This question is about cobalt oxides, Group 14 oxides, and differences in lattice structures of oxides.
(a) Cobalt forms several oxides including CoO\text{CoO}CoO, Co2O3\text{Co}_2\text{O}_3Co2O3, and Co3O4\text{Co}_3\text{O}_4Co3O4.
A student carries out an experiment to identify an unknown cobalt oxide by reducing it to cobalt metal. The student heats the unknown cobalt oxide in a horizontal tube in a stream of hydrogen gas, H2\text{H}_2H2.
Student's method:
Write the balanced equation for the reduction of Co3O4\text{Co}_3\text{O}_4Co3O4 with H2\text{H}_2H2 to form cobalt and steam.
The student wears safety glasses and a lab coat. State, with a reason, one other important safety precaution the student should take when carrying out this experiment involving hydrogen.
Suggest two modifications that the student could make to their method to be confident that all the oxygen had been removed from the cobalt oxide. Explain your reasoning.
After making suitable modifications, the student repeats the experiment to obtain the following accurate results:
Calculate the empirical formula of the cobalt oxide.
SiO2\text{SiO}_2SiO2 and CO2\text{CO}_2CO2 are both oxides of Group 14 elements. Solid SiO2\text{SiO}_2SiO2 melts at 1713 ∘C1713\text{ }^\circ\text{C}1713 ∘C while solid CO2\text{CO}_2CO2 sublimes at −78.5 ∘C-78.5\text{ }^\circ\text{C}−78.5 ∘C.
Suggest the type of lattice structure in solid SiO2\text{SiO}_2SiO2 and in solid CO2\text{CO}_2CO2, and explain the difference in their phase transition temperatures in terms of the types of force within each lattice structure.
