Stoichiometry Lab

Stoichiometry is a method used in chemistry that involves using relationships between reactants and products in a chemical reaction, to determine a desired quantitative data. The purpose of the lab was to devise a method to determine the percent composition of NaHCO3 in an unknown mixture of compounds NaHCO3 and Na2CO. Heating the mixture of these two compounds will cause a decomposition reaction. Solid NaHCO3 chemically decomposes into gaseous carbon dioxide and water, via the following reaction: 2NaHCO3(s) Na2CO3(s) + H2O(g) + CO2(g). The decomposition reaction was performed in a crucible and heated with a Bunsen burner. The study of Green Chemistry emphasizes the reduction of hazards to human health and the larger environment, as well as

The decomposition of NaHCO3 is an example of Prevention within Green Chemistry principles because all solid waste in this experiment is collected and used again. The only gaseous wastes generated by the reaction in the experiment are carbon dioxide and water, which are benign (Lab 3). The decomposition reaction of NaHCO3, generates virtually no waste, therefore less hazardous chemical syntheses. The byproducts of the reaction are gaseous CO2 and H2O which possess little or no toxicity to human health and the environment, because of the amounts released in this experiment. (Lab 3).

3. In this experiment, the percent yield was 90%. This number implies that there was little error in this experiment. However, this result could have been caused by certain external factors. Firstly, because the NaHCO3 compound was not stored in a sealed container, therefore dust particles could have changed the results, and making the product impure. Also, there are uncertainties associated with the instruments used in this experiment. This, if the products were measured slightly more than should be, this could have affected the concentrations of the solutions, and therefore causing a larger