler above that in the outer blue portion of the flame. Your flame should not be yellow or orange.

Figure 2. The crucible is placed in the clay triangle on the iron ring. You will need to use the smaller iron ring. Instead of a crucible, you will be using an

evaporating dish (looks like a big contact lens). Be careful when moving the dish both before and after heating.

Pre-lab questions 1. What does decant mean? 2. Why do you need to rinse the metal if there is any left unreacted? 3. A student uses 3.012 g of Zinc. There were some unreacted pieces of zinc that he did not weigh. Will this affect his results? If so, how (high or low)? 4. A student was told to use exactly 5 ml of acid but he used 7 ml. Will that affect his results? Why or why not? Calculations: You will need to calculate the mass of zinc reacted in this lab. Subtract line 2- line 3. You will need to calculate the mass of your product. Subtract line 6 minus line 5. To calculate your ratio of reacted zinc to product, divide reacted zinc (line 4) by mass of product (line 7). You will report lines 4 and 7 to the class. You will calculate the ratio for each group. Data Table 1 1. Number of zinc pieces 2. Mass of zinc 3. Mass of unreacted zinc 4. Mass of reacted zinc 5. Mass of empty crucible 6. Mass of crucible with product 7. Mass of product 8. Ratio of reacted zinc/product __________ __________ __________ __________ __________ __________ __________ __________

Data Table 2 (class data) Group Mass of reacted Zn Mass of product Make enough rows in your data table for you class data.

Ratio Zn/product

Post-lab questions 1. What is the class average ratio? Why do you think the all the ratios of reacted zinc to product are so close? 2. Suppose you react 5g of zinc with HCl. Assume excess acid. Show your work. a. How much product would you be able to make? b. What would the ratio of zinc to the product? c. What would be the ratio if you reacted 50g? Why? 3. Relate the results of this lab to Daltons atomic theory.