A researcher accidentally spilled some sand into his beaker containing crystalli

Question

A researcher accidentally spilled some sand into his beaker containing crystalline compound X. Knowing what he did about melting points, he was not worried about obtaining the melting point of compound X with a few grains of sand present. Why? lb.Clumsy researcher that he was, later that day he spilled a little baking soda (NaHCO_3) into the beaker. He figured if a little sand didn't hurt, then a little baking soda shouldn't matter either when recording his melting point. Is this a valid assumption? Explain.

Explanation / Answer

Solution :-

1). Sand is nothing but the oxide of the silicon which has very high melting point and do not react with the compound tested for the melting point therefore the if any sand particle is present in the solid sample it will not affect the melting point of that solid therefore the melting point would not affected by the presence of the small amount of sand hence the result would not change much.

2). If the baking soda is added to the solid while testing for the melting point then baking soda have lower melting point it can decompose to give the carbon dioxide , water and sodium carbonate which causes the chemical reactions this will affect the melting point of the original solid so the testing melting point with accidentally added baking soda is not good idea it will not give the correct melting point for the solid which is under investigation.

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