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Solubility Lab Report

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Solubility is the amount of solute that can dissolve in a certain amount of solvent to create a saturated solution at a constant temperature and pressure. The solute can be a gas, a liquid or a solid. Generally, the solubility of liquids and solids increase as the temperature is increased. However, the solubility of gases actually decreases as the temperature is decreased. The solubility of solids and liquids increases as the temperature of increases because the higher temperatures mean higher kinetic energy which allows for more and stronger collisions between the solute and solvent, which causes the solute to be surrounded by the solvent molecules and dissolve into the solution. However, gases become less soluble in higher temperatures because …show more content…

If a mixture of 80g KNO3 was contaminated with 5g NaCl in 100g water, the KNO3 could be separated from the NaCl by using fractional crystallization which separates the mixture due to different solubilities. By cooling the solution's temperature to 0°C, the NaCl would remain dissolved in the solution since at 0°C, around 38g of NaCl can be dissolved per 100g of H2O. However, at 0°C, only around 18g of KNO3 can be dissolved per 100g of H2O. Once the solution is cooled to this temperature, the excess KNO3 would crystallize out of the solution and yield about 62g of pure KNO3 so the solution stays at a saturated …show more content…

The purpose of this lab was to determine the effect of temperature on the solubility of potassium nitrate in water as well as to create a solubility curve showing how potassium nitrate's solubility varies with temperature. Different amounts of solute (potassium nitrate) were brought to crystallization, meaning that their solutions were formerly supersaturated and brought to saturation. As a result, the crystallization temperatures could be used to create a solubility curve that indicated the amount of g KNO3 dissolved per 100g of water in a saturated solution. The experimental results showed that the solubility of KNO3 increased as the temperature increased, indicating a directly proportional relationship. The test tubes with the highest solute to water ratio crystallized at the highest temperatures, showing that the most amount of solute were able to dissolve in the highest temperatures. The purpose of the lab was fulfilled as the effect of temperature on potassium nitrate's solubility was determined (higher temperatures increase the solubility) and a solubility curve was created in Calculations #2. The hypothesis was also supported as raising the temperature did result in higher solubility of the potassium

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