Data Analysis

Table 1: Number of moles of H2 calculated from the measured values

The number of moles of H2 was calculated for each trial using the equation:

Table 2: Calculated of atomic weight

The atomic weight of each trial was calculated using the equation:

Conclusion:

The purpose of this lab was to determine how a reaction between an unknown metal and an acid be used to identify the metal.  This was done by reacting hydrogen chloride with the unknown metal in a flask that is submerged in a water bath.  The hydrogen formed from this experiment was be collected and be calculated from its pressure, volume and temperature.  The Ideal Gas Law was used to calculate the number of moles of hydrogen.  The number of moles of hydrogen was then applied with the possible stoichiometric ratio, to calculate the atomic weight for the unknown metal.  Using the equation and a periodic table, the unknown metal was Magnesium with a 2+ oxidation number.  Some sources of error could of been from not immediately inserting the rubber stopper on the flask right away during the reaction.  This would of changed the pressure that was calculated, therefore changing our results.  During the experiment, the stopper popped off when calculating the pressure, so we had to redo some of the trials a couple of times.