Second Lab- Aluminum and Blue Substance.

For the second lab we decided to investigate how aluminum changes when we add a mysterious blue liquid. After adding the aluminum and letting it rest for a weekend we came back to find a red substance shaped like the aluminum and the water was clear.

CER- The mysterious stuff in the beaker is copper. When we conducted the experiment we got aluminum foil and put it in this beaker filled with a strange blue liquid. We didn't know what was in the blue liquid. When we put in the aluminum into the blue liquid it started to turn red and after a day there was a red chunk in the water. We then tested the red chunk to see if there was rust or copper. We burnt the piece of the red substance and rust. When we compared both flames the red chunk emitted a turquoise colored flame. From this experiment we can see that the red substance is indeed copper. We also tested to see if there was copper in the liquid. We took the clear liquid and then we added ammonium hydroxide to the clear liquid and it turned to the jelly like substance. If this jelly reaction occurred then the water had Aluminium. After analyzing where the aluminum came from I realized that we put in aluminum and got out copper. Therefore we can infer that the copper and the aluminum switched places.

Connection to our "Big Problem"- In this experiment we found out that certain chemicals can cause bonds to break and create new ones. In this experiment we found out that the blue water had copper bonded with chlorine. Then we added the aluminum and the chlorine bonded to the chlorine and the copper was left alone therefore the water turned clear and the ball of silver aluminum turned into a chunk of red copper. What was a takeaway from this lab was the fact that certain substances cause the copper to switch bonds. Since copper is in our San Francisco pipes then we need to understand that the pipe corrosion may be caused by a chemical like chlorine.