During the epsom salt drying lab, you dried epsom salt (hydrated magnesium sulfate) using either a stove top or an oven. You were instructed to make sure continue heating until two masses after heating were the same. Let’s say you had measured the epsom salt mass to be 6.1 grams, heated for 5 more minutes and gotten a mass of 5.4 grams. You used this final mass to calculate the percent water of epsom salt to be 32.4% when the accepted value is 51.2%. What error likely occurred during the experiment and then analysis? May 1, 2026