Percent Composition of Pennies

Procedure Day 1:
1. Make sure each person in your group has a different year penny. 2. Take the mass of your individual penny on one of the balances.
Record the mass of the penny & the year it was minted for each person in your group.

3.(Carefully!) Use the snips to place 4 notches about 1 mm deep around the penny. Do not cut into the year!
What do you notice on the inside?

4. Label your period & Ohana number with a Sharpie on the glass portion of a 100 mL beaker (just 1 per group), then add each penny to the bottom. 5. Add 10.0 mL of 6.0 M HCl per penny. BE CAREFUL! This acid is concentrated enough to cause severe chemical burns if
left on skin. Clean up all drips immediately with a wet paper towel, and wash hands thoroughly after handling. Larger spills must be treated with a base, so see your teacher immediately if needed. 6. You may adjust the position of the pennies using forceps, but be sure to rinse the acid off the forceps & dry them when finished.

7. Record all observations you make.

Procedure Day 2:
1.Remove penny from beaker with forceps & carefully rinse the penny off with plenty of water. Pat dry with paper towel. 2.Finish carefully drying the penny by holding it with crucible tongs over the Bunsen burner. DO NOT HOLD THE PENNY DIRECTLY IN THE FLAME!! 3. When the penny is dry, let it cool to the touch, then take the mass of it on the same balance used yesterday. Record the new mass of each penny

POST-LAB Questions/Calculations:
1. Using the mass data, determine the percent composition of Zn and Cu in the penny. HINT: initial mass=penny before acid final mass=penny after acid final mass=mass of Cu in the penny initial mass-final mass=mass of Zn in the penny. 2. From the attached data about penny composition from the US Mint website, calculate the percent error of your experimental determination of the composition of Cu in your penny. 3. Write a balanced chemical reaction that shows what happened to the zinc in the pennies. 4. Show a calculation demonstrating how much H2 was produced by reaction? 5. Show a calculation demonstrating what mass of ZnCl2 was formed in the reaction? 6 Calculate the moles of HCl used to react the mass of Zn from your penny. 7. Using the given molarity (6.0M) and volume (10.0mL) of HCl, calculate the number of moles of HCl that were actually present before the reaction. Based on your answer to #5, was all of the HCl used during the reaction? 8. How many grams of HCl was poured down the sink during cleanup? Show supporting calculations. 9. a. What else was poured down the drain (besides HCl & water)? b. How many grams of that substance was there? Show supporting calculation. c. What was the molarity of that solution, assuming the volume stayed the same.

10. Compare/contrast your data with other members of your group.