Question #07829

1 Answer
Nov 3, 2016

"0.60 g"

Explanation:

The trick here is to realize that your solute is anhydrous copper(II) nitrate, "Cu"("NO"_3)_2, which you deliver to the solution by dissolving the copper(II) nitrate trihydrate, "Cu"("NO"_3)_2 * 3"H"_2"O".

Calculate the moles of solute present in your solution by using its molarity as a conversion factor

25 color(red)(cancel(color(black)("mL"))) * (1color(red)(cancel(color(black)("L"))))/(10^3color(red)(cancel(color(black)("mL")))) * ("0.10 moles Cu"("NO"_3)_2)/(1color(red)(cancel(color(black)("L solution"))))

= "0.0025 moles Cu"("NO"_3)_2

Now, notice that 1 mole of copper(II) nitrate trihydrate contains

  • one mole of anhydrous copper(II) nitrate, 1 xx "Cu"("NO"_3)_2
  • three moles of water of crystallization, 3 xx "H"_2"O"

This means that in order to deliver 0.0025 moles of anhydrous salt to the solution, you must use 0.0025 moles of hydrate.

To convert this to grams, use the molar mass of the hydrate

0.0025color(red)(cancel(color(black)("moles Cu"("NO"_3)_2))) * (1color(red)(cancel(color(black)("mole Cu"("NO"_3)_2 * 3"H"_2"O"))) )/(1color(red)(cancel(color(black)("mole Cu"("NO"_3)_2)))) * "241.6 g"/(1color(red)(cancel(color(black)("mole Cu"("NO"_3)_2 * 3"H"_2"O"))))

= color(green)(bar(ul(|color(white)(a/a)color(black)("0.60 g")color(white)(a/a)|)))

The answer is rounded to two sig figs.

So, in order to prepare your solution, take "0.60 g" of copper(II) nitrate trihydrate and dissolve the sample in enough water to make the total volume of the solution equal to "25 mL".