AP CHEMISTRY Scoring Guide
Unit 3 comprehensive PART 3
1.
The diagrams above show the ultraviolet absorption spectra for two compounds. Diagram 1 is the absorption
spectrum of pure acetone, a solvent used when preparing solutions for an experiment. Diagram 2 is the absorption
spectrum of the solute for which the absorbance needs to be measured to determine its concentration. When the
student reads the absorbance of the solution at , the result is too high. Which of the following is most likely
responsible for the error in the measured absorbance?
(A) The student added too little solute to the acetone before measuring its absorbance.
(B) The student rinsed the cuvette with the solution before filling the cuvette with the solution.
(C) The student forgot to calibrate the spectrophotometer first by using a cuvette containing only acetone.
The wavelength setting was accidentally changed from to before the student made the
(D)
measurement.
Answer C
Correct. The solvent absorbs some of the ultraviolet radiation with a wavelength of . As a result,
the measured absorbance will have contributions from both the solute and the solvent instead of only the
solute. The result would be a measured absorbance that would be too high. Had the absorbance been set
at zero with a cuvette containing just acetone, this error would not have occurred.
A student uses visible spectrophotometry to determine the concentration of in a sample solution. First the
student prepares a set of solutions of known concentration. Then the student uses a spectrophotometer to
determine the absorbance of each of the standard solutions at a wavelength of and constructs a standard curve.
Finally, the student determines the absorbance of the sample of unknown concentration.
AP Chemistry Page 1 of 8
Scoring Guide
Unit 3 comprehensive PART 3
2.
The student made the standard curve above. Which of the following most likely caused the error in the point the
student plotted at ?
(A) There was distilled water in the cuvette when the student put the standard solution in it.
There were a few drops of the standard solution in the cuvette when the student
(B)
put the standard solution in it.
The student used a cuvette with a longer path length than the cuvette used for the other standard
(C)
solutions.
(D) The student did not run a blank between the solution and the one before it.
Answer A
Correct. Distilled water in the cuvette would decrease the concentration of and result in a
lower absorbance.
Cu(s) + 4 HNO3(aq) → Cu(NO3)2(aq) + 2 NO2(g) + 2 H2O(l)
Each student in a class placed a 2.00 g sample of a mixture of Cu and Al in a beaker and placed the beaker in a fume
hood. The students slowly poured 15.0 mL of 15.8 M HNO3(aq) into their beakers. The reaction between the copper in the
mixture and the HNO3(aq) is represented by the equation above. The students observed that a brown gas was released
from the beakers and that the solutions turned blue, indicating the formation of Cu2+(aq). The solutions were then diluted
with distilled water to known volumes.
Page 2 of 8 AP Chemistry
Scoring Guide
Unit 3 comprehensive PART 3
3.
To determine the number of moles of Cu in the sample of the mixture, the students measured the absorbance of
known concentrations of Cu(NO3)2(aq) using a spectrophotometer. A cuvette filled with some of the solution
produced from the sample of the mixture was also tested. The data recorded by one student are shown in the table
above. On the basis of the data provided, which of the following is a possible error that the student made?
(A) The Cu(NO3)2(aq) from the sample of the mixture was not diluted properly.
(B) The spectrophotometer was calibrated with tap water instead of distilled water.
The student labeled the cuvettes incorrectly, reversing the labels on two of the solutions of known
(C)
concentration.
The spectrophotometer was originally set to an inappropriate wavelength, causing the absorbance to
(D)
vary unpredictably.
4.
A student prepared four solutions of known and measured the absorbance of each solution using the same
cuvette. The graph shows the data for two absorbance measurements done for each solution. Which of the following
identifies the most likely error that affected the absorbance recorded for the solution with
in the second trial?
AP Chemistry Page 3 of 8
Scoring Guide
Unit 3 comprehensive PART 3
(A) The cuvette was rinsed with water between measurements.
(B) A fingerprint was left on the side of the cuvette facing the detector.
(C) The absorbance was measured at a wavelength where has a lower molar absorptivity.
(D) The cuvette was not filled with the same volume of solution.
Answer B
Correct. The data show that the absorbance for the second trial at is too high
relative to the remainder of the results. A fingerprint on the cuvette would result in an absorbance that is
too high.
An experiment was performed to investigate the reaction between metal and at different concentrations.
