How do you calculate the empirical formula of a hydrate?
1 Answer
Hydrates are compounds that contain water with a definite mass in the form of
The steps you need to take in order to determine the molecular formula of a hydrate are
-calculate the mass of the water that has been removed;
-use this value to determine the moles of water that were initially present in the hydrate;
-use the mass of the anhydrate to determine the moles of anhydrate;
-determine the mole ratio between the water and the anhydrate;
Here's an example of how to do this: let's assume you want to determine the formula for the hydrate of barium chloride. You take a sample of the hydrate, weigh it, and find it has a mass of 4.13 g.
You then heat the sample in order to remove the water and find the weight of the anhydrate to be 3.52 g.
The first thing to do is to determine the moles of water that were in the sample
You now go on to determine the moles of the anhydrous salt,
The mole ratio between the water and the anhydrous salt is
This means that for every mole of
Therefore, the formula for the hydrate of barium chloride is
Here are some other answers on how to go about determining the formula of a hydrate:
http://socratic.org/questions/how-do-you-determine-the-formula-of-a-hydrate?source=search
http://socratic.org/questions/how-can-i-determine-the-formula-of-a-hydrate?source=search
http://socratic.org/questions/how-do-you-determine-the-formula-of-a-hydrated-compound?source=search
Here is a video discussing how to find the empirical formula of copper sulfate.