Name:
Lab Partner:
Date:
Lab # 22: A Five-Bottle Mystery
Accelerated Chemistry 1
Dear Accelerated Chemistry Students,
Recently someone broke into our school laboratory to play a prank on the chemistry lab supervisor.
The supervisor had left for the day after preparing several aqueous solutions for lab that week when
the pranksters decided to remove the labels from each bottle of solution. Consequently, all we have
left are five unlabeled bottles which we cannot use until the identity of each solution is discovered.
We have sent small samples of each solution to you for analysis. The solution possibilities are:
3.0 M sodium hydroxide
1.0 M sodium chloride
0.2 M potassium iodide
0.20 M silver nitrate
1.0 M ammonium nitrate
We would like you to use your knowledge of chemical reactions to determine the proper identity of
each bottle using only the solutions given. Please design a procedure that allows you to examine the
potential chemical reactions between each aqueous solution. In your report to us, please give a
detailed description of how you were able to determine the proper identity of each solution. In
addition, please support your argument with appropriate, balanced, net-ionic equations for all
reactions that occur.
Sincerely,
Jessica Fletcher
Chemistry Department Chairperson
Cabot Cove College
P.S. Our lab manager wanted to pass along the following notes to you
• Silver (I) hydroxide, AgOH, decomposes into silver (I) oxide in aqueous solution. Hence,
you will not find any information about AgOH in a handbook
• When a strong base is mixed with the ammonium cation, gaseous ammonia is produced
according to the equation:
NH4+ (aq) + OH- (aq)  NH3 (g) + H2O (l)
The odor of NH3 (g) is very apparent
AccelLab22-5BottleMystery(NetIonicEquations)
©2010, Jesse Bernstein, Jeffrey Bracken, and Paul Price
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Materials Available:
• Five solutions in dropper bottles
• Plastic sheet onto which the chemicals are mixed
Safety Concerns:
Students should wear safety goggles and laboratory aprons throughout this experiment. Students
should exercise care when working with the chemicals. Clean up all spills as soon as possible.
Students should wash their hands after completing this experiment.
Lab Report:
Each lab team will be required to submit a lab report containing the items listed below in separate
sections as outlined in the Formal Report Requirements:
I.
Experimental Section
II.
Results including:
Potential Chemical Reactions
Show balanced chemical equations with proper chemical formulas and physical states of
reactants and products for all reactions. All equations must be numbered and labeled. For
any reaction that occurs, write the balanced net-ionic equation. For example:
Equation 1: Reaction of Sodium Chloride with Silver Nitrate
NaCl (aq) + AgNO3 (aq)  AgCl (s) + NaNO3
Ag+ (aq) + Cl- (aq)  AgCl(s)
Equation 2. Reaction of Sodium Chloride with Potassium Chloride
NaCl (aq) + KCl (aq)  N.R.
Data Tables
1. Data Table showing reactant combinations with detailed observations of the reaction
results.
2. Data Table showing the proper identifications of the unknowns.
III.
Discussion
- Discuss how you made each of your identifications using the proper net-ionic equations.
AccelLab22-5BottleMystery(NetIonicEquations)
©2010, Jesse Bernstein, Jeffrey Bracken, and Paul Price
2