Silver Oxide Lab

In this experiment, we have silver oxide and by using a bunsen burner, we will drive off all of the oxygen in the compound. We will do this by heating the silver oxide until the substance’s mass stays constant to know when all of the oxygen possible has been driven out. This process will occur through a series of heating and remassing. Silver oxide has many uses from batteries to military purposes. In a silver-zinc battery, silver oxide acts as the cathode and zinc as the anode. This battery is used in small electronic devices such as watches or calculators. The Apollo space program and United States military utilize the silver oxide batteries because they can contain a high current load and high operating voltage. This battery has a higher durability and is not flammable compared to other batteries. Silver oxide is also used as an antimicrobial agent and is known to remove undesired microbes. Silver oxide is known to be a very reactive compound. Due to this fact, it may be difficult in our experiment to purify the silver oxide because of its nature of being very attracted to CO2 molecules. Silver oxide is known as a “carbon dioxide scrubber” because it is successful in removing carbon dioxide from humid air. In the presence of water molecules, the silver oxide reacts with CO2 to make silver carbonate. This reaction
The heat from the bunsen burner will remove the oxygen atoms from their positions in the ionic structure and will make the elemental forms of silver and oxygen (O2). The heat speeds up the process of breaking the attractions, because the electrons need to overcome an activation energy to break the bond, and therefore will force the ions away from each other and drive a redox reaction to occur. 2 moles of Ag+ are needed for every 1 O-2 mole to make a stable, balanced compound. Therefore, the theoretical empirical formula is