Hydrogen Gas Lab Report

Abstract: The goal of this experiment was to determine the amount of hydrogen gas that was produced when one started with a certain amount of mols of hydrogen. In fact, the reactants of the experiment were Magnesium and hydrochloric acid, while the products were Magnesium Chloride and Hydrogen gas. In a flask, the correct amount of hydrochloric acid acid was combined with Magnesium metal, and the resulting gas followed a path through a rubber tubing which connected to a gas measuring tube allowing the amount of H2 gas to be observed and recorded. This collection of data allowed for the ability to recognize the relationship between mols and volume. It was observed that for the most part, as the number of moles increased, so did the volume

This reaction allowed magnesium chloride salt and hydrogen gas to be produced. Before having started with further calculations, one must have checked that the equation was balanced. It was also important to understand the law of conservation of mass which states that the mass of the products in a chemical reaction must equal the mass of the reactants. The notion of a mole, which simply states that 1 mol=6.021023particles (atoms/molecules/etc.)(Coull, 2016) was also necessary when it came to dealing with certain numbers in this experiment. Significant figures were extremely important as they were evaluated in almost every step that involved calculations in the experiment. It was also key to know how and when to use stoichiometry. Stoichiometry is defined by “using a balanced chemical equation to calculate amounts of reactants and products” and “simply means using ratios from the balanced equation.” (Khan Academy, 2016) In this experiment, stoichiometry was used to find the amount of magnesium to be used, when starting with 0.0020 mols of hydrogen gas. Next, beginning with this same number of mols, the amount of HCl was determined. In order to find the answer to these calculations, equations such as that to find the number of