Creating Solutions of Standard Molarity

Lauren Ostler
Peter Cestrone
CHEM Lab 1251L-023
10/14/14

Introduction:
This experiment was completed to determine and record the differences a series of
standard diluted solutions and a made series of diluted solutions had in comparison to. This was
done by applying the fundamentals of spectroscopy and the Beer-Lambert law to an unknown
solution. The solution used, in this case, was Cu2+ specifically copper (II) sulfate pentahydrate.
The purpose was to determine the accuracy of these methods through experimentation. The
hypothesis was that the methods used would provide accurate results.
A solution is a homogeneous mixture of two or more substances (can be a solid, liquid, or
a gas). A solution is made up of a solvent- the largest amount of substance present- and a solutedissolved, smaller amount of substance present. For instance, the 0.2 M Cu+2 solution was made
by dissolving solid copper (II) sulfate pentahydrate into water, the entire mixture was the
solution, the solid copper (II) sulfate pentahydrate was the solute, and the water was the solvent.
When there was a high amount of solute in the solution the solution had a high concentration;
moreover, when there was a low amount of solute in the solution the solution had a low
concentration. The type of concentration focused on in this experiment was molarity. The
molarity (M) of a solution is the number of moles of solute over liters of solution.

When a solution is prepared calculations usually need to be made to calculate the amount of
solute or the volume of solution. There are two ways to prepare a solution:
1. Solution of specified concentration prepared by dissolving a solid (of a specified amount
of grams) into a liquid.

2. Dilution
Dilution is when a less concentrated solution is prepared from a more concentrated solution.
When a solution is diluted the concentration is decreased, but it does not change the number of
moles of solute in the solution. So, the number of moles in the concentrated solution is equal to
the number of moles in the diluted solution.

The fundamentals of spectroscopy, or the science of measuring levels of spectra when

electromagnetic radiation is emitted, were used in this experiment by using a spec. 20 or
spectrophotometer. This machine was used to measure the amount of light that passed through
the solution in the form of percent of light transmitted or %T. When an object has color, such as
blue, the blue light that was reflected was also seen and the object absorbed all other
wavelengths of light color. The greatest absorbance of color was the objects complementary
color. The more concentrated an object was the less light can be absorbed. For example, more
light passed through the clear solution rather than the dark solution. When a solution is colored,
like copper (II), the higher the concentration the darker the color. So, when the solution was
diluted the solutions color was lighter because the solution had a lower concentration of colored
solute in comparison to the solvent. The copper (II) concentrates used in this experiment ranged
from blue to pale blue (cyan). It had the greatest absorbance of orange (which was its
complementary color) and was obtained at the wavelength of 600 nm. The relationship between
percent transmittance (%T) and absorbance (A) was defined by using the equation below.

The absorbance of the unknown concentration was found by using the equation from the line of
best fit found in the Beer-Lambert plot of data. The Beer-Lambert law is the direct relationship
between the amount of light absorbed by the colored solution and the concentration of the
sample. The calibration curve is attained when graphing the experimental data to determine the
concentration of the solution of the same substance of unknown concentration.

Procedure:
For the first part of the experiment the spec. 20 was calibrated and turned on 15 minutes
before use then set to the wavelength for maximum absorbance of the Cu2+ solutions (wavelength
of 600 is the maximum). Ten small test tubes were cleaned and labeled before the standard
solutions and the blank solution of water were poured in. The spec. 20 was calibrated by placing
the blank solution tube into the machine. Moreover, the blank solution placed in the machine had
a 100% transmittance (which was regulated by turning the knob on the right so that the machine
read 100% transmittance) and a 0% transmittance once the blank solution was removed and the
cap was closed (which was regulated by turning the knob on the left so that the machine read 0%
transmittance). The blank solution test tube was then placed into the spec. 20 again to make sure
the machine was working properly.
For the second step, the % transmittance was then recorded of all of the standard
solutions (0.500M, 0.200M, 0.100M, and 0.050M CuSO4) and used to calculate the absorbance.
The data of absorbance values verses the concentrations were then plotted in order to find the
calibration curve for the copper (II) solutions.

The third part of the experiment consisted of preparing the copper (II) solutions of
different concentrations. In a 100mL beaker, 2.5 grams of solid copper (II) sulfate pentahydrate
were dissolved in about 15 mL of water. Once the solid dissolved by mixing the solution back
and for between the beaker and a 50 mL graduated cylinder, a Pasteur pipette was used to add
enough water into the solution until the meniscus met the 20mL mark on the graduated cylinder.
This was the first solution. Part of the solution was poured into one of the 4 of the 5 remaining
test tubes and the rest was used for dilution. The concentration of the next solution was
determined by using the dilution formula: 8 mL of the 0.5 M Cu2+ solution was used to create the
0.2 M Cu2+ solution, 10 mL of the 0.2 M Cu2+ solution was used to create the 0.1 M Cu2+
solution, and 10 mL of the 0.1 M Cu2+ solution was used to create the 0.05 M Cu2+ solution.
These solutions were added to each test tube labeled in accordance to the concentration and
placed into the spec. 20 to find the % transmittance.
The fourth and final step was filling the final test tube with the copper (II) sulfate solution
of unknown concentration and finding the % transmittance using the spec. 20.

