Question

What effect would increasing the amount of lauric acid present in the test tube have on the freezing point and the shape/ features of the graph?

(This is a freezing point of lauric acid lab question require at least five sentences)

Answer 1

Adding more lauric acid to a test tube increases the colligative property of freezing point depression, resulting in a lower freezing point and a steeper graph towards solidification.

Step-by-step explanation:

Increasing the amount of lauric acid present in a test tube would lead to an elevation of the freezing point compared to solutions with lower concentrations of lauric acid. This is because lauric acid molecules, when added to the solvent, would cause freezing point depression, which is a colligative property. As such, it depends on the number of particles in the solution rather than the chemical nature of the particles themselves. When graphed, a higher concentration of lauric acid would result in a steeper drop in temperature before reaching the plateau phase, since the freezing point would be lower. After solidification begins, the temperature would stabilize, and the curve would flatten, reflecting the release of latent heat of fusion.

Answer 2

Lauric acid, 300 g

Benzoic acid, 30 g

Paper towels

Advance Preparation

It is important that you do the laboratory yourself beforehand. Time may be saved by pre-filling the test-tubes with about 25 g of lauric acid and having the hot and warm water baths ready. [NOTE: The mass of the lauric acid in the test-tubes must be determined to the nearest gram.]