Chemical Reactions of a Penny in Hydrochloric Acid

Problem/Observation: In chemistry, we are learning about how different materials react

when exposed to other materials. Which material would be more reactive in a chemical
reaction involving hydrochloric acid, zinc or copper? Both of these are found in pennies
newer than 1!". What is the ratio of zinc to copper in one of those pennies?
Hypothesis:
Composition: #he penny will have approximately $% zinc and $% copper.
Reactivity: #he zinc will be more reactive than the copper.
Experiment:
Materials: &ee lab sheet.
Methods: &ee lab sheet.
Variables:
ndependent: 'opper and zinc
!ependent: (eactivity
"hree Controlled Variables: &ame amount of hydrochloric acid, same
conditions )location and temperature*, and same amount of time left in the acid.
Record of !ata:
+lement ,ercent of -aterial in ,enny
.inc ).n* !.!%
'opper )'u* 1."%
Analysis: I noticed that pennies are mostly zinc and have barely any copper. #o find the
percentage of copper, I too/ the mass of the copper )0.01 grams* and divided it by initial
mass. I did the same for zinc, which weighed ".23 grams, and got the two percentages
shown above. #he actual results were 1.!% off of my hypothesis.
Concl#sion: -y hypotheses were correct. I was very close to the actual measurements
with $% zinc and $% copper, compared to the actual !.!% and 1."%. I was correct
about the zinc being more reactive. #he copper appeared to do nothing in the
hydrochloric acid solution, while the zinc reacted with it. #he reaction ta/ing place is
shown in the chemical e4uation .n
5"
5 "6
51
'l
71
.n
5"
'l
71
" 5 6
51
". We /now a reaction
too/ place by examining the experiment as it occurred, and examining the results
afterwards. &eeing bubbles lets us /now there was a formation of a gas, which was the 6"
gas. 8oo/ing at the results of the reaction a day later, our penny lost !.!% of its initial
mass. 9ue to the 8aw of 'onservation of -atter, this mass had to have gone somewhere.
#his is additional evidence of a chemical reaction.
:n the left side of the e4uation )to recall, that;s .n
5"
5 "6
51
'l
71
.n
5"
'l
71
" 5
6
51
"*, we have the reactants, zinc ).n* and the hydrochloric acid )6'l*. #he right side of
e4uation contains our products, zinc chloride ).n'l"* and hydrogen gas )6"*. #he .n'l"
was dissolved by the acid into a li4uid, and the hydrogen was released as a gas. 8oo/ing
at the hydrochloric acid in the e4uation, we see it has a " in front of the chemical formula.
#his is a coefficient, and is there to balance the e4uation, or in other words, ma/e sure no
matter is created or destroyed in the e4uation< that is impossible. #he coefficient
effectively doubles the hydrochloric acid in the e4uation, thus balancing the hydrogen
molecules )there;s two hydrogen molecules on the right side of the e4uation, using the "
as a coefficient there is two on the left side as well*, and also balancing the chlorine. In
the reaction, the bond between the chlorine and hydrogen was bro/en, and the hydrogen
left as a gas of two hydrogen molecules. #he zinc from the penny combined with the
remaining two chlorine molecules to form the zinc chloride. #he combination is balanced
as zinc has a valence of 5" and chlorine has a valence of 71.
=fter discussing the basic concepts behind this reaction, it;s necessary to review
the ideas behind these concepts so we can better understand our result. 'hemical bonding
is the process of electrons transferring to other atoms to form compounds. &o far, we have
learned two different types of bonding, ionic and covalent. Ionic bonding occurs when
electrons leave one atom for the other. >or example, if you had an atom of fluorine, with
a valence of 71, and an atom of sodium, with a valence of 51, one of the sodium;s
electrons can leave the sodium for the fluorine. Because all atoms want to be stable
)having the maximum number of electrons in an orbital*, the electrons are transferred and
the two atoms become stable and bond, forming sodium fluoride. Covalent bonds occur
when electrons are shared between two atoms. #he compound 6":, more commonly
/nown as water, is an example of a covalent bond. Because hydrogen has a valence of 51,
and oxygen has a valence of 7", two hydrogen atoms bond with one oxygen atom by
sharing electrons. +ach hydrogen atom shares its only electron with one of oxygen;s
electrons, so the oxygen gets two more electrons on its orbital and the hydrogen atoms
get one more electron on their orbital. ?ow the three atoms are stable. #he penny
experiment was an ionic bond.
#o further explore on what was previously mentioned about stability, remember
that every element has a certain number of energy levels, or orbitals. #he number of
orbitals is split by period numbers. )+lements in the first period have one orbital<
elements in the second period have two orbitals, etc.* +very atom desires to be stable, and
will bond with whatever gives it that opportunity. >or an atom to be stable, it must have
the maximum number of electrons in its orbital. 'ertain elements are stable without
bonding, as they already have the maximum number of electrons. #hese are /nown as the
noble gases, and they are also /nown as the inert gases as they do not react with any
elements. #hrough bonding, elements give away electrons to each other and become
stable.
@ @ @
=tomic structure, explained simply, is the subatomic particles ma/ing up an atom,
and their properties. In the nucleus of an atom, there are two different subatomic
particles< protons and neutrons. ,rotons have a positive charge and have an atomic weight
of 1 atomic mass unit )amu*. ?eutrons have no charge, and also have an atomic weight of
1 amu. 9epending on the number of neutrons in the isotope of the atom, the different
isotopes will have differing atomic weights. )>or example, a carbon atom, which has 3
protons, could have A neutrons and have an atomic weight of 11 amu, or have 3 neutrons
and have an atomic weight of 1" amu. It;s still a carbon atom, nonetheless.* :utside the
atom;s nucleus is the electron cloud. 6ere, we find the third subatomic particle< electrons.
+lectrons have no mass, but have a negative charge. =s mentioned earlier, this is the
subatomic particle involved in chemical bonding.
=s explained previously, orbitals are split by period numbers that indicate the
number of orbitals a certain element has. #he maximum number of electrons on an orbital
differs. #he first orbital can hold two electrons, while the following two orbitals can hold
eight each.
#he ,eriodic #able of the +lements is named as such because of how it;s
organized. #he elements are organized into periods, and because of this you can assume
elements are more li/ely to bond with elements on the opposite side of the periodic table.
#his is because on the right side of the period, this is where elements have at least half
their orbital filled. :n the left side, this is where elements have at least half their orbital
empty.
Groups are the opposite of periods on the ,eriodic #able, while periods go left to
right, groups go up and down. Broups tell the number of electrons on the element;s outer
orbital. >or example, an element in Broup III would have three electrons in the outer
orbital.
Coefficients, as mentioned earlier in our explanation behind the reaction, are
numbers placed in front of a compound;s formula to indicate multiples of the molecules.
#his is used for the sa/e of balancing the chemical e4uation, which we;ll expand on more
later. (emember that the coefficient multiplies every part of the compound by the value
of the coefficient. If you have the expression 26":, you end up with the same thing as
four molecules of 6":, or eight molecules of hydrogen and four molecules of oxygen.
Subscripts, to briefly explain, are small numbers placed behind an element to
indicate multiple atoms of that element in the compound. #o use the zinc chloride from
our experiment as an example, in the formula .n'l", the small C"D indicates that every
molecule of zinc chloride has two atoms of chlorine.
=ll chemical e4uations must be balanced. #his means that you must have e4ual
amounts of everything on both sides of an e4uation. -atter is never created or destroyed,
thus you cannot end up with more or less than what you started with. >or an example,
ta/e the e4uation we used for the penny lab without any coefficients.
.n 5 6'l

