Chemistry 101 PRAC A The fertiliser sample was diluted with de-ionised water to dissolve as much of the sample

as possible. 3mL of 2M HCl was mixed with the solution, which served to break apart the bonds connecting the sulphate ions in the fertiliser. The reaction was probably represented like so: ?SO42-(aq) + HCl H? + Cl? + SO42-(aq) The solution of HCl and fertiliser is boiled to catalyse the speed of the reaction. Drop by drop, a process which ensures a precipitate, 15mL of 0.5M BaCl2 was added with a burette in excess. A white precipitate was formed. The reaction of the precipitate forming was: Ba2+ (aq) + SO42- (aq) BaSO4(s) This solution was boiled in order to catalyse any reactions. To make sure that there was no further SO42- in the solution, an additional 3mL of 0.5M BaCl2 was added. The solution was left overnight for the BaSO4 to form and cool down slowly. In order to separate the precipitate (BaSO4) from the solution, the solution was vacuum pumped, gently, through filter paper. The process was repeated until the was a satisfactory level of BaSO4 not present in the remaining solution. The precipitate was weighed and found to be 1.2g. This process is known as gravimetric analysis. In order to find the mass of the sulphate ions present in the precipitate. 1 2 3 But when determining the percentage of mass of the sulphate in the fertiliser. 1 2 3 Also when determining the percentage by mass of sulphur (as sulphate) in the fertiliser. 1 2 3 Possible sources of error that are present in the equation could be. 1. Loose hair or cotton from the performers of the experiment, this could add excess weight to the solution, precipitate and/or powder and effect the overall result. 2. When the precipitate is collected in the filter paper, the paper is not fine enough to catch it all. This could effect the end result be lowering the amount of precipitate weighed. The commercial percentage is different because large companies will perform the experiment multiple times to ensure a generalised, universal result. Also, the fertiliser which was used was old, meaning that it is possible some of the nutrients may have compacted down to the bottom of the bag, leaving less on the top.

PRAC B NH4+ is not a very strong acid, so it doesnt give a sharp end point, or colour change, when titrating. Therefore, several samples of fertiliser solution were diluted with deionized water to dissolve the fertiliser. The container with the solution was swirled to thoroughly mix the two compounds. 20mL of the solution was added to three volumetric flasks. 20mL of 0.09897M NaOH was added, via pipette, in order to separate some of the bonds between the fertiliser and its NH4 molecules. This process however is not accurate given the nature of filling and emptying the pipette. The equation of this process is shown as: NH4+ (aq) + OH-(aq) NH3 (g) + H2O (l) When boiled, the NH4+ in the solution evapourated. To show all the NH4+ in the solution evapourated, red litmus paper held into the steam, which came out of the conical flask, stayed red, not turned blue as an acid would show. Once this was completed, the remaining solution was titrated with enough 0.10256M HCl to warrant a change of colour. The equation to represent this process was: NaOH (aq) + HCl (aq) NaCl (aq) + H2O (l) The results were as follows: Titration Initial Burette Reading 1 0.00mL 2 9.2mL 3 18.2mL Final Burette Reading 9.2mL 18.2mL 27.2mL Titre (mL) 9.2 9.0 9.0

The excess NaOH in the solution is calculated compared to the amount of HCl added. From there the amount of NH4 is calculated from the NaOH. This process is known as Back Titration. To find the amount of NaOH, in mol, in each sample: 1 2 The average titre of HCl would be: 1 2 The amount of HCl used in the titration is shown as: 1 2 The amount of NaOH that did not react with the fertiliser in each solution would be: 1 2

PRAC B The amount of NaOH that reacted with the fertiliser: 1 2 The amount of NH4 in each sample mixed that mixed with the NaOH: 1 2 The original amount of NH4 present in the 250mL flask: 1 2 The mass of N in the fertiliser: 1 2 3 The percentage by mass of nitrogen in the sample: 1 2 The result of the experiment showed that there was a higher concentration of Nitrogen in experiment then in the commercial results. This could be to inaccurate amounts of NaOH or HCl being added to their respective solutions, which would affect the results marginally. Also, when the HCl was added to the solution of NaOH and NH4 deprived fertiliser, there may have been more than just NaOH reacting with the HCl which would have caused results to be higher.