Introduction:
In this lab, we handled acidic chemicals that needed to be disposed of upon completion of the lab. We disposed of these chemicals according to safety policies and green chemistry policies. Green Chemistry is the practice of chemistry in an environmentally safe way to prevent pollution. We used green chemistry to minimize the amount of waste we were to be creating. We ended up creating waste from degalvanizing nails. There was a 6 molar solution of hydrochloric acid that stripped the zinc on the nails. Nails are dipped in zinc to prevent rusting. The amount of zinc placed on these nails has to comply with industry standards. A high standard of zinc coating on …show more content…
The class average was 1.209847047 oz/ft^2 and my average was 1.467553565 oz/ft^2 both comply with the industry standards, the highest industry standard of 1.00 oz/ft^2. When looking at the class data, I am able to predict that each nail tested in lab was coated with zinc. Standard deviation was also a key calculation in this lab. The standard deviation for the class data was approximately 58%. This percentage shows us that there were a lot of errors made throughout the lab in measurement. The standard deviation of mass lost for my personal data was approximately 25%. This shows me that there was a low amount of errors made in measurements. The uncertainty in the class is high which opposes my percentage of uncertainty. Some major sources of determinate error are incorrectly computing the recorded data into Excel. Another source could be inserting the Excel cheat formulas incorrectly, which then results in incorrect data. Some indeterminate errors could include keeping the nail in the HCl for too long, not filling the test tube up to 10mL, and accidentally add too much deionized water to the HCl …show more content…
The number of nails analyzed, as a class total was 100, as an individual five. To increase my level of confidence more nails should have been tested in class. There was plenty of time to test at least eight nails per person. Also, if nails had been ordered from across the country in states like Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana we could easily predict whether or not each state is complying with the standards. From there we could synthesize that all or most nails comply with the industry standards. We could also check to see what way the nails were galvanized, electrolysis or hot dipping. As previously stated above, Green Chemistry is the practice of chemistry in an environmentally safe way to prevent pollution. We used green chemistry to minimize the amount of waste we were to be creating. We ended up creating waste from degalvanizing nails, just like some factory. To reduce the amount of waste produced in a factory, the corporate owners could hot dip nails in mass quantities. Mass-producing, yes, reduces, the qualities of coverage, but it reduces the amount of waste and