Experimental Overview: In this experiment I was determining the amount of diphosphorus pentoxide in a sample of fertilizer, then comparing my results to what the fertilizer label states. By doing this experiment I was looking at quality control, and determining if the fertilizer has accurately distributed chemicals needed for healthy plant growth. There are three main Chemicals needed for strong, healthy plants; nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Nitrogen is important for the plant’s growth, and for the growth of the plant’s leaves, while potassium and phosphorus help the roots grow stronger, and healthier, along with helping the plant produce flowers. When looking at the box of fertilizer you will find a set of numbers, such as, 15-30-15, or 10-20-10. These numbers represent the percentage of that particular chemical in the fertilizer. So in the case of …show more content…
I then did a conversion factor to look at how many grams of fertilizer has 0.500 g of phosphorus. I found that for every 3.84 grams of fertilizer there should be 0.500 grams of Potassium in it. I ended up using 3.72 g of fertilizer for my experiment. Once i went through all the experiment steps with my partner, I retrieved a petri dish to place our sample in. The dish weighed 41.927 g with it empty. We placed our sample in the dish and let it sit over the four day weekend t dry, then reweighed it. The sample and petri dish has a mass of 46.010 g.
Mass of sample: 46.010g-41.927g = 4.083 g of MgNH2PO4+6H
Grams of P2O5 in fertilizer:
4.083g MgNH2PO4+6H X 12.62g P/100 g MgNH2PO4+6H X100 g P2O5 /43.64g P = 1.181
So the percentage of P2O5 found would be: 1.181 g/ 3.500 g fertilizer X 100 = 33%