Hydrates and Anhydrous Salts

On Friday, we learned about hydrates and anhydrous salts and how to solve conversion problems with them. I believe that these past couple conversion lessons are pretty easy with a lot of practice. It is however difficult to remember all of these rules and formulas for various types of problems, but I just need some more practice. The big picture idea for this lesson is that hydrates are substances that contain water molecules, and anhydrous salts are substances that previously contained water molecules. When water is removed from the hydrate, the anhydrous salt is what is left over. ChemTeam  contains some good practice problems for figuring out the formula for a hydrate.

http://fphoto.photoshelter.com/gallery/Compounds/G0000P8DRfn82fkA/C0000AGiG6IN5fGI

We have a pre-lab quiz coming up on Monday which I am extremely anxious about. I have been studying quite a bit, but I am worried that a question will completely throw me off, and I won't be able to participate like during the Aspirin Lab. I will be practicing those hydrate problems to become more efficient at doing them in order to use my time wisely during the pre-lab quiz. The lab looks very interesting, and I very much hope I will be able to participate. Fingers crossed.