Cadet Eric Wiggins Date: 18 September 2014 Course Name: Chem 100 Instructor: Captain Zuniga Section: M3A Identification of a Copper Mineral Intro Minerals are elements or compounds that are created in the Earth by geological processes. The method of isolating metals in a compound mineral is normally conducted through two processes. Roasting is one which was performed in this lab involving the heating of the ore to decompose unstable ions which are bonded to the metal. Smelting is the other process, which uses heat and a chemical reducing agent to decompose a metal oxide into a pure metal. Through this process, which is a redox reaction, the transfer of electrons between the two chemical components takes place. The element that loses an …show more content…
Then more roasting occurred when the crucible was placed into a ceramic triangle for the Bunsen burner to continue its burning for an additional 90 minutes. Once the burning was officially over, the crucible was placed onto a ceramic tile to cool off. Next the charcoal and copper material were poured onto a paper towel and were separated from carefully distinguishing them one from the other. Then comparisons were down through analysis of the copper (II) oxide smelted. Then the mass of the copper metal and the percentage of Cu were obtained and compared throughout different groups and a mean and standard deviation was calculated for the …show more content…
Deductive reasoning was used by determining the identity of an unknown copper mineral by looking at different possible copper minerals in the database with observations that were taken throughout the entire lab. Through roasting, the percentage of mass could be found through the mass of copper contained in an unknown copper containing mineral sample by gravimetric analysis of the copper (II) oxide produced. Through the idea of smelting and spectroscopy the identity of the unknown copper could be found through careful calculations and analysis of the lab. A spectroscopy curve was produced of the acid and the absorbance of the unknown mineral could be obtained in order to find what that unknown copper is. Through these methods there is not preferred method when it comes to finding the percentage of an unknown substance, but which is more effective in accurately depicting what that unknown substance is. Standard deviation plays a major part in this experiment to help balance out and find the mean of the unknown substance to help constitute what it is. Through this the difference between smelting and roasting is that one produces a metal from its ore and the other drices off the carbon to obtain an