Results:
Concentrations of

%T

Absorbance

0.05

76.0

0.76

0.119

0.1

68.0

0.68

0.167

0.2

58.0

0.58

0.237

0.5

30.0

0.30

0.523

Standards (M)

Table1: Shows the measured values of the known (standard) Cu+2 solution obtained from the
spec 20. The equation used to calculate the absorbance was A=2-log (%T) where A was the
absorbance and %T was the percent of transmittance.

Absorbance

CALIBRATION CURVE OF
STANDARD COPPER(II) SULFATE
SOLUTIONS
0.523

0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0

0.119

0.167

0.237
y = 0.8966x + 0.071
R = 0.9975

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

Concentration (mol/L)

Figure 1: The Beer-Lambert plot shows the calibration curve of the absorbance and
concentration of the solutions from table 1. The line of best fit was y= 0.8966x+0.071 where y
was the absorbance and x was the concentration.

Concentration of the

%T

Absorbance

Actual Concentration

0.05

76.0

0.119

0.054

0.1

67.0

0.174

0.115

0.2

56.0

0.252

0.202

0.5

30.0

0.523

0.504

Made Solutions (M)

Table 2: This table shows the made Cu+2 solutions and each of the absorbance and actual
concentration. The absorbance was found using the equation A=2-log (%T) where A was the

absorbance and %T was the percent transmittance. The equation used to calculate the actual
concentration was y=0.8966x+0.071 when y was the absorbance and x was the concentration.

Solution

%T

Absorbance

Concentration (M)

Unknown

30

0.523

0.504

Table 3: This table shows the concentration of the given unknown copper solution obtained from
the calibration curve and the equation y=0.8966x+0.071 from graph 1 where y was the
absorbance and x was the concentration.

Solution Number

Concentration of

Concentration of

Calculated % Error

Standard Solution

Made Solution

0.05

0.054

8%

0.1

0.115

15%

0.2

0.202

1%

0.5

0.504

0.8%

Table 4: This table shows the comparison of the concentration values of the made concentration
and standard solutions and their % error by using the equation
%error = measured value-actual value/ actual value * 100%

Solution Number

Absorbance of

Absorbance of Made

Calculated % Error

Standard Solution

Solution

0.119

0.119

0%

0.167

0.174

4.19%

0.237

0.252

6.33%

0.523

0.523

0%

Table 5: This table shows the comparison of the absorbance values of the made solutions and the
absorption of the standard solutions as well as their % error by using the equation
%error = measured value - actual value/ actual value * 100%

Discussion:
The purpose of this experiment was to determine the accuracy of methods used through
experimentation. The methods used included applying fundamentals of spectroscopy, the beerlambert law, and measuring concentration and dilution of the solutions. The data from the
experiment showed the significance of how accurate the methods used were.
The significance of the data shown in figure one from table one was depicted through the
calibration curve. The r2 value of 0.9975 showed that the data is practically linear. This means
that the data of the standard solutions were accurate; moreover, the equation y= 0.8966x+0.071
is a reliable indicator of the standard solutions. From the equation the concentration of the
unknown was found to be 0.5 M (shown in table 3).
In table 4, the percent error of concentrations of standard solution against the
concentrations of made solutions proved to vary from as little as 0.08% to 15% error. Although a
percent error of 15% was obtained for one of the calculations, the other solutions percent errors
were low. Meaning, most of the calculations proved to be accurate; however, there was evidence
of error. The results for this table were fairly accurate. The accuracy could have been affected by
factors such as the fault of the spec. 20, contaminated solutions, or the precision of
measurements obtained by the graduated cylinder.

In table 5, the percent error of absorbance of standard solution against the absorbance of
made solutions proved to vary from as little as 0 % to 6.33% error. These calculations were more
accurate than those in table 4, however, table 4 was also fairly accurate because of the variation
in percent error. This variation also proves that there was evidence of error that could have
resulted from the fault of the spec. 20, contaminated solutions, or the precision of measurements
obtained by the graduated cylinder.
The limitations of this lab include the small amount of time allotted for the experiment,
the quality of the machine used (spec. 20), the limited precision of materials used for
measurements (graduated cylinder), and the reliability of how clean the materials used were.
These limitations that may have been the cause of errors could have been avoided if the spec. 20
was in better quality, if all of the materials were reliably clean, and if a burette would have been
used to measure the amount of water used rather than a graduated cylinder. The strengths of this
experiment were that there were standard solutions to compare the made solutions to and that
most of the experiment was quantitative so that measurements could be followed that helped
improve accuracy.

Conclusion:
From the data, it was concluded that when the absorbance and the concentration are high
the solution is dark because the moles per liter (molarity) are high as well. It was hypothesized
that the methods used to calculate the data would be accurate; however, the percent error showed
that the methods proved to be only fairly accurate because of the variation of high and low
percent error. The percent error calculated the reliability of the techniques used. As mentioned in
the discussion, the variation in the percent error proves that there was evidence of error that

could have resulted from the fault of the spec. 20, contaminated solutions, or the precision of
measurements obtained by the graduated cylinder.

Sample Calculations:
The absorbance was calculated using the percent transmittance.

Example:
0.119 = 2- log (76)

Dilution calculations

Example:
0.5 * V = 0.2 (0.020)
V= 8mL

Absorbance was calculated by using the line of best fit equation

Example:
0.119 = 0.8966x+0.71
x = 0.054

Grams of copper(II) sulfate pentahydrate:

Example:
0.5M = moles/ 0.020 L
Moles= 0.01
0.01 (249.6g/1mol) = 2.5g

Percent error

Example: