Hey,
I'm writing up a lab report for formula of a hydrate--copper(II) sulfate hydrate.
We evaporated it and found the ratio of moles of water to moles of anhydrous copper(II) sulfate.
The thing is the ratio I got from the experiment was 4.80 so the formula would be 5CuSO4.24H2O if I did made a conclusion out of that.
The thing is, the theoretical value is copper(II) sulfate pentahydrate of course. So CuSO4.5H20. I am wondering if I am supposed to round my value up to 5?
Also, if I do round up to 5, how will I justify it in my analysis?
I have sources of error listed in evaluation, but do I just say because of sources of error, I'm rounding it up to 5 or what?
Thanks a lot for your help in advance.