WilliamCharron

1December2015
SludgeReport
Chemistry

ExecutiveSummary

TheewasterecyclingplantshouldbeallowedtosetupinPawtucketbecausethereareafew
recyclablemetalsincellphonesludgeandonlyonetoxicsubstancethatsactuallyveryminimallytoxic.Some
identifiedcomponentsofthesludgeincludeironandaluminum,bothrecyclablematerials.Theonlytoxinin
thesludgeistheonlymildlytoxicisopropylalcohol.Everyothersubstancewasnottoxic,recyclableor
valuable.Theothersubstanceswerewater,mineraloil,rust,paraffinwax,anddirt.Giventhisinformation,itis
easytodoacostbenefitanalysisandseethatitwouldbebetterfortheenvironmenttorecyclethetwo
materials,despitethemildtoxicityinoneoftheothercomponentsofthesludge.

Methods

Westartedthesludgetestbyshakingoursludge,combiningeverythingthatcouldbecombined.We
thenobservedoursludge.Thereweremanysolidsthatsunktothebottomofthesolution.Noticingthis,we
decidedtostrainoutallofthesolids.Afterdoingso,weseparatedthesolidsfromoneanotherbysortingout
whichonesaremagneticandwhichonesarenot.Wethenputthesolidsasidetoanalyzelater.Webeganthe
distillationofoursolutiontofindtheboilingpointsofourliquids,whichwecomparedtoourknownsonour
referencesheet.Afteroursludgewasmisplacedduringdistillation,weendedupbackwherewestarted.We
hadasolutionofclearliquidswithwhatseemedtobeanoilysubstanceontop.Noticingthis,wedecidedour
bestcourseofactionwouldbetopipettetheoiloffofthetopasithasaveryhighboilingpoint,making
separationviadistillationverytimeconsumingandthus,inefficient.Wethentookthedensityoftheoillike
substance,andboiledtheotherunknownliquid,andcomparedbothsetsofquantitativedatatoourknowns
onourreferencesheet.Next,wehadtofindoursolids.Wepulledoutsomeclearlydistinguishablepiecesof
metalbyhand,andtooktheirdensities,thencomparedthedensitiestoourknownsonourreferencesheet.
Wethentookthesolidsthatlooklikewaxandobservedthem,thenmeltedthemtoprovethattheywerewax.
Next,weseparatedtheironfromthedirtlikesubstanceusingamagnet,thentookthedensityoftheironand
comparedtotheknownsonourreferencesheet.Thenweobservedthedirtlikesubstanceandafterthatwe
weredonewiththesludgetest.

Table

Component
Density
Solubility
Polarity
Color
Magnetic?

Water
1.000g/mL
n/a
Polar
Clear
No
MineralOil
.8g/mL
Not
Nonpolar
Clear
No
Isopropyl
.79g/mL
Miscible
Polar
Clear
No
Alcohol
ParaffinWax
.9g/cm3

Not
Nonpolar
White
No
Iron
7.87g/cm3

Not
Nonpolar
Darkgrey
Yes
3
Aluminum
2.7g/cm
Not
Nonpolar
Grey
No

Findings

Ourfirstunknownliquidwaswater.Wefoundthataliquidbeganboilingataround100degreesCelsius.
Citingourreferencesheet,weknewthattheboilingpointofwateris100degreesCelsiusaswell.Oncewe
distilledoutthisunknownliquid,wealsotookitsdensity,whichwefoundtobe.97g/mL.Thedensityofwater
istheclosestknowntothatdensity,at1g/mL.Theunknownliquidalsoreflectedmanyothercharacteristicsof
water,beingtransparentandpolar.
Thiscomponentisnotrecyclable,valuableortoxic.
Anotherunknownliquidwediscoveredwithinoursludgewasmineraloil.Welearnedthisfromfirst
observingourunknownliquid.Wefoundthatafilmofaclear,oilysubstancewasprevalentatopoursludge.
Weproceededtopipettetheoiloffthetopofourcombinationofunknownliquids.Hypothesizingthatthe
substancecouldbeanoil,whichtypicallyhasahighboilingpoint,madeusdecidethatwemaynothavetimeto
cooktheoillongenoughtorecorditsboilingpoint.Soinstead,wecalculatedthedensityoftheliquid.We
foundthedensitytobe.8g/mL,theexactdensityofbothmineraloilandpetroleum,accordingtoourreference
sheet.Weknewthatpetroleum,orcrudeoilwasblackandsludgy,whereasourunknownwasclearandoily,so
wedeterminedthatmineraloilbetterfitthatdescription.
Thiscomponentisnotrecyclable,toxic,orvaluable.
Ourfinalunknownliquidwasisopropylalcohol.
Wedemonstratedthisbyboilingourunknownliquid,
which,frompriorexperience,wealreadybelievedsmelledlikerubbingalcohol.Wedecidedtoseeatwhat
temperaturethesubstanceboiled.Wenoticedaplateauataround83degreescelsius.Theboilingpointof
isopropylalcohol,basedonourreferencesheet,is82degreescelsius.Basedonthisinformation,wewereable
todeterminethattheunknownliquidwas,infact,isopropylalcohol.
Thiscomponentisnonrecyclable,norisit
valuable.However,itismildlytoxic.Longterminhalationcanbeharmful,andswallowingitisnottoogreat,
either.Canbemildlyirritatingtoskin,too.
Ourfirstunknownsolidwasaluminum.
Wefoundthisoutbyfirstisolatingthebigchunksofunknown
substancethatlookedtobealuminum.Afterwegotthosepiecesisolated,wetookthedensityofafewpieces.
3
Theaveragedensitywas2.65g/cm
,asimilardensitytoaluminum,whichis,accordingtoourreferencesheet,
3
2.7g/cm
.Withthisinmindwewereabletoconcludethattheunknownsubstancewas,infact,aluminum.

