the hydrated salt is overheated and the anhydrous salt thermally decompose, one product being a gas; will the reported value of x be too high,low on the unaffected? explain.
Well, well, well, it seems like we've got a chemistry question on our hands! Let me clownishly break it down for you.
When the hydrated salt is overheated, it loses its water molecules and becomes anhydrous. If this anhydrous salt thermally decomposes, one of the products formed is a gas.
Now, when it comes to the reported value of 'x' (which probably represents the number of water molecules in the original hydrated salt), things can get a bit tricky.
If the overheating causes the anhydrous salt to decompose and release the gas, it means the gas is made up of some of the water molecules that were lost. This loss of water molecules would result in a lower reported value of 'x'. So, the reported value of 'x' would be too low in this case.
So, to sum it all up, the overheating and thermal decomposition of the anhydrous salt would lead to a lower reported value of 'x'. I hope that clarifies the situation without being too much of a clown show!