Data Collection
Observations for Magnesium:
Physical and Chemical Properties of two Metals (Mg & Cu)
» Data Collection
Data Collection
Observations for Copper:
Physical and Chemical Properties of two Metals (Mg & Cu)
» Conclusion/ Evaluation
Conclusion/Evaluation
Conclusion
In our experiments the magnesium seemed to have reacted better in our experiments than the copper, although some of their physical properties are the same, both are for example shiny in their color and have a smooth surface..
In three of our copper experiments no change took place whereas the magnesium always showed some kind of reaction to our experiment.
But magnesium and copper do also seem to have some reactions in common, as to see at experiment D, where we took steel wool and cleaned the surface of the magnesium and copper, physical properties were observed, the surface of both got even more smooth and it got more shiny.
We were observing a physical change in part C where the magnesium stripe broke easily, but the copper did not break easy at all.
We were also observing chemical changes such as the boiling of the magnesium in experiment F, a new gas was created.
Physical properties were observed in experiment E for the magnesium as well as the copper where the phenolphthalein and the water changed its color to pink with the magnesium and in a cloudy white with the copper stripe, meaning that magnesium, water and phenolphthalein or copper, water and phenolphthalein do change the color of the created.
We did not observe any changes in experiments G,H and I for our copper stripes, whereas we observed changes in experiment H for the magnesium part where the liquid started bubbling, a new gas was thus created which is evidence for a chemical change.
Evaluation
This experiment showed very well how different copper and magnesium react by doing several similar experiments with each of them, but I think there is a lot of room for improvement because I am quite sure that there are either changes or specific properties occuring in parts G to I with the copper.
The fact that no reaction took place might have been due to not enough liquid for those experiments, it might have been helpful to either add more or do several trails with each one having a different value of liquid in it.
In general it is always better to have numerous trails, this would give us better evidence about changes which might not have been regular, but occured due to unpreciseness when doing the experiments.
It might have also been interesting to measure the temperature of the boiling liquid, whether or not there is a difference between the reaction with copper and magnesium or not.
We only had about 40 minutes to complete our entire experiment, which was, in my oppinion, not enough time to complete all steps properly with a high preciseness, more time would have been helpful, too.