Core practicals Flashcards
CP1: How can you measure the volume of gas released from a reaction?
- Using a gas syringe connected to a bung (via a tube) which stoppers the conical flask containing the reactants
- As gas is released it pushes the syringe outwards
CP1: What is the weighing by difference method?
- Weigh materials accurately
- Mass of substance = mass of weighing dish and substance - mass of dish after substance has been transferred
CP1: Why is it more accurate to find the mass of the calcium carbonate used by weighing the sample tube with calcium carbonate in, then tipping it out and reweighing the sample tube, rather weighing the empty tube at the start?
Weighing by difference
- Ensures the amount of CaCO3 that ends up in the reaction mixture is known
CP1: How would you carry out an experiment to measure the molar volume of a gas?
- React ethanoic acid and solid calcium carbonate together
- Using a gas syringe, measure the volume of gas released
- Repeat for increasing masses of CaCO3
CP1: Write a chemical equation for the reaction between ethanoic acid, CH3COOH and calcium carbonate
CaCO3 + 2CH3COOH -> Ca(CH3COO)2 + CO2 + H2O
CP1: What should the set up for this experiment look like?
Conical flask, bung, delivery tube, gas syringe
CP1: Identify the major source of error caused by the procedure used
- Some gas could escape between the addition of powdered CaCO3 and sealing the test tube
- CO2 is slightly soluble in water, so the exact volume isn’t measured
CP1: How do you prevent gas escaping?
Place the solid reactant upright inside a sample tube in the conical flask, tipping the tube over by moving the conical flask around to start the reaction
CP1: How would you analyse this data?
- Plot a graph of mass of CaCO3 (x-axis) against volume of CO2 collected (y-axis)
- Draw a line of best fit that passes through the origin
- In this reaction, CaCO3 to CO2 is 1:1 ratio
CP1: Suggest why you were told in the procedure not to exceed 0.40g of calcium carbonate
Using over 0.40g of CaCO3 will result in the volume of gas produced exceeding the capacity of the gas syringe (therefore making the experiment unsafe as glass could break)
CP1: Ethanoic acid is a weak acid. HCl is an example of a strong acid. Suggest why a weak acid should produce better results in this experiment than a strong acid
Using a stronger acid would result in a faster reaction, greater loss of gas when the CaCO3 is added to acid using a weak acid is more suitable as the reaction is slower, so less gas will be loss
CP1: What are other limitations or problems using the alternative apparatus?
Water displacement
- Some CO2 would dissolve in the water so the volume collected would be lower
CP2: What is a standard solution?
A standard solution is a solution of known concentration
CP2: How do you make a standard solution?
- Measure, using a balance, the mass of solid required
- Transfer this to a volumetric flask and rinse the remaining weighing bottle content (with distilled water) into the flask so no solid is lost
- Add a volume of distilled water to dissolve the solid. Swirl to mix
- Then add more distilled water up to the line on the neck of the volumetric flask. Invert 20 times to mix
CP2: What is the standard solution for this practical? How is it made?
- Diluted sulfamic acid
- Dissolve 2.5g solid sulfamic acid in 100cm^3 of distilled water
- Transfer to 250cm^3 volumetric flask and fill up to line with distilled water
CP2: What equipment is used to carry out this titration?
- A pipette and pipette filler are used to accurately measure out the volume of NaOH before transferring it to a conical flask
- A burette is used to add small volumes of sulfamic acid solution to the NaOH until the reaction has reached completion
CP2: How do you carry out a titration?
- Once the pipette has been used to place NaOH into the conical flask, fill the burette with the acid solution. Record initial volume
- Add a few drops of methyl orange to the conical flask
- Open the burette tap and allow the sulfamic acid to flow into the conical flask, swirling it to mix the contents
- Close the burette tap once the expected colour change occurs. Use a white tile so the colour change is easy to identify
- Record final burette volume
- Repeat until you get concordant results, then calculate a mean titre
CP2: Why should the pipette be rinsed with the sodium hydroxide solution?
