KENDRIYA VIDYALAYA PANGODE

THIRUVANATHAPURAM

CHEMISTRY INVESTIGATORY
PROJECT

SUBMITTED BY
BENEDICT ISAAC
XII A

CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that BENEDICT ISAAC of Class XII-A with Reg no:
. has successfully completed the Chemistry project titled
STUDY OF CONSTITUENTS OF ALLOYS in partial fulfilment of
curriculum of ALL INDIA SENIOR SECONDARY EXAM (CBSE). This
project was carried out in the school laboratory of K.V. Pangode
during the academic year 2014-15.

Internal Examiner

External Examiner

Teacher in charge

Principal

Acknowledgement
I take this opportunity to express my gratitude in few words
and respect to all those who helped me in the completion of this
project. The successful completion of any task would be
incomplete without mentioning the names of those persons who
helped to make it possible.
It is my humble pleasure to acknowledge my deep senses of
gratitude and heartfelt indebtedness to my teacher Smt. Meena
for her valuable support, constant help and guidance at each and
every stage, without which this project would not have come
forth.
I also register my sense of gratitude to our Principal, my
teacher Shri K. B. K Unnithan, for his immense encouragement
that has made this project successful.
I would also like to thank my friends and family for their
endless support without which I could not have completed this
work in time.

INDEX

Sl no:

Title

Page no:

1.

Certificate

02

2.

Acknowledgement

03

3.

Introduction

05

4.

Experiment 1Brass

09

5.

Experiment 2-Bronze

12

6.

Conclusion

17

7.

Bibliography

18

Introduction
An alloy is a mixture or metallic solid solution composed of
two or more elements. Complete solid solution alloys give single
solid phase microstructure, while partial solutions give two or
more phases that

may or

may not

be homogeneous in

distribution, depending on thermal (heat treatment) history.

Alloys usually have different properties from those of the
component elements.
The term alloy is used to describe a mixture of atoms in
which the primary constituent is a metal. The primary metal is
called the base, the matrix, or the solvent. The secondary
constituents are often called solutes. If there is a mixture of only
two types of atoms, not counting impurities, such as a coppernickel alloy, then it is called a binary alloy. If there are three types
of atoms forming the mixture, such as iron, nickel and chromium,
then it is called a ternary alloy. An alloy with four constituents is
a quaternary alloy, while a five-part alloy is termed a quinary

alloy. Because the percentage of each constituent can be varied,

with any mixture the entire range of possible variations is called
a system. In this respect, all of the various forms of an alloy
containing only two constituents, like iron and carbon, is called
a binary system, while all of the alloy combinations possible with
a ternary alloy, such as alloys of iron, carbon and chromium, is
called a ternary system.
The complete analysis of an alloy involves two steps,
qualitative and quantitative analysis. In qualitative analysis, the
components of the alloy are found out and in quantitative analysis
their percentage composition is determined.
The purpose of this project is to determine qualitatively, the
contents of samples of Brass and Bronze.

Uses of Alloys
i)

To modify chemical reactivity:a. When sodium is used as reducing agent it is too

reactive to be used but its alloy with mercury, called
sodium amalgam can be safely used as reducing agent.

ii)

To increase hardness:b. Hardness of gold is increased by adding copper to it.

Also zinc is added to copper to make copper hard in
form of brass.

iii)

To increase tensile strength:c. Nickeloy, an alloy of Nickel (1%), Copper (4%) and
aluminium (95%) has high tensile strength.

iv)

To lower the melting point:-

d. Solder metal which is an alloy of Sn(30%) and

Pb(70%) has very less melting point as compared to
melting points of Sn and Pb.
v)

To modify the colour:e. Aluminium bronze an alloy of Cu and Al has a beautiful

golden colour.

vi)

To resist corrosion:f. Iron gets rusted and corroded. Its corrosion takes place
with time but for stainless steel, an alloy of iron (98%)
and carbon (2%) does not get rusted.

Experiment 1
Aim:
To analyze a sample of brass qualitatively.
Requirements:
China dish, test-tube funnel, filter paper and common laboratory
reagents.
Theory:
Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc with the following
Composition:
Cu = 60-90% and Zn. = 10-40%.
Thus Cu and Zn. form the main constituents of brass. Both these
metals dissolved in 50% of nitric acid due to formation of nitrates
which are soluble.
3Cu + 8HNO3 3Cu(NO3)2 + N2O + 5H2O

4Zn + 10HNO3 4Zn (NO3)2 + N2O + 5H2O

The solution is boiled to expel the oxides of nitrogen and the
resulting solution is tested for Cu2+ and Zn2+ ions.

