Higgins 1

Justin Higgins, Brennan Armknecht, Tre Bartony, and Nick Milas

Miss Miller

Honors Chemistry

17 September 2016

Determining Chemical Solids with Liquids

Introduction:

In this lab, we were given several identified chemical solids and had to observe how they

reacted and were affected by certain liquids. We were then given some of the same solids, but

this time we were not given the names. We had to observe the reactions and how these

unidentified solids were affected by the same liquids we had originally used. Our group

compared the observations of the identified solids and to determine which of the original solids

we had in the second group of solids.

Beginning Questions:

Physical property- a property that can be observed without chemically changing the substance

Chemical property- a property that is observed during a chemical reaction

You can observe what the substance reacts with and what happens when the two things react.

You can then compare it to the reactions of a known substance to see if they are the same

substance.
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Procedures:

Our group was given several solids. These included Baking Soda, Table Salt, Calcium

Carbonate, Sugar, and Cornstarch. We had to mix them with water, acid-base indicator, vinegar,

and iodine. Our group had to observe and record what happened when each solid and liquid were

mixed. We used well plates to separate the solids and liquids to observe them. The solids were

each put in their own horizontal row and the liquids were then put in each well with the solids

down the vertical columns. Small amounts of each solid were transferred from the original

beaker into its own wells using the Scoopula. The liquids were transferred from their beaker or

contained to the wells with plastic pipettes. We put five drops of each liquid into each well. Our

group made a chart on paper and wrote down what happened when each solid and liquid were

mixed.

We were then given two solids that were labeled C and E. These solids were two of

the same solids that we were given in the first part of the lab. Our group had to identify which of

the original solids these were. To do this, did something very similar to the first part of the lab.

We put a small amount of each of the two solids in their own horizontal row of wells. We then

added five drops of each liquid (water, acid-base indicator, vinegar, and iodine) to the solids and

observed what happened. Our group compared the observations from parts one and two to

determine which solids we were given in part two.

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Data Tables:

Part 1: Identified solids mixed with liquids

Liquids

Water Acid-Base Vinegar Iodine

Indicator
NaHCO3 Mixed/dissolved Turned green Bubbled and Turned
(Baking Soda) into water fizzed a lot yellow/orange
NaCl (Table Mixed/dissolved Turned green Bubbled a little Turned brown/
Solids

Salt) into water nothing

happened
CaCO3 Mixed/dissolved Turned green Bubbled and Turned brown/
(Calcium into water fizzed a lot nothing
Carbonate) happened
C12H22O11 Mixed/dissolved Turned green Mixed/dissolved Turned brown/
(Sugar) into water into vinegar nothing
happened
C6H10O5 Mixed/dissolved Turned pink/ red Mixed/dissolved Turned black/
(Cornstarch) into water into vinegar dark purple

Part 2: Unidentified solids mixed with liquids

Liquids

Water Acid-Base Vinegar Iodine Name of

Indicator solid
Solid Mixed/dissolved Turned Bubbled and Turned brown/ Baking soda
Solids

C into water green fizzed a lot nothing NaHCO3

happened
Solid Mixed/dissolved Turned Mixed/ Turned black/ Cornstarch
E into water pink/ red dissolved into dark purple C6H10O5
vinegar
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Conclusions:

This lab showed us that it is possible to use chemical properties to identify chemicals. We

used chemical properties to identify chemicals by comparing the reactions of unidentified

chemicals with the reactions of chemicals that were already identified. Our group was given

Solids C and E to identify, and we found that C was NaHCO3 (Baking Soda) and E was

C6H10O5 (Cornstarch). Some possible errors could have been uneven amounts of each different

solid or liquid, incorrect judgement of what occurred when the solids and liquids mixed, and

some solids could be put in a row with another solid, which could change the data of the

observations. This lab could have been improved by giving a better way to measure how much of

each chemical was put into the wells. This would help provide more consistent results. Solids

with a more diverse range of reactions could also be used to emphasize the use of chemical

properties.