Mukund Balaji, Jacob Jiang, Carolyn Zheng
Honor Chemistry
Mrs. Marino
May 1, 2023
Thermal Decomposition of Sodium Bicarbonate
Introduction:
In this experiment, heat is added to a compound known as sodium bicarbonate, or in a chemical sense, NaHCO3. This compound is also known as baking soda in a domestic setting and has several uses due to its chemical nature. This lab tests the thermal decomposition of this compound by heating this compound under a Bunsen burner. There are four possible equations that will theoretically be used. These equations are as follows:
NaHCO3 (s) → NaOH (s) + CO2 (g)
2NaHCO3 (s) → Na2CO3 (s) + CO2 (g) + H2O (g)
2NaHCO3 → Na2O (s) + 2CO2 (s) + H2O (s)
NaHCO3 → NaH (s) + CO (g) + O2 (g)
This lab will determine the correct
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Light the Bunsen burner.
Heat the crucible for two minutes and then turn off the Bunsen burner.
Wait for the crucible to cool to room temperature.
Measure and record the mass of the crucible
Keep the crucible on the mass balance and tare the mass balance.
Pour about 2.00g of sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) into the crucible.
Measure and record the actual mass of the sodium bicarbonate.
Place the crucible with sodium bicarbonate onto a ring clamp above the bunsen burner.
Light the Bunsen burner.
Heat the crucible for 15 minutes and record any observations.
Wait for the crucible to cool to room temperature.
Measure and record the mass of the crucible and its contents.
Place the crucible back on the ring clamp.
Heat the crucible again for 2 minutes.
Rerecord the mass of the crucible and its contents.
Repeat steps 14-16 until the difference between the existing and new measurements is lesser than 0.02 grams.
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To begin with, the fact that the mass was reduced shows that there is some sort of reaction that did take place. In all cases of reactions, the law of conservation of mass states that mass cannot be created or destroyed. With this in mind, it can be concluded that the mass that was “lost” was transferred into a different substance, which in this case was carbon dioxide and water vapor. These substances, as they are in their gaseous state, do not remain in the crucible, and escape into the surrounding area. This situation causes a reduction in the mass of the sodium