Procedure:
1. Place a small piece of brass in a china dish and heat this with
minimum quantity of 50% HNO3 so as to dissolve the piece
completely.
2. Continue heating the solution till a dry solid residue is obtained.
3. Dissolve the solid residue in dil. HCl and filter. Add distilled
water to the filtrate.
4. Pass H2S gas through the filtrate. A black precipitate of copper
sulphide is obtained. Separate the black ppt. and keep the filtrate
for the test of Zn2+ ions Dissolve black ppt. by heating them with
50% HNO3. To this solution add ammonium hydroxide solution.

10

Appearance of deep blue colouration in the solution shows the

presence of copper ions in the solution.
5. To test Zn2+ ions, boil the filtrate to remove H2S gas, then add
solid NH4Cl to this and heat to dissolve NH4Cl. Add excess of
NH4OH so that a solution is ammoniacal. Now pass H2S gas
through this ammoniacal solution. Dirty white or grey
precipitation indicate zinc.
6. Separate the precipitates and dissolve it in minimum amount of
dil. HCl. Boil to expel H2S gas and add potassium Ferro cyanide
solution, white or bluish white ppt. confirm Zn2+ ions in the
solution.

Result:
The given sample of brass contains copper and zinc metals as the
main constituents.

11

Experiment 2
Aim:
To analyze a sample of bronze qualitatively.
Requirements:
China dish, test-tube funnel, filter paper and common laboratory
reagents.
Theory:
Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin with the following.
Composition:
Cu = 88-96% and Sn. = 4-12%.
Thus copper and zinc form the main constituents of bronze. Both
these metals dissolved in nitric acid.
Cu + HNO3 Cu2+ + NO + H2O

12

Sn + HNO3 H2SnO3 + NO2 + H2O

(Conc. acid) (Metastannic Acid)
Excess of nitric acid is removed by heating the solution. The
resulting solution now would contain Cu2+ ions and metastannic
acid. This solution is acidified with dil. HCl and H2S gas is passed
when the sulphides of copper and tin are formed.
Cu2+ + S2 CuS (Black ppt.)
H2SnO3 + 2H2S SnS2 (Black ppt.) + 3H2O
The sulphides are separated by boiling the ppt. with yellow
ammonium

sulphide

when

SnS2 goes

thiostannate where as CuS is not affected.

SnS2 + (NH4)2S (NH4)2 SnS2 (Soluble)
Ammonium thiostannate.
CuS + (NH4)2S CuS (Unaffected)
Black ppt.

13

into

solution

as

The soluble black ppt. is tested for Cu2+ ions and the solution is
tested for Sn2+ ions as in elementary qualitative analysis.
Procedure:
1. Take about 1g. of small pieces of bronze in a china dish and add
to it 5-10 ml. of dil. HNO3.
2. Heat the contents slowly to dissolve copper and tin completely
and then boil the contents to a paste to remove excess of HNO3.
All this is carried out in cup board.
3. Dissolve this dry mass in distilled water containing HCl (1:1) to
get a clear solution.
4. Transfer the solution in a test tube and pass H2S in excess i.e.
till the precipitation is complete. Filter and reject the filtrate.
5. Take the black ppt. in a test tube and add to it 2-3 ml. of yellow
ammonium sulphide and heat. Filter the contents. Black residue is
tested for Cu2+ ions and filtrate is tested for Sn2+ ions.
6. Analysis of black residue:

14

Transfer a little of the black ppt. into a test tube. Add to it 2-3 ml.
of 50%. HNO3 and boil the contents of the tube. A light blue or
green sol. indicates the presence of Cu2+. Divide this sol. into two
parts.
(a) To one part add excess of NH4OH a deep blue colouration
confirms the presence of Cu2+ ions.
(b) Acidify the second part with acetic acid and add K4 [Fe (CN)6]
i.e. potassium ferrocyanide solution. A reddish brown ppt.
confirms the presence of Cu2+ ions.
7. Analysis of filtrate:
Boil the filtrate with 1 ml. of dil. HCl. A yellow ppt. is obtained.
Dissolve in 1 ml. conc. HCl. To this solution add 0.5 g. of zinc dust
and boil it for 2-3 minutes. Filter and to filtrate add 1-2 ml. of
mercuric chloride solution. A white ppt. turning grey on standing
confirms the presence of Sn4+ ions.

15

Result:
The given sample of bronze contains - Copper and Tin as the main
constituents.

16

Conclusion
In this project, a qualitative analysis of two samples of alloys
namely, Brass and Bronze, was carried out to determine their
constituents. The given sample of bronze contains - Copper and
Tin as the main constituents and the given sample of bronze
contains - Copper and Tin as the main constituents.

17

Bibliography
1. Comprehensive Practical Chemistry by Lakshmi Publications
2. NCERT Class 12 Chemistry

18

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