Why must you weigh the beaker containing salt and water before dissolving the salt? Why would it be incorrect/inaccurate to obtain the total mass after dissolving the salt? Explain your answer.
(We had to do to create different nacl salt concentration )
I don’t know the answer but this is the exact same question as one on my lab so do you know what the answer is?
Weighing the beaker containing salt and water before dissolving the salt is important because it allows you to determine the initial mass of the salt before it is dissolved. This is necessary because the mass of the salt will affect the concentration of the resulting solution. By knowing the initial mass, you can calculate the precise concentration of the salt solution.
On the other hand, obtaining the total mass after dissolving the salt would be incorrect and inaccurate for determining the concentration. When a solid substance, such as salt, is dissolved in a liquid, it becomes uniform throughout the solution. This means that the salt particles are evenly spread out and no longer visible.
If you were to weigh the beaker after dissolving the salt, you would be weighing the total mass of the solution, including the salt and water combined. The problem with this approach is that you wouldn't know the exact amount of salt dissolved in the solution, as it has become distributed within the liquid. Therefore, you would not be able to accurately determine the concentration of the salt solution using this method.
To obtain accurate results and calculate the concentration of the salt solution correctly, it is necessary to weigh the beaker before dissolving the salt. This provides you with the initial mass of the salt, enabling you to accurately calculate the concentration based on the mass of the dissolved salt and the volume of the solution.