Aluminumisrecyclable,butnotvaluableandalsonottoxicinthepresentedsolidform.

Ournextsolidwasparaffinwax.Forthissolidwehadtodoalotofobserving.Wedidnothavethe
densityofwaxtoreferto.Fromthepointweseparatedthissolidfromtheothersolids,wethoughtitlooked
likeparaffinwax,asitisawhitewaxlikesubstance.Theunknownwasalsoodorless,justlikeparaffinwax
Withthatinmind,wefirsttesteditforpolarity,knowingthatwaxwasnonpolar.Weattemptedtodissolveit
inwater,buttonoavail.Itwasclearlynonpolar.Wenexttriedtomeltit,knowingthatwaxmeltsrelatively
quickly.Sureenough,oursubstanceveryquicklymeltedoveraflame.Withthesetidbitsofinformationin
mind,wewereabletomakeawellinformedguessthatthesubstancewas,indeed,paraffinwax.Thewaxis
notvaluable,recyclableortoxic.
Thenextsolidwasiron.Thissolidweactuallyoriginallythoughttobezinc.However,zincisnot
magnetic,andthismetalwas;thatforcedustorethinkthisconclusion.Becauseofthis,wecametothe
conclusionthattheunknownmetalwasiron.Thedensitiesbetweenzincandiron,accordingtoourreference

3
sheetaresimilarandironismagnetic.Ourunknownsdensitywas7.8
g/cm
andthedensityofironis7.87
3
g/cm
.Themetal,asstatedbefore,isalsomagnetic,justasironis.Withthisinmindwewereabletocometo

theconclusionthattheunknownwasiron.Ironisvaluable,andrecyclable.Itisalsomildlytoxicforhumansto
consumeexcessiveamounts.
Thefinalsubstanceweobservedwasthoughttobedirt.Wefoundthisstrictlybyobservationbecause
wedidnothaveenoughtoexperimentwith.Wecouldnotfinditsdensitytocomparetoknowns.Sowe
observeditandsawthatitverymuchappearedtolooklikedirt.Italsoseemedlikeitcouldhavebeenrust,
sinceitwasreddishbrownincolorandwaterandironwerebothpresentinoursludge.Becauseofthis,we
wereabletomakeaneducatedguessthattheunknownwasprobablydirtorrust.Thiscompoundisnottoxic,
valuableorrecyclable.

Errors
Wemadealotoferrorsthroughoutoursludgeexperiment,butwecorrectedthemajorityofthem.
Somethatwewereabletocorrectinclude:bydoingmultipletrialsfindingthedensityofaluminum,wewere

abletominimizeerrorandgetthecorrectdensity.Wealsomadetheerrorofthinkingzincwasmagnetic.We
evenhadfounditsdensitywhichsupportedtheclaimthattheunknownwaszinc.However,wereviseditand
foundthecorrectsubstancetobeironwhichmademoresensebecauseironisactuallymagnetic.Lastly,we
foundthatourdirtwasprobablynotdirt.Wedidnothavetheabilitytorunanytestsonit,buttheonlyother
thingwethinkitcouldhavebeenwouldbesomemixtureofredrust(fromtheiron)andsand.Thesewerethe
mostprominenterrorsinourexperiment.
Rubric

SludgeAnalysis(LabWork)
Componentof
Identified?(5pointseach)
Sludge

WrittenReport
ExecutiveSummary
Claim(5points)
Evidence(5points)
Reasoning(5points)

Methods
(ClearlyDescribed)
Table
(Showscharacteristicchemicalandphysicalproperties)
Findings
(CERParagraphs)
Identified
Claim(2points)
Qualitative
Quantitative
Reasoning(2
Component
Evidence?(2
Evidence?(2
points)
points)
points)
Water

WrittenReportTotal

Total

/35

Total

/15
/5
/5

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