Halfway through his Conservation of Mass experiment, a Joe E. Cool realized that
ID: 838275 • Letter: H
Question
Halfway through his Conservation of Mass experiment, a Joe E. Cool realized that he forgot to weigh his crucible after heating it. Short of starting over, what can Joe do to ensure accurate results? Be specific and detailed in your answer.
Joe burned his magnesium sample and obtained a light gray product. Since his crucible looked dirty anyway Joe skipped the step of heating to constant mass, weighed the gray sample, and calculated the mass of the product. Was his resulting mass likely to be high or low?
Explanation / Answer
Part 1:-
Joe can weigh the product obtained. Subtract its weight from the weight of the original sample to obtain the mass of the crucible.
Part 2:-
His resulting mass is likely to be low as he did not calculate the mass of the crucible but only found the mass of the product.
According to the law of conservation of mass,
Total mass of reactants = Total mass of products
=> Mass of original sample = Mass of crucible + Mass of the product
Therefore, Mass of the product = Mass of original sample - Mass of crucible
Mass of product is likely to be less than the mass of the original sample.
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