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Finding The Mass of An Unknown Gas

An experiment was conducted to find the molar mass of an unknown gas in a BIC lighter. A graduated cylinder was filled with 100 mL of the gas released from the lighter. The mass of the lighter was measured before and after releasing the gas. Using the temperature, pressure, mass, and volume measurements, the molar mass of the unknown gas was calculated to be 47.98 g. This differs from the molar mass of butane (58.12 g) by 17.45%. The percent difference may have been due to errors in measuring the mass of the lighter using the scale.

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66 views

Finding The Mass of An Unknown Gas

An experiment was conducted to find the molar mass of an unknown gas in a BIC lighter. A graduated cylinder was filled with 100 mL of the gas released from the lighter. The mass of the lighter was measured before and after releasing the gas. Using the temperature, pressure, mass, and volume measurements, the molar mass of the unknown gas was calculated to be 47.98 g. This differs from the molar mass of butane (58.12 g) by 17.45%. The percent difference may have been due to errors in measuring the mass of the lighter using the scale.

Uploaded by

api-313702155
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Finding the Mass of an Unknown Gas

Introduction:
To find the molar mass of an unknown gas in the BIC lighter, a bucket was filled with water. A
100 mL graduated cylinder was filled to the point of overflow and was covered as it was turned
over to not let water escape and air in. The graduated cylinder was put into the bucket and the
100 mL mark was lined up with the water line. The BIC lighter had its massed weighed then was
put under the graduated cylinder where gas was released into the cylinder. After 100 mL of gas
from the lighter was released, the BIC lighter was dried and then massed. Mass, volume,
density, pressure and temperature were used to then calculate the molar mass of the unknown
gas.
Data:
Temperature

295.7 K

Pressure

1.012 atm

Mass before

21.82 g

Mass after

21.62 g

Volume before

0.0 mL

Volume after

100.0 mL

MM Calculated

47.98 g

MM Butane

58.12 g

% Difference

17.45%

The thing that could have been the reason that caused the percent difference is when the BIC
lighter was massed on the scale. There could have been a problem with calibrating the scale
and this would have affected the mass observed. Such a problem would be one of the weights
being slightly to the right, thus putting weight which will affect how the scale is calibrated.

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