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Hydrate Lab

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The following laboratory experiment calls for a moderate understanding of what a hydrate is, what its properties are, and how altering a hydrate’s chemical structure may cause the release of both water and acidic vapors. A hydrate itself is a chemical, typically a crystalline salt, which incorporates water (H2O) into its chemical structure. For example, the compound CoCl2 is merely cobalt (II) chloride, however, take the original compound and attach a water molecule and it becomes CoCl2 + 6 H2O. In other words, the original cobalt (II) chloride is now cobalt (II) chloride hexahydrate.
The bond between the compounds and the water molecules is weak and therefore easily broken. Typically, these bonds are broken through the heating of the compound.

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