During heating of the hydrate, loss due to splattering can cause a serious error. if a significant amount of sample is lost, will the calculated waters of hydration be too high or too low? explain.

as you have lost some solid, your measured mass when you were done heating it will be smaller than it should be. therefore it will be smaller relative to the initial mass (that you have taken at start) of the hydrated solid. So % water which you calculate will be higher than it should be ...