CHEMISTRY INVESTIGATORY PROJECT

Efforts by:
Yash Raj Singh
XII-D
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 CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that Satyam Negi of Class
XII-D with Reg. no:…………………. has
successfully completed the Chemistry
project titled “STUDY OF CONSTITUENTS
OF ALLOYS” in partial fulfillment of
curriculum of ALL INDIA SENIOR
SECONDARY EXAM (CBSE). This project
was carried out in the school laboratory of
CAMBRIDGE SCHOOL Noida during the
academic year 2019-20.

Internal Examiner External Examiner

Teacher in charge Principal

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I take this opportunity to express my gratitude in few words
and respect to all those who helped me in the completion of this
project. The successful completion of any task would be incomplete
without mentioning the names of those persons who helped to
make it possible.

It is my humble pleasure to acknowledge my deep senses of

gratitude and heartfelt indebtedness to my teacher Ms. Ayesha
Khan for her valuable support, constant help and guidance at each
and every stage, without which this project would not have come
forth.

I also register my sense of gratitude to our Principal, Mr.

Soumen Chakraborty for his immense encouragement that has
made this project successful.

I would also like to thank my friends and family for their

endless support without which I could not have completed this work
in time.

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 INDEX

SlNo: Title Page No.

1. Certificate 02

2. Acknowledgement 03

3. Introduction 05-07

4. Experiment:01 Brass 08-09

5. Experiment:02 Bronze 10-13

6. Conclusion 14

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7. Bibliography 15

INTRODUCTION
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.

The term alloy is used to describe a mixture of atoms in

which the primary constituent is a metal. The primary metal is called
the base, the matrix, or the solvent. The secondary constituents are
often called solutes. If there is a mixture of only two types of atoms,
not counting impurities, such as a coppernickel alloy, then it is called
a binary alloy. If there are three types of atoms forming the mixture,
such as iron, nickel and chromium, then it is called a ternary alloy.
An alloy with four constituents is a quaternary alloy, while a five-part
alloy is termed a “Quinary alloy”. As the percentage of each
constituent can be varied, with any mixture the entire range of
possible variations is called a system.

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 In this respect, all of the various forms of an alloy containing
only two constituents like iron and carbon is called a binary system,
while all of the alloy combinations possible with a ternary alloy, such
as alloys of iron, carbon and chromium, is called a ternary system.

The complete analysis of an alloy involves two steps,

qualitative and quantitative analysis. In qualitative analysis, the
components of the alloy are found out and in quantitative analysis
their percentage composition is determined.

The purpose of this project is to determine qualitatively, the

contents of samples of Brass and Bronze.

Uses of Alloys

i) To modify chemical reactivity:-

a) When sodium is used as reducing agent it is too reactive to

be used but its alloy with mercury, called sodium amalgam can be
safely used as reducing agent.

ii) To increase hardness:-

b) Hardness of gold is increased by adding copper to it. Also

zinc is added to copper to make copper hard in form of brass.

iii) To increase tensile strength:-

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 c) Nickeloy, an alloy of Nickel (1%), Copper (4%) and
aluminium (95%) has high tensile strength.

iv) To lower the melting point:-

d) Solder metal which is an alloy of Sn(30%) and Pb(70%) has

very less melting point as compared to melting points of Sn and Pb.

v) To modify the color:-

e) Aluminium bronze an alloy of Cu and Al has a beautiful

golden color.

vi)To resist corrosion:-

f) Iron gets rusted and corroded. Its corrosion takes place

with time but for stainless steel, an alloy of iron (98%) and carbon
(2%) does not get rusted.

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Experiment:01
Aim: To analyze a sample of brass qualitatively.

Requirements:China dish, test-tube funnel, filter paper and

common laboratory reagents.

Theory: Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc with the following:

Composition: Cu = 60-90% and Zn. = 10-40%. Thus Cu and Zn. form

the main constituents of brass. Both these metals dissolved in 50%
of nitric acid due to formation of nitrates which are soluble.

3Cu + 8HNO3 → 3Cu(NO3)2 + N2O + 5H2O

4Zn + 10HNO3 → 4Zn (NO3)2 + N2O + 5H2O

The solution is boiled to expel the oxides of nitrogen and the

resulting solution is tested for Cu2+ and Zn2+ ions.

Procedure:

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 1. Place a small piece of brass in a china dish and heat this with
minimum quantity of 50% HNO3 so as to dissolve the piece
completely.

