Question

In chemistry lab we did an experiment trying to find the empirical formula of an oxide and tin. The question is "suppose some of the oxide splattered out of the crucible. How would this affect your calculated ratio of the number of moles of oxygen to the number of moles of tin?"

Also, what would happen if some material adhered to the bottom of my crucible while the tin oxide was cooling? How would this affect the mole to mole ratio?

Answer 1

Let me tell you what to do.
From the data you have, make the mass of the oxide you obtained in the crucible a little smaller and see what effect that has.
Then for the cooling part of the question, if something sticks to the bottom of the crucible, that would made that part weigh more. Add a little mass and see how that changes the calculations.