Richard Tien 1/23/14 Period 5

Lab: Floating Pennies

Objective
1. Study a single replacement reaction 2. Determine the appropriate percentage of Zinc (by weight and mass) of the total penny weight.

Materials
1 beaker (various sizes + volumes) 1 new penny (post 1983-2014 20ml of 6M HCl (hydrochloric acid) o Danger: concentrated acid, avoid contact with skin and eyes 1 forceps/tweezers 100ml graduated cylinder Balance/scale

Procedure
1. Wear goggles 2. Measure 20ml of 6M HCl in 100ml graduated cylinder and place in clean, dry beaker. 3. File a partial side edge of post-1983 penny to expose zinc interior. Weigh penny on scale to nearest hundredth of a gram. Record 4. Using forceps/tweezers, place penny into 20ml of 6M HCl. 5. Observe reaction and write down observations. 6. Leave the reaction undisturbed overnight. 7. When the penny is floating, carefully remove from solution with forceps. Rinse in cold water and carefully dry with paper towel. 8. Weight and record pennys mass/weight to the nearest hundredths. Word Equation of Reaction Balanced Formula Equation + State of Matter Symbols Post-1983 Penny (Zinc + Copper) + Hydrochloric Acid -> Zinc Chloride + Copper + Hydrogen CuZn (s) + 2HCl (l) -> ZnCl2 (aq) + Cu (s) + H2 (g) Before Penny starts to bubble, represents gas being released as gas Penny forms a bubble layer around itself After Half of penny is floating Zinc inside has gone through a chemical reaction 2.45 Grams 0.37 Grams

Observations of Reaction

Mass of Penny (Before) Mass of Penny (After)

Conclusion
1. Which elemental metal from the penny (Cu or Zn) replaces hydrogen in HCl? Give a reason for your choice. a. Zinc is replaced, since all that is left is the copper coating floating in the liquid. 2. Write the balanced formula equation for this experiments reaction (include state of matter symbols). a. CuZn (s) + 2HCl (l) -> ZnCl2 (g) + Cu(s) + H2 (g) 3. Calculate percentage mass of copper in the post-1983 penny.

4. Calculate percentage mass of zinc in the post-1983 penny. (100%-%Cu=%Zn)

5. Based on the class average percentage zinc mass (this is the accepted value) calculate your percentage error for your percent zinc.

6. How many grams of zinc were in your penny? How many grams of copper? (Show all worksteps) (Nearest 0.01 grams)

7. How would you improve your experimental results? Suggest (write) a hypothesis and procedure steps that you would change or add to improve accuracy. a. In our experiment, we had some issues. When we washed off the penny, some water or some acid was still inside the penny and that probably caused our mass to be a lot higher once the penny had been done reacting. b. Another problem that is possible is not filing the whole circumference of the penny, and only filing half of it. The acid looks like it didnt get deep inside the penny and not all of the zinc inside was corroded away. c. The solution we had was small and could probably have reacted a lot better if there was more acid. d. If we had weighed the pennies without any miscalculations, the percentages we get could have been more precise. e. If we had more time, we could have left the reaction to happen for longer, such as a week, or a month. f. If we had a larger sample size, we could get a more precise percentage, as there would be a lot more variations in numbers and there would be a greater possibility of getting the expected average.