Monday, December 12, 2011

Metal Activity Lab

In my chemistry class, we tested how reactive or non-reactive metals are. Specifically, we tested three different metals: magnesium, zinc, and copper. For testing, we used magnesium ribbon, zinc granules, and copper(III) pebbles. We had a 24 well plate and we organized a series of nitrates contained in pipets in columns of four rows: copper nitrate in one, magnesium nitrate in the second, silver nitrate the third, and zinc nitrate in the fourth. In each of the 4 wells in the row, we placed a small amount of all the metals in each to see exactly how reactive each metal would be.
After waiting 5 minutes for the metals to react, we found that magnesium reacted with the most solutions and that copper reacted with the least solutions. Zinc was right in the middle of magnesium and copper. After doing this lab, we learned that the Statue of Liberty was actually made out of copper so that it wouldn't corrode as easily since it reacts with the least amount of solutes.


Above is a series of elements organized from most reactive to least, to show that the data that we retrieved is, indeed, correct.

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