A student was asked to determine the % of each component in a mixture of sodium

Question

A student was asked to determine the % of each component in a mixture of sodium nitrate (NaNO3) & calcium carbonate (CaCO3). The mass of the sample used was 2.21 g. The student extracted NaNO3 from the mixture with water and separated the insoluble CaCo3from the solution by filtration. After evaporating the filtrate, the student recovered and dried the NaNO3, and found that it weighed 0.43 g. The student dried the insoluble residue of CaCO3 and found that it weighed 1.67 g.

Calculate percent NaNO3 in the mixture.

Calculate percent CaCO3 in the mixture.

Calculate the total mass of the NaNO3 and CaCO3recovered.

Calcute the percent recovery of the components, using the total mass of the substances recovered.

Calculate the percent error for the separation of the components of the mixture.

Explanation / Answer

a) The percent composition of NaNO3 is the mass of NaNO3 over the mass of the extracted mixture: in this case, the answer is 20.5%.

b) The percent composition for CaCO3 is calculated in the same way: in this case it is 79.5%.

c) The total mass of NaNO3 and CaCO3 recovered is just the sume of their masses, i.e. 2.10 grams.

d) The percent recovery is the recovered mass over the original total mass, i.e. 2.10g / 2.21g x 100, or 95%.

e) The percent error is the difference between the recovered mass and the original mass divided by the original mass and then converted into percentage. The answer is around 5%.

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