Copper-Iron Stoichiometry
Lab Report

10/3/12
Abstract:
The lab performed required the use of quantitative and analytical analysis along with limiting reagent analysis. The reaction of Copper (II) Sulfate, CuSO4, mass of 7.0015g with 2.0095g Fe or iron powder produced a solid precipitate of copper while the solution remained the blue color. Through this the appropriate reaction had to be determined out of the two possibilities. Through the use of a vacuum filtration system the mass of Cu was found to be 2.1726g which meant that through limiting reagent analysis Fe was determined to be the limiting reagent and the chemical reaction was determined to be as following:-
CuSO4(aq) + Fe(s) Cu(s) + FeSO4(aq)
Introduction:
There were …show more content…

The equipment used in this lab was an analytical balance, a pan balance, sintered glass crucibles, vacuum filtration setup and through this the students were able to determine which chemical was the limiting reagent.
The lab had several indeterminate errors which cannot be controlled by the student and generally results from the inaccuracy of the equipment being used in the experiment. In this lab, the use of analytical balances was a major one and even something as accurate as analytical balances has some slight inaccuracy or uncertainty which is ±0.0002g. Another indeterminate error was the measuring of wash volumes within the graduated cylinders which have an uncertainty of ±0.02ml. These uncertainties could have affected the end result allowing lower percent yield as suggested by Table 5 and calculation [VI].
The lab also had several possible determinate errors which are a result of the errors caused directly by the student. One of the more possible determinate errors was that there was some sort of static interference with the analytical balance. One of the students using the analytical balance could have had a glove or phone nearby which acts in turn as a source of static interference and throws off the measurements of the analytical balance3. Wrong measurements given by the analytical balance could result in a lower percent