Task 2
Aspirin Tests
1. How pure was your sample?
Under the ultraviolet light we could observe the purity of our sample (shown in the photograph on the right). 1 = our sample, 2= pure aspirin sample, 3= salicylic acid. You can see from the picture that my sample showed elements of both the pure aspirin sample and the salicylic acid sample. This means that my sample of aspirin is not pure as it contains some of the same properties of the salicylic acid meaning the reaction has not been complete (a complete reaction would have removed all the salicylic acid), however my sample does contain some of the same properties of the pure aspirin sample which means the reaction has been partially carried out. If the reaction had been 100% successful…show more content… The precipitation reaction technique to form the crystals of aspirin, involved combining the cat ions and anions in the aqueous solution to form an insoluble ionic solid (a precipitate). This technique may have influenced the purity of the sample because if any of the ions failed to react with each-other (an incomplete reaction) then it would mean the entirety of the solution would not have the potential to become aspirin. The vacuum filtration technique I used meant that the liquids of the substance could be separated from the aspirin crystals, making a (potentially) pure sample. This method should increase the chance of the sample being pure as it is a more effective way of separating the components of the substance rather than relying on evaporation (for example). However it could still cause the sample to be impure if all the liquid in the substance are not completely separated from the crystals of