Because the ion is green, the extent of the reaction was determined using spectrophotometric analysis. Four
standard solutions of were prepared by dissolving (molar mass ) in
water. The absorbance of each solution was measured; the results are shown both in the table below and in the following
plot of the absorbance data.
Solution Absorbance
5. What is the expected absorbance of a standard solution made by dissolving of in
water to make of solution?
Page 4 of 8 AP Chemistry
Scoring Guide
Unit 3 comprehensive PART 3
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
Answer D
Correct. The concentration of the new standard solution is
. This is halfway between the concentrations of
solution 3 and solution 4. Reading from the graph (or interpolating from the table) gives the expected
absorbance of .
6.
A student prepared five solutions of CuSO4 with different concentrations, and then filled five cuvettes, each
containing one of the solutions. The cuvettes were placed in a spectrophotometer set to the appropriate wavelength
for maximum absorbance. The absorbance of each solution was measured and recorded. The student plotted
absorbance versus concentration, as shown in the figure above. Which of the following is the most likely
explanation for the variance of the data point for the 0.600 M CuSO4 solution?
(A) The cuvette into which the 0.600 M solution was placed had some water droplets inside.
(B) The cuvette into which the 0.600 M solution was placed was filled slightly more than the other cuvettes.
(C) The wavelength setting was accidentally moved away from that of maximum absorbance.
The cuvette used for the 0.600 M solution had not been wiped clean before being put in the
(D)
spectrophotometer.
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Scoring Guide
Unit 3 comprehensive PART 3
2 NO2(g) ⇄ N2O4(g)
dark brown colorless
The dimerization of NO2(g) , an exothermic process, is represented by the equation above.
7. Which of the following experimental techniques will allow the most accurate determination of the concentration of
NO2(g) at equilibrium?
(A) Paper chromatography
(B) Gravimetric analysis
(C) Titration
(D) Spectrophotometry
8.
Trial Absorbance
1 0.025 0.124
2 0.050 0.268
3 0.100 0.520
4 0.150 0.680
Using a spectrophotometer, a student measures the absorbance of four solutions of at a given wavelength.
The collected data is given in the table above. Which of the following is the most likely explanation for the
discrepant data in trial 4 ?
(A) The solution was at a lower temperature than the solutions in the other trials.
The measurement was made using a different spectrophotometer that uses a cell with a longer path
(B)
length.
(C) The solution was saturated and the flow of light through the solution was restricted.
(D) The concentration of the solution was actually lower than .
Answer D
Correct. The actual solution concentration must have been lower than , because the reported
absorbance value is too small based on the Beer-Lambert law . The increase in absorbance
should have been proportional to the increase in concentration, as seen in trials 2 and 3.
Page 6 of 8 AP Chemistry
Scoring Guide
Unit 3 comprehensive PART 3
9. A student is given the task of making a calibration curve for for use in a spectrophotometry
experiment. The student pours a sample of of known concentration into a cuvette with a path
length and tries to measure the absorbance at , which is the wavelength of maximum absorbance.
However, the absorbance is too high to give an accurate reading. Which of the following is the most appropriate
next step for the student?
(A) Switching to using a cuvette with a path length
(B) Repeating the experiment after warming the solution to
(C) Diluting a measured volume of the solution to a new known volume using distilled water
(D) Pouring some solution out of the cuvette
Answer C
Correct. Making a more dilute solution of known concentration will reduce the absorbance to a range that
will likely give a more accurate reading.
A student placed a sample of a food coloring that contains a mixture of a blue dye and a red dye at the top of a
chromatography column filled with a nonpolar stationary phase. When water is poured through the column, two bands of
colors are seen in the column, as shown in the diagram above.
10. A student collects a sample of the blue dye from the column in a cuvette. Which of the following is least useful to
determine the concentration of the sample using a spectrophotometer set at ?
AP Chemistry Page 7 of 8
Scoring Guide
Unit 3 comprehensive PART 3
(A) The volume of the sample
(B) The path length of the cuvette
(C) The absorbance of the dye at
(D) The molar absorptivity of the dye at
Answer A
Correct. According to Beer’s law, , the volume of the sample does not affect the absorbance
measurement as long as there is enough sample to fill the cell to a level above the light beam.
Page 8 of 8 AP Chemistry