Jacob Cauvel

Mrs. Shafer Pd. 4,5

September 20, 2009
Empirical Formula of Silver Oxide Lab
Objective
In this experiment, silver oxide was intensely heated. The heating caused the
oxygen to be driven away, thus decomposing the silver oxide to silver metal and oxygen.
The point of this experiment was to calculate the empirical formula of silver oxide.
Data
Mass of crucible and lid, g
Mass of crucible, lid and silver oxide, g
Mass of crucible, lid, and silver metal, g
Appearance of product

Trial # 1

Trial # 2

Trial # 3

20.8g
21.307g
21.269g
White powdery
coating. Shiny
and malleable
underneath
coating.

21.09g
21.589g
21.5539g

22.0662g
22.5804g
22.0450g
White Chalky and
solid grey.

Data Results Table (Trial #1)

Mass of silver oxide in grams

0.507grams silver oxide

Mass of silver metal produced in grams

The mass of oxygen gas produced in grams

0.469grams silver metal

0.038grams oxygen gas

Percent composition of silver

92.505% silver composition

Percent composition of oxygen

Moles of oxygen in the silver oxide sample

7.4951% oxygen composition

0.002375moles Oxygen

Moles of silver in the silver oxide sample

Mole ratio of silver/oxygen in silver oxide
Empirical formula of Silver oxide

0.0047moles Silver
1(silver)/0.505319(oxygen)
Ag2O

Questions
Pre-Lab
1. Use the molar mass of iron to convert the mass of iron used to moles.
86.65gFe x 1moleFe = 1.5515605moles Fe
1
55.847gFe
2. According to the law of conservation of mass, what is the mass of oxygen that
reacted with the iron?
118.37g iron oxide
- 86.65g iron
31.72g O
3. Calculate the number of moles of oxygen in the product.
32.72gO2 x 1moleO2 x 2 mole O = 2.045moles O
1
32gO2
1 mole O2
4. Use the ratio between the number of moles of iron and number of moles of
oxygen to calculate the empirical formula of iron oxide. Note: Fractions of atoms do not
exist in compounds. In the case where the ratio of atoms is a fractional number, such as
, the ratio should be simplified by multiplying all the atoms by a constant to give whole
number ratios for all the atoms (e.g., Ho1/2 should be H2O).
2.045mole (oxygen)
1.5515605mole (iron)
1.318027882 ratio O to one Fe

1.318027882 oxygen part ratio

x
3
3.954083647 = approximately 4

1 iron part ratio

x3
3

Fe4O3
Post-lab
1. Calculate the mass of silver oxide and the mass of the silver metal product. Use
the law of conservation of mass to calculate the mass of oxygen that combined with the
silver. Enter the answers in your Data Results Table.
21.307g(Mass of crucible, lid and silver oxide)
-20.8g(Mass of crucible and lid)
0.507grams silver oxide
0.507g (silver oxide)
-0.469g (silver metal)
0.038g oxygen

21.269g(Mass of crucible, lid, and silver metal)

-20.8g(Mass of crucible, lid and silver oxide)
0.469grams silver metal

2. What is the percent composition of silver and oxygen in silver oxide? Enter the
answers in your Data Results Table.
0.469g (silver metal)
0.507g (silver oxide) = .92505
x 100
92.505% silver

0.038g (oxygen)
0.507g (silver oxide) = 0.074951
x 100
7.4951% oxygen

3. Use the molar masses of silver and oxygen to calculate the number of moles of
each product. Enter the answers in your Data Results Table.

0.038gO x 1moleO = 0.002375moles oxygen

1
16gO

0.507gAg x 1moleAg = 0.0047moles silver

1
107.87gAg

4. Calculate the ratio between the number of moles of silver and the number of
moles of oxygen in the product. What is the empirical formula of silver oxide? Enter the
answers in the Data Results Table.
0.002375mole (oxygen)/
0.0047mole (silver oxide)
0.505319 ratio Oxygen to one Silver
1.010638 (oxygen) = approximately 1
2 (silver) = 2

2Ag2O

0.0505319 oxygen part ratio

x
2
1.010638

1 silver part ratio

Ag2O
x2
2

5. Write a balanced chemical equation for

the decomposition of silver oxide to form silver
metal and oxygen.

4Ag + O2

6. The theoretical yield of a product in a chemical reaction is the maximum mass

of product that can be obtained, assuming 100% conversion of the reactant(s). Calculate
the theoretical yield of silver metal in this experiment. Hint: Calculate the molar mass of
silver oxide.
.507g Ag2O x 1 mole Ag2O x 4 mole Ag x 107.87g Ag = 0.471995g Ag
1
231.74 Ag2O
2 mole Ag2O 1 mole Ag

Theoretical yield = 0.471995grams Ag

7. The percent yield reflects the actual amount of product formed versus the
maximum that might have been obtained. Use the following equation to calculate the
percent yield or silver metal produced in this experiment.
% yield = actual mass of product (g) x 100%
theoretical mass (g)
0.469g Ag x 100%
0.471995 g Ag
= 99.365%
8. Discuss sources of error in this experiment that might account for a percent
yield lower of higher than 100%. Be specific!
As part of the experiment, it was required that the crucible and its lid be intensely
heated so that any water that the crucible may have soaked up be evaporated before the
actual experiment. If it was not heated long enough, the crucible may have retained water
that would later evaporate, during the experiment, when the silver oxide was heated. This
was unaccounted for and may have affected results leading to a lower percent yield.
During the experiment, silver oxide was heated to drive off oxygen. If the silver
oxide was not heated intensely or long enough, all of the oxygen might not have been
driven off thus, giving faulty data.
Conclusion
In this lab, silver oxide was heated and produced silver metal and oxygen. After
the experiment the empirical formula was calculated from the data as well as the percent
yield, which was calculated to be approximately 99%. This means that there was error in
the lab experiment. During the experiment, the crucible was most likely not heated long
enough so, it retained water that it later lost in during the experiment. As a result, the
additional mass that evaporated was calculated to be oxygen when instead it was water.
After this mistake, there would be more actual product than theoretical so, another
mistake mush have occurred. During heated to drive off oxygen, the silver oxides
heating time was slightly cut to save time. This would have resulted in not all of the
oxygen being evaporated, leading to less product being formed, which accounts the
percent yield.