In: Chemistry
determiting the percent water in a compound. how important is to remove water from a compound and what is the benefit of it?
A Hydrate is a compound that incorporates water molecules into its fundamental solid structure. In a hydrate a defined number of water molecules are associated with each formula unit of the primary material.
To determine the percent water content experimentally in a hydrate involves first heating the compound that dehydrate the crystals and known decrease in mass of the hydrate due to removal of the water is calculated by measuring the mass of the anhydrate remaining. The difference between the two masses is the mass of water lost. Dividing the mass of the water lost by the original mass of hydrate used is equal to the fraction of water in the compound. Multiplying this fraction by 100 gives the percent water in the hydrate.