Finding the Missing Mass
Wednesday, February 26th /2014
Tuesday, March 18/2014
In this activity, it will be determined whether the Law of Conservation of Mass can be applied to a chemical reaction in which a gas is produced. The Law of Conservation of Mass is that in any chemical reaction, the total mass of the reactants will equal the total mass of the products. Mass is the amount or quantity of matter. A data table will be recorded to determine whether the total mass of products is equal to the total mass of reactants. Substances that will be used in this experiment include sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) and hydrochloric acid (HCl).
Sodium bicarbonate, or baking soda, is most commonly used in cooking. It is also used as a cleaning agent and to treat medical issues such as heartburn (MedlinePlus, 2013). Hydrochloric acid is often used for industrial uses and cleaning (Technology Transfer Network Air Toxics Website, 2007). It is a corrosive acid and can be harmful to humans.
The purpose of this experiment is to determine whether the Law of Conservation of Mass can be applied to a chemical reaction in which a gas is produced. The Law of Conservation of Mass cannot be applied to a chemical reaction in which gas is produced. If a gas is produced, then some of the gas will escape and the mass of the products will not equal the mass of the reactants.
Materials:
•Goggles
•250ml beaker
•Sodium Hydrogen Carbonate (baking soda)
•Test tubes
•Hydrogen Chloride (hydrochloric acid) Solution
•Scale
•Scoopula
Procedure-
1) Test tube was filled ¾ full of hydrochloric acid.
2) 2 scoops of baking soda were put in to the beaker. The test tube was carefully placed in the beaker, but made sure no acid spilt.
3) Reactants were described in the observations.
4) The mass of the apparatus and the reactants were...