The hydrate splattered during heating and some of the sample was lost. How would this effect the percent water observed in the hydrate?

Answer 1

If some of the hydrate sample was lost due to splattering during heating, the observed percentage of water in the hydrate would be lower than the actual percentage. This is because the lost sample would have contained water, which would have contributed to the total mass and thus affected the calculation of the percentage.

To calculate the percentage of water in a hydrate, one typically compares the mass of the water component to the total mass of the hydrate. However, if some of the sample is lost during heating, the calculated percentage of water would be based on a smaller mass of the hydrate, leading to a lower observed percentage of water.

In other words, since the water component is lost along with the lost sample, the remaining sample would appear to have a lower percentage of water than it actually contains.