Analía Bellizzi – Chemistry Classes

Ronald Reagan Senior High School

Iron Wool Lab

Stoichiometry & Iron Wool on Fire

Stoichiometry-Lab-Steel-Wool

Purpose of the lab:

Which is the goal in this lab?

Materials:

  • Aluminum foil (tray)
  • ceramic pad
  • tongs
  • Bunsen burner
  • Triple beam balance
  • steel wool  or iron wool

Safety:

Goggles, shoes, and hair tied back are required at all times during this experiment.

Procedure:

  1. Examine the steel wool. Write down its physical properties, such as: solid, liquid, or gas, texture, color, odor, etc. (This will be asked when you complete analysis question #1)
  2. Unroll the steel wool, pulling the strands as far apart as possible to get maximum surface exposure.
  3. Measure and record the mass of the aluminum tray + the ceramic protective pad.
  4. Place the unravel steel wool on the aluminum tray and record the mass again.
  5. Turn on the Bunsen burner and be sure you have a blue flame.
  6. Hold the fire source over the aluminum foil (to catch all product).
  7. Be careful; it will burn rapidly and some steel wool may break off from the bulk.
  8. Use the crucible tongs to move the iron wool around to be sure that all iron was burnt.
  9. When the reaction is over, weigh the mass of the burned steel wool on the foil.
  10. Calculate the mass of the burnt iron wool.
  11. Clean your lab station (spotless!)  Cool the used steel wool and dispose in trash.  Save the aluminum foil.
DESCRIPTION   mass (g)
Mass of Aluminum Foil + ceramic fiber mat
Mass of Iron Wool + Aluminum Foil + ceramic fiber mat
Mass of iron wool (before burning)
Mass of Burned Steel Wool +Aluminum Foil + ceramic fiber mat
Mass of Burned iron Wool

Analysis Questions:

  1. Describe the properties of
    1. reactants
    2. products
    3. Reaction in detail.
    4. How are the products different from the reactants?
  2. What happened to the mass of the steel wool?
  3. What
    1. evidence did you see that a chemical reaction did occur?
    2. type of reaction occurred?
  4. Write a balanced chemical equation for the reaction. (Predict the formula of the product; assume iron will have a +3 charge)
  5. What was the limiting reactant? How do you know?
  6. Calculate the theoretical amount of product (in grams) based on the beginning mass of steel wool. (mass-to-mass stoich!)
  7. What was your percent yield of product in this experiment?
  8. Say you forgot to put foil beneath the steel wool as it burned. Would the percent yield be increased or decreased? Explain and show a sample calculation.
  9. Say you did not unravel the steel wool before burning it. Would the percent yield be increased or decreased? Explain and show a sample calculation.
  10. Say the steel wool is only 98 % iron. Would the percent yield be increased or decrease

 

Your lab report has to show the following parts:

  • TITLE
  • PURPOSE OF THE LAB
  • MATERIALS
  • PROCEDURES
  • LAB SETUP (GRAPH SHOWING THE PROCEDURES)
  • DATA TABLE(S) WITH HEADINGS AND UNITS. (REMEMBER THAT TRIPLE BEAM BALANCES MUST SHOW 2 DECIMALS)
  • QUESTIONS IN THE ANALYSIS

The following is a video with the calculations you need to do during the lab.