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The Preparation of An Aluminum Compound From Aluminum Cans Docx Lab 8

1) The document describes an experiment to transform an aluminum can into an aluminum compound through corrosion and measure its melting point, theoretical mass, and percent yield. 2) Key steps included weighing aluminum, adding potassium hydroxide to corrode the aluminum, dissolving in sulfuric acid, crystallizing the product, and determining its melting point and percent yield. 3) The percent yield was over 100%, indicating experimental errors such as insufficient drying of crystals before measurement. Improving techniques like vacuum drying could increase accuracy.

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557 views3 pages

The Preparation of An Aluminum Compound From Aluminum Cans Docx Lab 8

1) The document describes an experiment to transform an aluminum can into an aluminum compound through corrosion and measure its melting point, theoretical mass, and percent yield. 2) Key steps included weighing aluminum, adding potassium hydroxide to corrode the aluminum, dissolving in sulfuric acid, crystallizing the product, and determining its melting point and percent yield. 3) The percent yield was over 100%, indicating experimental errors such as insufficient drying of crystals before measurement. Improving techniques like vacuum drying could increase accuracy.

Uploaded by

api-281480695
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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The Preparation of an Aluminum Compound from Aluminum Cans

Objective
The main objective is to transform an aluminum can and make a new compound by
corrosion. The aluminum can turn to a number of compounds. Also in the lab the
melting point, theoretical mass and the percent yield.
Chemical
Potassium hydroxide- KOH
9M Sulfuric acid (9M H2SO4)
Ethanol
50/50 alcohol/water
Equipment
top loader balance
250ml beaker
hot plate
stirring rod
filter paper
cool ice bath
vacuum filter
oven
melting point tube
melting point apparatus
graduated cylinder
Procedure
For full procedure refer to Chemistry 1131 lab manual, experiment 8, The Preparation of
an Aluminum Compound from Aluminum Cans , p. #31-33.
Changes
Did not have to add deionised water to bring back to proper level.
Did not have to remove any bits of remaining solids, and did not have to use a glass
funnel or filter paper.
Observations/Calculations
Procedure
1) weigh out 1g of
Aluminum.

Observation
2)-became cloudy
3)- hydrogen gas evolved

Calculations
1) weight of aluminum
= 1.01g

2)Add 50ml of potassium.


hydroxide in beaker.
3)Place beaker on hot
plate.
4)Heat under fume hood.
5) Add deiosed water if
liquid drops 1/4. *did not
have to do*
6) Remove beaker from
heat stir to remove any bits.
*did not have to do*
7)Cool and add 20ml of 9M
H2SO4.
8)Heat until dissolved.
9)Remove from heat, cool
in ice. Filter crystals , dry
vacuum process, dry
crystals in oven.
10) weigh filter paper with
crystals.
11) Pulverize 1g of sample
with a clean mortar and
paste
12)Using the apparatus
record melting point.

-effervescence
-grey, black
7)-large lumps of aluminum
8) clear and lumps
dissolved
9)Aluminum crystals
present,

9) weight of filter paper and


beaker
= 115.93g
10)Weight of beaker filter
paper and crystals subtract
the weight of the beaker
and filter paper
=139.02g - 115.93g
Weight of crystals
= 23.09g
11) Melting point
= 97.5C
Melting point from MSDS
=93C
13)TM=mass of aluminum
Atomic mass of Al
g/mole X formula mass
Formula mass= 474.44
Mass of Al= 1.01g/mole
AT mass of Al=
26.98g/mole
= 1.01g
26.98g/mole
x474.44g/mole
TM= 17.76g
% Yield= mass of Al x 100
TM of Al
=23.09 x100
17.76g
= 130.01%
% yield is 130.01%

Discussion
Throughout the experiment you see all the steps it takes to destroy part of an aluminum
can and turn it into all sorts of different stages and ending in crystals, but throughout the
lab there is a lot of little things that have to be done correctly in order to get correct
numbers to figure out the TM, melting point and percent yield. The proper melting point
for Alum from the MSDS is 93C but in the lab melting points will vary. The melting point
turned to be 97.5C which is a little off from the correct melting point 93C. This could
have been due to the crystals still being a little wet which would cause them to take
longer to melt which would give them a higher melting point. Also a percent yield of
130.01% is off because you should not be getting higher than 100% because it is
impossible not to lose any crystals when doing all the transfers so 130.01% would have
been to some of the things done wrong throughout the lab. The high number could be
due to a number of things, like not leaving it in the cold ice long enough to fully form the

crystals. Also another big thing that could have messed up the results was the vacuum
process. During this process you have to make sure all of the water is sucked out of the
crystals before turning the vacuum off and moving on to the next step. Also you could
play with the water pressure to see if that would make a difference and make it go faster
so the crystals will be dry in a shorter amount of time to get the correct percent yield and
to not have to rely on the oven as much. Therefore if these things were done differently
you may have had a more accurate percent yield.
Conclusion
In conclusion during this lab figuring out the percent yield all relied on how well the
experiment was done. Therefore a percent yield of 130.01% tells you that some things
could have been changed throughout the procedure like leaving the crystals in the
vacuum longer to get a more accurate result. Therefore if these little things were
changed it could make a huge impact on the final results.

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