Eudiometer Lab Report

Eudiometer Experiments in Elemental Effervescent Expansions

Joe Williamson and Ethan Kang Mar 13, 2023

Purpose: The purpose of the gas laws lab was to calculate the volume of gas produced from a specific mass of magnesium ribbon. It also aims to use gas laws to determine the theoretical yield and volume of hydrogen gas produced at STP.

Procedure:
Gather Mg ribbon, string, a 2000-mL beaker, a Eudiometer, a 100-mL beaker, 50-60 mL distilled water, and HCl.
Measure out 0.035 - 0.045g of magnesium ribbon and tie a string to it and record the mass of the ribbon.
Pour 6 mL of HCl into the eudiometer.
Carefully pour 50-60 mL of distilled water to fill up the rest of the eudiometer.
Fold the Mg ribbon and place about ¼ up the eudiometer.
Fill

When you collect the gas through the eudiometer, the water inside the eudiometer gets displaced, evaporating until the pressure of the water outside is equal to the pressure inside. To correctly find the pressure of the gas, the pressure of the water vapor must be subtracted, as the two are mixed together.

What is the limiting reactant for the reaction? What is the experimental evidence that you are basing it on?
Based on the experimental evidence (mostly based on observations), the limiting reactant appeared to be the magnesium strip. As the eudiometer, the magnesium strip began to dissolve, resulting in the formation of Hydrogen gas bubbles. As time went on, the magnesium strip began to quickly break down, forming Hydrogen bubbles, until the magnesium strip fully dissolved. Once the magnesium strip had broken down, the bubbles began to stop forming.

Balanced

After flipping it upside-down and placing it into the water, it floated outside of the tube and about half of it came into contact with the outside water. As a result, a bit of the hydrogen gas that formed from the magnesium strip did not make it up the eudiometer; instead, it permeated through the beaker. This logically resulted in a lower value of hydrogen gas volume than if all of the gas made it into the eudiometer. The lower volume of hydrogen gas produced could have skewed our results. In order to prevent this in the future, we suggest securing the magnesium further up the