2. Continue heating the solution till a dry solid residue is obtained.

3. Dissolve the solid residue in dil. HCl and filter. Add distilled water
to the filtrate.

4. Pass H2S gas through the filtrate. A black precipitate of copper

sulphide is obtained. Separate the black ppt. and keep the filtrate for
the test of Zn2+ ions Dissolve black ppt. by heating them with 50%
HNO3. To this solution add ammonium hydroxide solution.
Appearance of deep blue coloration in the solution shows the
presence of copper ions in the solution.

5. To test Zn2+ ions, boil the filtrate to remove H2S gas, then add
solid NH4Cl to this and heat to dissolve NH4Cl. Add excess of NH4OH
so that a solution is ammoniacal. Now pass H2S gas through this
ammoniacal solution. Dirty white or grey precipitation indicate zinc.

6. Separate the precipitates and dissolve it in minimum amount of

dil. HCl. Boil to expel H2S gas and add potassium Ferro cyanide
solution, white or bluish white ppt. confirm Zn2+ ions in the solution.

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Result:The given sample of brass contains copper and zinc metals
as the main constituents.

Experiment:02
Aim: To analyze a sample of bronze qualitatively.

Requirements:China dish, test-tube funnel, filter paper and

common laboratory reagents.

Theory:Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin with the following.

Composition: Cu = 88-96% and Sn. = 4-12%. Thus copper and zinc

form the main constituents of bronze. Both these metals dissolved
in nitric acid.

Cu + HNO3→ Cu2+ + NO + H2O

Sn + HNO3→H2SnO3 + NO2+ H2O

(Conc. acid) (Metastannic Acid)

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 Excess of nitric acid is removed by heating the solution. The
resulting solution now would contain Cu2+ ions and metastannic
acid. This solution is acidified with dil. HCl and H2S gas is passed
when the sulphides of copper and tin are formed.

Cu2+ + S2→ CuS (Black ppt.)

H2SnO3 + 2H2S→ SnS2 (Black ppt.) + 3H2O

The sulphides are separated by boiling the ppt. with yellow

ammonium sulphide when SnS2 goes into solution as thiostannate
whereas CuS is not affected.

SnS2 + (NH4)2S →(NH4)2 SnS2 (Soluble)

Ammonium thiostannate.

CuS + (NH4)2S→ CuS (Unaffected) Black ppt.

The soluble black ppt. is tested for Cu2+ ions and the solution is
tested for Sn2+ ions as in elementary qualitative analysis.

Procedure:

1. Take about 1g. of small pieces of bronze in a china dish and add to
it 5-10 ml. of dil. HNO3.

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2. Heat the contents slowly to dissolve copper and tin completely
and then boil the contents to a paste to remove excess of HNO3. All
this is carried out in cup board.

3. Dissolve this dry mass in distilled water containing HCl (1:1) to get
a clear solution.

4. Transfer the solution in a test tube and pass H2S in excess i.e. till
the precipitation is complete. Filter and reject the filtrate.

5. Take the black ppt. in a test tube and add to it 2-3 ml. of yellow
ammonium sulphide and heat. Filter the contents. Black residue is
tested for Cu2+ ions and filtrate is tested for Sn2+ ions.

6. Analysis of black residue:

Transfer a little of the black ppt. into a test tube. Add to it 2-3 ml. of
50%. HNO3 and boil the contents of the tube. A light blue or green
sol. indicates the presence of Cu2+. Divide this sol. into two parts.

(a) To one part add excess of NH4OH a deep blue coloration confirms
the presence of Cu2+ ions.

(b) Acidify the second part with acetic acid and add K4 [Fe (CN)6] i.e.
potassium ferrocyanide solution. A reddish brown ppt. confirms the
presence of Cu2+ ions.

7. Analysis of filtrate:
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Boil the filtrate with 1 ml. of dil. HCl. A yellow ppt. is obtained.
Dissolve in 1 ml. conc. HCl. To this solution add 0.5 g. of zinc dust
and boil it for 2-3 minutes.

Filter and to filtrate add 1-2 ml. of mercuric chloride solution. A

white ppt. turning grey on standing confirms the presence of Sn4+
ions.

Result:The given sample of bronze contains - Copper and Tin

as the main constituents.

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 Conclusion
In this project, a qualitative analysis of two samples
of alloys namely, Brass and Bronze, was carried out
to determine their constituents. The given sample
of Brass contains - Copper and Zincas the main
constituents and the given sample of Bronze
contains - Copper and Tin as the main constituents.

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY
1.Comprehensive Practical Chemistry by
Lakshmi Publications.

2. NCERT Class XII Chemistry.

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