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Freezing Point Depression Lab Results

The lab investigates freezing point depression by determining the molal freezing point of lauric acid and the effect of adding benzoic acid. The freezing point of pure lauric acid was found to be 43.45 °C, and when mixed with benzoic acid, it decreased to 40.2 °C, indicating a change of 3.25 °C. The calculated kf value for lauric acid was 3.7266 °C/molal, which is close to the expected value, but the data showed low consistency.

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13 views2 pages

Freezing Point Depression Lab Results

The lab investigates freezing point depression by determining the molal freezing point of lauric acid and the effect of adding benzoic acid. The freezing point of pure lauric acid was found to be 43.45 °C, and when mixed with benzoic acid, it decreased to 40.2 °C, indicating a change of 3.25 °C. The calculated kf value for lauric acid was 3.7266 °C/molal, which is close to the expected value, but the data showed low consistency.

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colesmythe123
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Cole Smythe

Freezing Point Depression Lab


Introduction
Freezing point depression is the falling of the freezing point of a solution of a substance
compared to the pure substance itself. This process happens when ice is added to roads where ice
and snow are very common to prevent freezing and maintain safe driving conditions. Freezing
point depression occurs because when things are freezing, or becoming solids, their molecules
like to arrange in certain geometries, and it requires a certain amount of energy to reach that
point. By adding something to a pure substance and therefore creating a solution, the specific
way that the molecules like to arrange is disrupted and then it requires a greater loss in energy to
reach their “happy point” where they freeze. Using the equation ∆ T f =k f Cm i, where i is the
Vantoc Factor, which is equal to one in this case, Cm is the molality of the solution, and kf is the
molal freezing point depression.
In this lab, the molal freezing point of lauric acid will be experimentally found using the
equation above. This will be done by boiling pure lauric acid, then using a temperature probe
connected to a lab quest to monitor the temperature and get an average temperature at the
freezing point. This will then be repeated while adding benzoic acid to create a solution of a
certain molality and repeated with many different values to get a plot of change in freeze point
versus change in molality. The plot’s slope will give a kf value.

Methods
A 400 mL beaker was filled with about 3 inches of water and heated on a hot plate. About
8 grams of pure lauric acid was placed in a test tube and once the water had reached temperatures
over 60 degrees Celsius, the test tube was placed into the water. A cold bath was then prepared
with cool tap water and a little after all the chunks of acid had melted, the test tube was then
placed in the cold bath and the temperature was then recorded over the next ten minutes. Once
the ten minutes were over, the plot of temperature versus time was observed and the average
temperature of where the graph plateaus is where the freezing point of lauric acid was
experimentally found. The freezing point was found to be 43.45 oC.
This process was repeated, but instead of using pure lauric acid, a solution of.707 molal
was created with 8.061 grams of lauric acid and .70 grams of Benzoic acid. After the solution
had refrozen, the new freezing point was 40.2 oC, meaning that there had been a change of 3.25
degrees Celsius.
Results and Discussions

Figure 1
5

4 f(x) = 3.72662188890984 x + 0.344829958492169


R² = 0.876780457455167
3
ΔT (oC)
2

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2
Molality

Multiple different molalities were created and the difference in freezing temperature were
recorded. As seen in Figure 1, once a trendline is put on the plotted data, the slope is equivalent
to kf, and this is known from the equation that is in the introduction. The found kf for lauric acid
is 3.7266 oC/molal, and when compared to the expected value of 3.9 oC/molal, there was only an
experimental error of 4.45%. Even though the total experimental error was low, as seen in Figure
1 above, the correlation between the data or R2 is low meaning that there is a lack of consistency
with the recorded values. In conclusion, the lab was accurate, but the readings were not precise.

Common questions

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When a substance is added to a pure solution, it disrupts the molecular arrangement needed for the substance to become solid, effectively lowering its freezing point. This phenomenon is known as freezing point depression. The presence of an impurity causes the molecules to require a greater energy loss to reach the point where they can arrange into a solid geometry.

The preparation of a cold bath assists in determining the freezing point by providing a sufficiently cool environment that enables the transition of lauric acid from a liquid to a solid state. As the lauric acid cools, the temperature is recorded until it plateaus, indicating the freezing point. This method ensures control over the cooling process and accurate temperature measurement.

The observed freezing point of pure lauric acid was 43.45°C. When benzoic acid was added, creating a solution with a molality of 0.707, the new freezing point was 40.2°C, indicating a change of 3.25°C due to the addition of the solute.

Molality is a concentration measure of the number of moles of solute per kilogram of solvent. In the experiment, it was used to create solutions of lauric acid and benzoic acid at different concentrations, enabling the study of how varying solute quantities influenced the depression of the freezing point. The relationship between molality and freezing point change was plotted to determine the molal freezing point depression constant, kf.

The experimental kf value for lauric acid was found to be 3.7266°C/molal, which is close to the expected theoretical value of 3.9°C/molal. This resulted in an experimental error of 4.45%, indicating that the experiment was accurate despite some inconsistencies in the data measurements.

The van't Hoff factor, represented as 'i' in the equation ∆T f=k f Cmi, accounts for the degree of dissociation of the solute in the solution. It is crucial in determining the exact amount of freezing point depression, as it modifies the molality to reflect the number of particles in the solution. In the described experiment, the van't Hoff factor was equal to one, indicating no ionization of the solute into multiple particles.

The trendline equation f(x) = 3.72662188890984 x + 0.344829958492169 indicates a linear relationship between the molality of the solution and the freezing point depression. The slope of the equation represents the molal freezing point depression constant (kf) for lauric acid. The positive intercept suggests a potential systematic error or an initial deviation from expected values due to experimental conditions. This equation highlights the directly proportional influence of solute concentration on freezing point depression.

The experiment involved heating lauric acid until it melted, then mixing it with benzoic acid to form a specific molality solution. The test tube was then cooled in a cold bath, and a temperature probe connected to a lab quest was used to monitor and record the temperature as the solution solidified. The probe's role was to determine the exact freezing temperature by identifying where the temperature plateaued, providing an accurate measure of the freezing point.

The correlation coefficient (R²) quantifies how well the trendline fits the experimental data, indicating the degree of consistency among data points. A low R² value suggests that the data points are not closely clustered around the fitted trendline, signaling a lack of precision. In this experiment, the low R² demonstrated a lack of consistency among the results, even though the overall accuracy in determining kf was satisfactory.

Potential causes for low precision could include variations in solution mixing, inconsistencies in the temperature at which the solution began freezing, or measurement errors from the temperature probe. External factors such as heat transfer inefficiencies within the experimental setup or fluctuations in ambient temperature could also contribute. These issues might lead to data points that vary significantly from expected trends, even if the average results accurately determine the kf value.

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