Question

A mixture contains only nacl and al2(so4)3. a 1.45 g sample of the mixture is dissolved in water, and an excess of naoh is added, producing a precipitate of al(oh)3. the precipitate is filtered, dried, and weighed. the mass of the precipitate is 0.495 g. what is the mass percent of al2(so4)3 in the sample?

Answer 1

When mixture of NaCl and Al₂(SO₄)₃ is allowed to react with excess NaOH, only Al₂(SO₄)₃ reacts with it and NaCl does not react with NaOH due to presence of common ion (Na⁺). On reaction gelatinous precipitate of aluminium hydroxide [Al(OH)₃] is produced.  The balanced chemical reaction is represented as-

Al₂(SO₄)₃ + 6NaOH → 2Al(OH)₃ + 3Na₂SO₄

On this reaction, 0.495 g = 0.495/78 moles =6.346 X 10⁻³ moles of Al(OH)₃.

As per balanced reaction, two moles of Al(OH)₃ is produced from one mole Al₂(SO₄)₃. So, 6.346 X 10⁻³ moles of Al(OH)₃ is produced from (6.346 X 10⁻³)/2 moles=3.173 X 10⁻³ moles of Al₂(SO₄)₃= 3.173 X 10⁻³ X 342 g of Al₂(SO₄)₃=1.085 g of Al₂(SO₄)₃.

So, mass percentage of Al₂(SO₄)₃ is= (amount of Al₂(SO₄)₃/total amount of mixture)X100 = $\frac{1.085 X 100}{1.45}$ =74.8 %.