What is the effect would an impurity in the unknown solid have on the molecular weight determination?
You haven’t mentioned how you determined the molecular weight of the unknown solid; I shall assume gravimetry as it is one of the most commonly used techniques for molecular weight determination.
We must assume that the impurity is inert to all the reactions that the sample containing the unknown solid went through and is present in the thoroughly washed and dried residue that is obtained in the final step for the molecular weight determination. The impurity shall increase the dry weight of the solid in the crucible. The molecular weight obtained by converting this weight into number of moles will be higher, since we had an erroneous higher weight than is actually true.
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