.n'l" 5 6"
#his e4uation is not correct. #he left side of the e4uation has one zinc atom, one
hydrogen atom, and one chlorine atom. :n the right side, there is one zinc atom, two
hydrogen atoms, and two chlorine atoms. #hose extra atoms cannot Eust materialize from
nowhere. #he e4uation is not balanced. In order to balance it, we add a coefficient in
front of the hydrochloric acid )"*, thus putting two of every atom on both sides. #he
e4uation is now balanced.
?ow that we;ve furthered our /nowledge on the basic chemistry concepts behind
the experiment, let;s go bac/ to what happened during the reaction. .inc was more
reactive than copper because it is a larger molecule, so it loses its electrons easier.
)'opper has an atomic mass of 31.$$ compared to zinc;s 3$.1$.* #he copper doesn;t react
in this situation because the zinc is Eust a bit bigger. #he zinc replaces hydrogen because
zinc is much larger and has a 5" charge. #his displaces the hydrogen and replaces it with
zinc. #he bond is wea/er between the hydrogen and the chlorine. #he copper isn;t in the
e4uation because it doesn;t react with the hydrochloric acid, and is not affected by the
reaction.
If we were to ta/e the remaining copper and pour more hydrochloric acid onto the
copper, the copper would react very similarly to the zinc. With no zinc left in the penny,
the hydrochloric acid reacts with the largest atom, which is, in this case, copper. In the
previous reaction, the largest atom was zinc. But with zinc out of the e4uation, copper
does react, although probably not as well as it would with zinc. #he e4uation would be
the followingF 'u
5"
5 "6
51
'l
71
'u
5"
'l
71
" 5 6
51
". =s you can see, the results are very
similar, with the only difference being the product of copper chloride as opposed to zinc
chloride. =s you can see, chemistry is a complicated subEect, and going into detail about
such a small reaction can be a long process.