Determination of relative atomic mass

Class practical
In this experiment magnesium ribbon reacts with dilute hydrochloric acid to produce hydrogen gas, which is collected in a
burette. The measured volume of gas produced and mass of magnesium are used to calculate the mass of magnesium that
would be needed to produce one mole of hydrogen molecules, and hence deduce the relative atomic mass of magnesium.

Lesson organisation
This is a class experiment suitable for students who already have a reasonable understanding of the mole concept, and are at
least beginning to use chemical equations to perform calculations.
Timing will depend on the adequacy of access to top-pan balances, and the skill with which students can use the balance to
sufficient accuracy. Including the time taken by the teacher to demonstrate the procedure, and allowing an average of 5 minutes
for each student to weigh their magnesium ribbon, a total of 45 minutes should be adequate for the class to obtain and record
their results.

Apparatus

Chemicals

Eye protection
The teacher and each
working group will require:
Fine emery paper, a few
cm x2
Burette (50 cm3) (Note 1)
Burette stand
Funnel, small
Beaker (100 cm3)
Beaker (250 cm3)
Access to:
Top-pan balance,
accurate to +/- 0.001 g
(Note 2)
Room temperature and
pressure measurements
(Note 3)

Hydrochloric acid, 2 M, (IRRITANT), 25

cm3
Magnesium ribbon, approx 3 - 4 cm length
Refer to Health & Safety and Technical
notes section below for additional
information.

Health & Safety and Technical notes

Read our standard health & safety guidance

Dilute hydrochloric acid, HCl(aq), (IRRITANT at concentration used) - see CLEAPSS Hazcard and CLEAPSS Recipe Book.
Provide the hydrochloric acid in small bottles or corked conical flasks, spanled, suitable for pouring the acid into the burette.
Magnesium ribbon, Mg(s) - see CLEAPSS Hazcard. Clean the magnesium ribbon with emery paper to remove the grey oxide
layer, so that it appears shiny and metallic. Cut the ribbon into lengths of 3 - 4 cm. (which will yield around 30 cm3 of hydrogen
when reacted). Do NOT leave in a place where pupils would have potentially unsupervised access.

1 Ensure the burette taps are free from leakage, operate smoothly and are secure in their sockets. Refer to CLEAPSS
Laboratory Handbook Section 10.10.1.
2 If a balance weighing to 0.001 g is not available, reasonable results could be obtained by weighing a much longer (eg 30 cm)
piece of magnesium ribbon beforehand on a balance weighing to 0.01 g, measuring its length and then cutting it accurately into
3 cm lengths. Using the mass and length of the long piece of magnesium, the average mass of a 3 cm length can be calculated
with sufficient accuracy.
5 If a barometer is not available in the laboratory, an up-to-date reading of atmospheric pressure will need to be obtained shortly
before the lesson, eg from a local weather website. Similarly a measurement of room temperature is needed.

Procedure
a Weigh accurately, to the nearest 0.001 g, a length of magnesium ribbon, approx 3 4 cm long. The mass should lie between
0.020 and 0.040 g.
b Ensure the burette tap is closed. Use a small funnel to pour 25 cm3 of dilute hydrochloric acid into the burette, followed
carefully by 25 cm3 of water. Try to avoid mixing of the two liquids as far as possible. Accurate volume measurements are not
needed. This should leave a space of at least 5 cm between the liquid and the top of the burette.
c Carefully push the magnesium ribbon into the open end of the burette, pushing the strip in the middle so that the springiness of
the strip holds it in place against the glass. Do not allow it to contact the liquid at this stage.
d Add about 50 cm3 of water to a 250 cm3 beaker.
e Rest the top of the burette gently on the lip of the beaker, then quickly turn the burette upside-down and lower the end beneath
the water in the beaker. If this is done quickly and carefully (the teacher may wish to demonstrate this first), little or no liquid will
be lost. Clamp the burette vertically in this upside-down position.

f Without delay, check that the liquid level in the burette is on the scale if it is not, open the tap momentarily to allow the level to
drop on to the scale.
g Take the burette reading of the liquid level (Note: the scale is also now upside-down!)
h As the acid diffuses downwards, the magnesium begins to react. Allow the metal to react completely.
i Once the liquid level has ceased to change, and no more gas bubbles are being formed, take the final burette reading, and
record the result.

Teaching notes
It is advisable to demonstrate the procedure beforehand. The inversion is not difficult, and it is not necessary to put a finger over
the open end. Students need to be warned not to fold the magnesium ribbon, but to push it into the burette so that it is retained

under its own tension.

A balance reading to only +/- 0.01 g does not have sufficient accuracy for the procedure used in this experiment, where the
maximum possible volume of hydrogen that can be collected is only 0.002 mol, which would be produced by 0.048 g of
magnesium.
The teacher may wish to collect results from the class on a spreadsheet to enable a discussion about their reliability.
The resulting calculation can be performed at various levels. The class do need to be able to understand the equation:
Mg + 2HCl MgCl2 + H2
and be able to use it to recognise that 1 mole of magnesium will yield 1 mole of hydrogen molecules. From the results, the least
required of students would be to perform a proportionality calculation to determine the mass of magnesium that would have
yielded 24 000 cm3 of hydrogen.
More able students, with an understanding of the ideal gas equation, should be asked to convert the volume of gas collected
under known conditions in the experiment to standard temperature and pressure, and then determine the mass of magnesium
that would have yielded 24 000 cm3 of hydrogen.
Health & Safety checked, September 2014

Credits
This Practical Chemistry resource was developed by the Nuffield Foundation and the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Nuffield Foundation and the Royal Society of Chemistry

Weblinks
Chemguide- most websites deal with instrumental procedures for determining atomic masses, such as
mass spectrometry. Most of these are concerned with levels of detail far beyond what is appropriate
even for more advanced students. For a fairly detailed treatment of mass spectrometry for determining
atomic masses suitable for advanced students.
Page last updated October 2015