Sunday, September 12, 2010

Copper Pot, by Nick I

For my house hold object I chose a copper pot.  The copper pot is completely made out of copper, therefore i thought that it would be good to observe and record the properties of.  Also I decided that i would look for properties that would benefit people that used copper in their day to day life.


Physical Properties 

1.  Malleability- Copper is a very malleable metal and is shown to be by the making of this bowl. you can observe the markings on the walls of the bowl as examples of this malleability.



2. Conductivity- Copper is used in electrical wires around the world because of its ability to be conductive.

3. Brown color- The bowl has a brownish gold color to it which is from the copper.



4. Lustrous- The bowl has is shiny and reflects light which is also another quality of the copper.

5. Density- 8.92 grams per cubic centimeter.


Chemical Properties


1.The copper bowl is most stable at its oxidized state and if it is not cleaned frequently will form a layer of copper oxide over the walls of the bowl. The copper oxide can appear in two different forms, one being a dark tarnished brown color or a patchy teal.  This is caused by the oxygen bonding with the copper.




2. When the inside of the bowl is washed with lemon juice and salt the copper oxide washes away to show the true bright lustrousness of the copper element.  This is caused by the abrasion of the salt and the acidety of the lemon juice.




3. Adding vinegar to copper also cleans the copper oxide off but at the same time speeds up the process of becoming oxidized again. For example I used a test strip of copper and dipped it in store bought vinegar. the next day it had a dark teal rust-type material of the section of copper that had been submerged in vinegar.




4. After poring three egg whites into the bowl and stirring them for three minutes the egg whites began to stiffen much quicker than in a normal plastic bowl.  This happens because the copper causes the proteins in the egg white to coagulate much quicker.












5. The copper is very stable causing it to stay in the same state instead of either dissolving or breaking down into multiple elements.  The copper oxide helps to protect the bowl and keep it in its original form despite the fact that copper is a soft metal.


From these experiments and observations, i have concluded that copper is a very useful element. Not only is it easily shaped into different objects but when in is being used as one of these objects it is very useful and helpful.

Works Cited
 http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_density_of_copper_in_grams_per_cubic_centimeter

3 comments:

  1. This is a really great blog...good ideas are supported by good photos. You do not state the obvious in your chemical properties, which is a very good thing. The explanations contain great detail, which amplifies the quality of the blog.

    Great Job
    -Preston

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  2. I think that your blog shows the physical and chemical properties of copper very nicely. I do see several typos and incomplete explanations, where a little more elaboration would have been beneficial toward your overall blog posting. Great first blog post!

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  3. Nick I really liked your topic and experiment you chose to do. I think it was creative. I did notice some typos which is a minor thing but just try to be careful on that the next time. On the other hand I liked your word choice you used to describe what happened in your experiment. I think word-choice is important because it helps the reader get a better picture in their head of what the experiment looked like if pictures were not there. One more thing next time, you should try to expand on your conclusion because conclusions play a major role in wrapping up the experiment. In the conclusion you could evaluate your errors and how you could have corrected them. You could have also added what you would do differently next time. Overall your experiement was really good.
    -Fahrin

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