In chemistry lab we did an experiment trying to find the empirical formula of an oxide and tin. The question is "suppose some of the oxide splattered out of the crucible. How would this affect your calculated ratio of the number of moles of oxygen to the number of moles of tin?"
Also, what would happen if some material adhered to the bottom of my crucible while the tin oxide was cooling? How would this affect the mole to mole ratio?
Let me tell you what to do.
From the data you have, make the mass of the oxide you obtained in the crucible a little smaller and see what effect that has.
Then for the cooling part of the question, if something sticks to the bottom of the crucible, that would made that part weigh more. Add a little mass and see how that changes the calculations.
If some of the oxide splattered out of the crucible during the experiment, it means that you would lose some of the oxygen. This would result in a decrease in the amount of oxygen in your sample. As a result, your calculated ratio of the number of moles of oxygen to the number of moles of tin would be lower than the actual ratio. This would lead to an underestimation of the mole to mole ratio.
On the other hand, if some material adhered to the bottom of your crucible while the tin oxide was cooling, it means that you would have additional mass in your sample that is not accounted for in your calculations. This extra material could be another compound or impurities.
In this case, the presence of the extra material would affect your mole to mole ratio because it would alter the amount of tin oxide in your sample. The additional material would increase the total mass of the sample, and as a result, the calculated mole to mole ratio would be higher than the actual ratio, overestimating the amount of tin oxide.
In both scenarios, it is important to ensure accurate measurements and minimal loss or contamination of the sample to obtain reliable results.