Study of constituents of an alloy

Chemistry project undertaken by SaHhil Sharma XII-D Delhi Public School, Dwarka

Table of Contents

Cover Page ....................................................................................................................................... 1 Certificate ......................................................................................................................................... 3 Acknowledgement........................................................................................................................ 4 Aim ...................................................................................................................................................... 5 Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 6 Theoretical Background............................................................................................................. 7 Materials Required....................................................................................................................... 8 Experiments and Observations............................................................................................... 9 Result/Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 11 References/Bibliography ....................................................................................................... 12

Certificate
This is to certify that Sahil Sharma , student of Class XII-D, Delhi Public School, Dwarka has completed the project titled Study of constituents of an alloy during the academic year 2011-2012 towards partial fulfillment of credit for the Chemistry practical evaluation of AISSCE 2012, and submitted satisfactory report, as compiled in the following pages, under my supervision.

Mrs Ila Sharma Dept of Chemistry DPS Dwarka

Acknowledgement
I, Sahil Sharma of class XII -D express sincere gratitude to my school authorities for allowing me to undertake the project titled Study of constituents of an alloy. I naturally could not have done justice to my delicate assignment, had I not been privileged to get the animate guidance from Mrs. Ila Sharma, my chemistry teacher, and Mr. Rajesh, chemistry lab assistant.

Aim
To study the consituents of an alloy ( Office All Pins ) utilizing the principles of qualitative inorganic analysis.

Introduction
An alloy is a homogeneous mixture of two or more metals or a metal and non-metal. They are generally harder than their components with reduced malleability and ductility. Alloys are prepared to enhance certain characteristics of the constituent metals, as per requirement. In this project, we shall qualitatively analyse the chemical composition of Office All pins.

Theoretical Background
An alloy is a mixture or metallic solid solution composed of two or more elements. Complete solid solution alloys give single solid phase microstructure, while partial solutions give two or more phases that may or may not be homogeneous in distribution, depending on thermal (heat treatment) history. Alloys usually have different properties from those of the component elements. Alloying a metal is done by combining it with one or more other metals or non-metals that often enhance its properties. For example, steel is stronger than iron, its primary element. The physical properties, such as density, reactivity, Young's modulus, and electrical and thermal conductivity, of an alloy may not differ greatly from those of its elements, but engineering properties such as tensile strength and shear strength may be substantially different from those of the constituent materials. This is sometimes a result of the sizes of the atoms in the alloy, because larger atoms exert a compressive force on neighboring atoms, and smaller atoms exert a tensile force on their neighbors, helping the alloy resist deformation. Sometimes alloys may exhibit marked differences in behavior even when small amounts of one element occur. Some alloys are made by melting and mixing two or more metals. Bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, was the first alloy discovered, during the prehistoric period now known as the bronze age; it was harder than pure copper and originally used to make tools and weapons. In later times bronze has been used for ornaments,bells, statues, and bearings.
Curved pins have been used for over four thousand years. Originally, they were fashioned out of iron and bone by the Sumerians and were used to hold

clothes together. Later, these pins were also used to hold pages together by

threading the needle through their top corner. Many late pins were made of
brass, a hard metal.

Materials Required

Alloy pins to be studied Concentrated HNO3 For Group reagents: Dilute HCl H2S solution Solid NH4Cl NH4OH (NH4)2CO3 K4Fe[(CN)6] Dilute NaOH Beakers Test tubes Other Chemicals

Experiments and Observations

Though the composition of the coin is learnt to be Iron and Zinc, it was analysed for presence of various metals. Experiment Observations S.No. 1 Dissolved a coin in Vigorous reaction 15 mL of takes place. Brown concentrated HNO3. fumes (NO2) are evolved. Beaker gets heated up. Light green coloured clear solution is finally obtained. 2 Took 5mL of No observed change solution in a test tube and added dilute HCl. No observed change 3 Added sulphuretted H2S to the above solution 4 Reddish- brown To 5mL original precipitate solution solid NH4 Cl and excess of NH4OH was added 5 Took 5mL of solution in a test tube and added KSCN Comments This is the sulution of metal ions on which further tests are performed. Added water to make the 50 mL of the solution.

Pb2+ is absent

Cu is absent

2+

3+ Fe may be present

Blood red colourlation Fe3+ confirmed. 3+ 3KSCN 3K + Fe is observed. Fe(SCN)

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To above solution H2S was added Dissolved the white ppt in dilute HCl and boiled off H2S Added NaOH to above solution

White precipitate observed Whie precipitate dissolves White precipitate appears again

May be due to formation of ZnS ZnS (s) (white ppt) + 2HCl (aq.) ZnCl2 (aq.) + 2H+(aq) + S2(aq)

Added to original solution (NH4)2CO3 in presence of NH4Cl and NH4OH

No observable change

Zn2+ confirmed. ZnCl2 (aq) + 2NaOH(aq) Zn(OH)2 (s) (white ppt) + 2NaCl(aq) Ca2+, Sr2+, Ba2+ are absent

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Result/Conclusion
The analysis of alloy pin confirms its composition to be Iron and Zinc .

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References

Goyal Brothers Laboratory Manual in Chemistry. Vogels Qualitative Inorganic Analysis The Internet

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