Solubility Test Lab Report

The unknown compound we received consisted of white crystal-like particles and was a solid at room temperature. During the smell test, we did not receive any indication of a distinct smell, thus concluding that the compound is ionic.

The solubility tests indicated that the compound was soluble in water, NaOH, and HCl and non-soluble in acetone and toluene as shown in Table 1. The compound was soluble in water indicating that the compound is either polar or ionic, but not soluble in toluene or acetone eliminating it being polar or nonpolar, making our compound ionic. The compound was also soluble in both NaOH and HCl, which are contradicting because a compound cannot be an organic acid and base at the same time. Further into the experiment we investigated the fault of the solubility tests.

The quantitative solubility test was inconclusive for any extra information to help with the …show more content…
Both the sulfate and chloride reactions formed a white precipitate when the compound was added to 6 M HNO_3 and AgNO_3 for the chloride test and 6 M HCl and BaCl_2 for the sulfate test. There were no indications of the other anions in our compound. A brown ring did not form for the presence of nitrate, there was no indication of fizzing for the presence of carbonate, and no fruity smell for the presence of acetate. With this we can further conclude that our compound is either NaCl or Na_2 SO_4. We know this from the fact that if chloride is present in a compound and it is added to AgNO_3 then there will be a precipitate formed, known as AgCl. This also goes for the sulfate anion. If sulfate is present in a compound and is added to BaCl_2 then a 〖BaSO〗_4 solid will precipitate out. As shown in Table 2, we had both reactions form a precipitate and thus concluding that our compound has either of these anions