Max Jaye

Optimizing chemical Reactions

Pre lab questions:
1. When two compounds are mixed together in the right amounts to maximize the product, then there will be
no leftover reactants.
2. A)The particulate representation of a chemical reaction where there are no leftover reactants: +
+ +
B.)A particulate representation where there are leftover reactants:
+ + + +
3. When the concentration of a substance is measured you are measuring molarity which is the measurement
of moles divided by liters
4. To find the number of moles, if you know the molarity and the volume, you multiply the molarity by the
volume.
5. If two solutions have equal volume and molarity, then they will have the same amount of moles.
6. A precipitate is a solid product of a chemical reaction.
7. To identify the product in a symbolic representation, you look for what state of matter the symbolic
equation is in, and if it is solid then it is a precipitate product.
Part 1 Results:
Well #

Drops of Water

Drops of Calcium Chloride

Drops of Na2CO3

Maximum Precipitate (X)

Data Analysis
1. The precipitate in this reaction is CaCO3 which is chalk.
2. The well that we saw having the most precipitate was the 5th well.
3. Most of the class chose the 5th well to have the most precipitate. The class was right to choose this.
Well #

Well 3

Well 4

Well 5

Well 6

Well 7

% of class

6%

26 %

50%

10%

6%

4. The bigger the reaction, the bigger the amount of precipitate in the well.
5. The solutions have a .1 molarity or .1 moles per liter.
6. In the well that developed the most precipitate, we had 4 drops of water, 5 drops of CaCl 2, and
5 drops of Na2CO3.

7. The drops represent the volume of the overall substance and it therefore directly affects the
molarity.
8. Our molarity was .1. We multiplied that by 5/14 because we added 4 drops to our substance.
This is equal to .035 which is the molarity for both reactants in this solution. This means that
there are 3.7 grams of Na3CO3 in a liter. CaCL2 has 3.9 grams in a liter.
Concept developement
1. The ratio of moles between CaCl2 and Na2CO3 is about .035:.035 in the 5th well.
2. This ratio is close to a 1:1 and that is why this well gave us the optimal reaction.
Part 2 results: Precipitate formation of AgNO3and Na2CO3

Well #

Drops of Water

Drops of AgNO3

Drops of Na2CO3

Maximum Precipitate (X)

Data Analysis:
1. The precipitate in this reaction was silver nitrate.
2. My group identified the 5th well as having the most precipitate.
3. My class identified the 5th well as having the most precipitate. This was not the right answer, the correct
answer was well number 5.

4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Well #

Well 4

Well 5

Well 6

Well 7

Well 8

% of class

24%

55%

13.8%

3.4%

6.8%

The bigger the reaction, the bigger the amount of precipitate in the well.
The concentration of the reactant solutions was .1.
The well with the most precipitate had 4 drops of water, 5 drops of AgNO3, and 4 drops of Na2CO3.
The drops represent the volume of the overall substance and it therefore directly affects the molarity.
The molarity for AgNO3 was .04 and the molarity for Na2CO3 was .023. There are 2.44 grams of NaCO3
in a liter. There are 7.8 grams in a liter of AgNO3.

Concept developement
1. The ratio of moles between Na2CO3 and AgNO3 is .023:.046.
2. At 1:2, this ratio is optimal for mixing these two chemicals.

Part 3 Results: Precipitate formation of 0.2 M CaCl2 and 0.10M Na2CO3

Well #

Drops of Water

Drops of Calcium
Chloride

Drops of Na2CO3

Maximum Precipitate (X)

1. The precipitate of this reaction is CaCO3. This is chalk.

2. My group identified well number 3 as having the most precipitate.
3. The class mostly chose well number 4. Well number 3 was the correct .
Well #

Well 4

Well 4

Well 5

% of class

18%

45%

37%

4. The bigger the reaction, the bigger the amount of precipitate in the well.
5. Cacl2 had a molar solution of .02 and Na2CO3 had a molar solution of .01
6. The well that I identified as having the most precipitate was well 3. This had 4 drops of water, 3
drops of calcium chloride, and 6 drops of sodium carbonate.
7. The drops represent the volume of the overall substance and it therefore directly affects the
molarity.
8. There is a .046 molarity in CaCO3. Na2CO3 has the same molarity. This means that there are 4.87
grams of Na2CO3 in a liter. One liter of CaCl2 weighs about 5.1 grams.
Concept Development
1. The ratio between CaCO3 and Na2CO3 is 1:1.
2. This perfect ratio explains why we saw the optimal reaction here.
Comparing part 1 to part 3
Part 1 had about the same ratio as part 3. They both shared a 1:1 ratio. This means that this
chemical reaction was optimal in both tests.