SEMESTER I

SESSION 14/15

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY
FACULTY OF SCIENCE & MATHEMATICS

SKT 3013
INORGANIC CHEMISTRY 1
Lab ReportREr

STUDENT’S NAME Wendy Ling Sing Yii

( D20131063807 )
PARTNER NurulFarhanabintiAbd. Hisham
( D20131063795 )

LECTURER’S NAME Professor Dr.Mustaffa Bin Ahmad

MATRIC NO. D20131063807

EXPRIMENT No. 2
EXPERIMENT TITLE Gravimetric Analysis to Tin Alloy
OBJECTIVES:
1. To understand the concept of gravimetric analysis
2. To know the factors that influence the precipitation process

INTRODUCTION:

Gravimetric analysis describes a set of methods in analytical chemistry for the

quantitative determination of an analyte based on the mass of a solid. A simple example
is the measurement of solids suspended in a water sample. In order for the analysis to be
accurate , certain conditions must be met :

 The ion being analysed must be completely precipitated

 The precipitate must be a pure compound
 The precipitate must be easily filtered

In most cases, the analyte must first be converted to a solid by precipitation with an
appropriate reagent. The precipitate can then be collected by filtration, washed, dried to
remove traces of moisture from the solution, and weighed. The amount of analyte in the
original sample can then be calculated from the mass of the precipitate and its chemical
composition. There are two ways to bring the particles closer together and increase the
probability of coagulation and at the same time to get more precipitate, firstly, encourage
digestion by heating and increasing the electrolyte concentration by washing with a
reagent which will go off as a gas during process.

In this experiment, alloy is reacted with nitric acid and produced the precipitate of
tin(IV) oxide hydrate which is metastannic acid :

3Sn + H2O +4HNO3 3H2SnO3 + 4NO

Precipitate is heated using high temperature by using Bunsen flame tp produce tin(IV)
oxide :

H2SnO3 SnO2 + H2O

The carbon from the filter paper has to be heat first at lower temperature and let the gas
goes off from the crucible. It is because the tin(IV) oxide easier reducing to tin. Normally
the colour of the precipitate is white but it is rare to get because the presence of some
impurities.

MATERIALS:
Nitric acid, concentrated
Dilute nitric acid (1%)
Tin alloy
Filter funnel and filter paper
Weighing bottle
Watch glass
Graduated cylinder (100 ml and 10 ml)
Beaker (150 ml and 250 ml)
Evaporating dish

METHODS: (drawing)

RESULTS AND DATA:

When the concentrated nitric acid and distilled water are added into the alloy, the
solution forms bubbles. Its colour change is from transparent to bright yellow. When the
precipitate is heated, the colour changes to white milk colour……………………….

Weight of alloy (g) 0.215 g

Weight of weighing bottle (g) 23.095 g
Weight of weighing bottle + impurities (g) 23.198 g
Weight of impurities (g) 0.013g

DISCUSSION:
 Gravimetric analysis of tin alloy is a method of quantitative analysis in which the
alloy gets precipitated from its solution by using suitable reagent (nitric acid). The
precipitate obtained from the reagent is collected by filtration. The filtrate is washed and
dried to remove moisture and other impurities are weighed. The mass of the element, ion
or radical in the original substance can then be readily calculated from the knowledge of
the formula of the compound and the relative atomic masses of the constituent elements.
In this experiment, the purpose of heating the solution on a hot plate until its
volume becomes 5-10ml is to increase the particles size for easier filtering. This is
usually referred to as digestion where the coagulation of metastannic acid precipitate into
a filterable form.
There are some error occurred when our experiment is going on. There might
have some error of the mass of impurities get because of the leakage of the filter paper.
Some of the filtrate is flowed away through the small leakage of the filter paper. So the
mass of impurities that we get is less than the actual mass that we should get. Moreover,
some filtrate might be still left in the flask and not being transferred to the filter also.
From this experiment, we found that the content of tin in alloy is only 37.67% because of
these errors occurred.
Thus, the desired substance must be completelyprecipitated and the precipitate
must have a low solubility for a perfect gravimetric analysis. The solubility of precipitate
can be further decreased by decreasing the temperature of the solution such as using an
ice bath. The final product should have less impurity and should be filtered and dried to
get the actual weight of moisture which does not show any error in the final result.
QUESTIONS:
1. Calculation of tin in the sample ( alloy ) (%).
Mr of SnO2 = 118.7 + 2(16)
= 150.7

Mass of Sn = ( 118.7/ 150.7 ) x 0.103 g

=0.081 g

% of Sn in alloy = ( 0.081 g/ 0.215g ) x 100%

= 37.67%

2. This gravimetric analysis does not use directly in this experiment with the
presence of other metals in this sample. Why ?

This is because there are certain criteria to undergo gravimetric analysis. Firstly,
the ion being analyzed should be completely precipitated. Secondly, the
precipitate must be a pure compound. Lastly, the precipitate should be easily
filtered.

3. List down some problems that can arise to give erroneous results.
Determine either that erroneous will influence the higher or lower results
than the actual value.
Surface adsorption, mixed crystal formation, occlusion and mechanical
entrapment.
…lower? Higher?

CONCLUSION:

From this experiment, we know that the gravimetric analysis is a method through
which the amount of an analyte can be calculated by the measurement of mass. By this
method, we found that the content of tin in alloy for our group is 37.67% from this
experiment.

REFERENCES:
Lab Manual SKT3013 Inorganic Chemistry 1

Pearson, N. (2014). Gravimetric Analysis. Retrieved September 29, 2014,

fromGravimetric Analysis Website:
http://chemistry.tutorvista.com/analyticalchemistry/gravimetric-analysis.html