Decomposition of Baking Soda Lab Introduction Chemical reactions are essential to the understanding of chemistry, and arguably the least straightforward type of chemical reaction is decomposition. The main reason for this difficulty is that a single compound can feasibly decompose in many different ways. An example of this is NaHCO3, more commonly known as baking soda, which can hypothetically decompose in three different ways, each leaving different solid products: NaOH, Na2O, and NaCO3. Our goal for this lab was to determine which of these decomposition reactions actually occurs. The way we did this was by using a chemistry principle called stoichiometry. According to Modern Chemistry, stoichiometry is “the mass relationships between reactants …show more content…
Materials and Equipment Iron ring and ring stand Crucible and pipe stem triangle Bunsen burner and striker Sodium hydrogen carbonate (baking soda) Scoopula Heat safe gloves Goggles Electronic scale Safety Notes Wear lab goggles in the lab Do not touch crucible without heat safe gloves Allow crucible to cool completely before cleaning out Procedure Mass the crucible. Zero the balance while the crucible is on it and mass 3.00g of baking soda. Place the crucible with baking soda on top of a pipe stem triangle on the ring stand. Heat the crucible for 7 minutes, increasing the temperature for the length of time Place the crucible nearby for cooling. Mass the cooled crucible. Reheat the crucible for 2 minutes. Remass the cooled crucible Repeat steps 7 and 8 until you get the same mass consecutively Repeat steps 1-9 for the amount of trials Data Table Variable in Calculation Trial 1 Trial 2 Trail 3 Mass of empty crucible ± 0.01 A 21.37g 22.10g 21.04g Mass of sample, initial ± 0.01 B 3.00g 3.00g 3.00g Mass of crucible and sample after first heating ± 0.01 - 23.23g 23.97g 22.91g Mass of crucible and sample after second heating ±