The Gravimetric Stoichiometry Lab was a two-week lab in which we tested one of the fundamental laws of chemistry; the law of conservation of mass. The law states that in chemical reactions, when you start with a set amount of reactant, the product should theoretically have the same mass. This can sometimes be difficult because in some reactions gases are released and it is difficult to measure the mass of a gas. Some common gases released during chemical reactions include hydrogen, carbon dioxide, oxygen, and water vapor. One of the best methods for determining mass in chemistry is gravimetric analysis (laboratory paper). It's basically using the mass of the product to determine the original mass we're looking for. So, the goal of our experiment was to compare the final mass of our reaction to the initial mass and determine the change in mass. In our experiment, we used hydrated cobalt chloride. Hydrates are crystalline compounds in which one or more water molecules are combined with each salt unit. Cobalt(II) chloride hexahydrate is a dark pink inorganic compound in its hydrated form. However, as a troublemaker, our approach has not been without errors. These errors are vital because they affect the data we conclude. Theoretically, according to the balanced chemical equation, for each mole of hydrated cobalt chloride heated, the decomposition ensures that the compound decomposes into one mole of cobalt(II) chloride and six moles of gaseous water vapor. So, in theory, we should lose a mass equal to six moles of water vapor in each trial. Unfortunately, this is not the case because we do not have perfect laboratory conditions and factors such as heating time, use of the same crucible, and inconsistency in the magnitude of the Bunsen burner flame contribute all to differences in percentage change in mass. for everyone