This is because water that gets left in the pipette can dilute the sodium hydroxide solution, therefore changing the actual number of moles used
CP2: Why is there no need to dry the conical flask after washing it out between trials?
This is because the volume of sodium hydroxide is already measured with a volumetric pipette before it gets put into the flask, therefore water won’t change the number of moles used
CP2: Identify another indicator that could be used in this titration and state the colour change that would be seen at the end point
You could use phenolphthalein. It will change from pink to colourless
CP3: Write a chemical equation for the reaction of hydrochloric acid with sodium hydroxide
HCl + NaOH -> NaCl + H2O
CP3: Write an equation for the reaction of sodium hydroxide with carbon dioxide
2NaOH + CO2 -> Na2CO3 + H2O
CP3: When sodium hydroxide solution is stored, it reacts with carbon dioxide in the air. How will this change the concentration of the sodium hydroxide solution?
It will decrease
CP3: When sodium hydroxide solution is stored, it reacts with carbon dioxide in the air. How will this affect the volume of sodium hydroxide solution required to reach the end point in the titration? Explain your answer
The volume of the NaOH (aq) will not change because the Na2CO3 that is made will also react with the HCl. This is because 2 mols of Na2CO3 react to make 1 mol of NaOH. These will react with 2 mols of HCl, therefore the same number of mols of HCl that the NaOH would’ve reacted with
CP3: Explain why it is better to have a titre of around 25cm^3 than of around 10cm^3?
If the titre was smaller, the % uncertainty would be larger
CP4: What is a hydrolysis reaction?
Hydrolysis is a type reaction where water is used to break chemical bonds and split a reactant into two
CP4: How do you test the rate of hydrolysis of different halogenoalkanes?
- In 3 different test tubes add 4 drops of 1-chlorobutane, 1-bromobutane and 1-iodobutane
- To each test tube add 5cm^3 of ethanol. Place all test tubes in a 50C water bath
- Pour about 5cm^3 of silver nitrate into 3 test tubes. Place the test tubes in the water bath
- When all the solutions have reached 50C, add the silver nitrate to the halogenoalkane-ethanol solutions
- Start the stop clock. Measure the time taken for each precipitate to appear
CP4: What are the expected results of these reactions?
1-chlorobutane - white ppt forms slowly
1-bromobutane - cream ppt forms faster than of 1-chlorobutane but slower than 1-iodobutane
1-iodobutan - yellow ppt forms very quickly
CP4: What kind of reaction is the hydrolysis of halogenoalkanes?
Nucleophilic substitution
CP4: Why are water baths used?
To keep the temperature constant (as temperature is a control variable) so it doesn’t interfere with the rate of hydrolysis
CP4: Explain why water is able to act as a nucleophile
Because the oxygen atom has lone pairs
CP4: Explain why water is used as nucleophile rather than hydroxide ions?
If OH- were used as the nucleophile, a precipitate of silver hydroxide would form instead and this would mask the formation of the precipitate you were looking out for
CP4: What is % uncertainty and how do you calculate it?
100 x absolute uncertainty / calculate value
CP4: Explain why ethanol is used in these reaction
Both the halogenoalkane and aq AgNO3 will dissolve in ethanol
CP4: How can you decrease the uncertainty in time taken?
Use a lower temperature to reduce the rate of reaction. This will make the time taken longer and so the % uncertainty will be lower
CP5: What is oxidation?
Oxidation is loss of electrons
CP5: What equipment is used for distillation?
CP5: What happens when you oxidise ethanol by distillation?
- Ethanol is distilled with acidified potassium dichromate (VI) and is oxidised into an aldehyde, ethanal
- Colour change from orange to green
CP5: Why is heating under reflux used?
- Organic reactions involve breaking strong covalent bonds and heating under reflux is used to thermally speed up the rate of reaction by conducting the reaction at an elevated temp
- Allows heating for a long period of time
- Prevents the flask from boiling dry
- Prevents volatile reactants/products escaping
- Ensures even heating