Investigation of Metal

Metal Investigation

Risk Assessment:
    • The substances might stain your clothes and your skin – wear lab coat and gloves
    • The substance might spill or pop out while being heated and not good to be breath into – apply heating in the fume cupboard

Aim: Determine which substance is metal and which is not

Hypothesis: I think that Aluminum, lead and copper are metals due to previous experiments.

Method:
  1. Set up a electrical circuit as shown in the diagram and test the conductivity of the different materials by using two different wires. (Copper, aluminum, lead, carbon, iodide and sulfur.)

  2. Examine the shininess of the various kinds of elements and if it does not appear shiny and looks like a layer of coating on it, try sanding down the surface for a secondary check.

  3. Burning the different materials on the bunsen burner to check the malleability and if it melts or not.

Result:
|Metals                     |Conductivity of       |Malleable         |Melting Point     |Luster             |Metal /             |
|                           |Electricity           |                   |                 |                   |Nonmetal           |
|Aluminum (Al)             |Yes                   |Yes               |Yes               |Yes               |Metal               |
|Lead (Pb)                 |Yes                   |Yes               |Yes               |No                 |Metal               |
|Copper (Cu)               |Yes                   |Yes               |No               |Yes               |Metal               |
|Sulfur (S)                 |Yes                   |No                 |Yes               |No                 |Nonmetal           |
|Carbon (C)                 |No                     |No                 |No               |No                 |Nonmetal           |
|Iodide   (I)               |No                     |Yes               |Yes               |Yes               |Nonmetal           |

Conclusion:
After the...