Experiment 6:

Properties of
Metals
Introduction

Metals atoms have low electronegativity and when they bond they share their electrons
leaving a lattice of cations surrounded by a 'sea of delocalised electrons'. Hence metals are
electropositive elements with relatively low ionization energies. This structure explains metals'
properties: reactivity, high density, lustrous, hard, high melting and boiling points, malleable,
ductile, good conductors of heat and electricity (CSUN, 2016).

In this experiment, the group is tasked to observe the properties and reactivities of
various metals; consequently the group must rank the said metals from most reactive to least
reactive. The group will conduct the experiment through four parts. The first part is flame test
on metal samples of alkali and alkaline earth metals, the second part concerns the physical
properties and reactivity of metals with acid, the third part examines the ranking of some
metals in order of reactivity, and the fourth part covers the effects of heat treatment on metals.

Objectives

1. Observe the properties and reactivities of metals.

2. Rank the metals from most reactive to least reactive.

Materials:

● Old cloth
● Matches
● Paper clips (made of steel wire)
● Masking tape
Procedure:

A. Flame Tests of Alkali and Alkaline Earth Metals

1. Place 2 ml of each solution of lithium chloride (LiCl), sodium chloride(NaCl),

potassium chloride(KCl), Calcium chloride (CaCl2) and Barium chloride (BaCl2) in
properly labeled test tubes.
2. Dip the wire loop in each sample solutions.
3. Light your burner and turn the air adjustment to give a blue flame.
4. Place the wire loop of LiCl on the blue flame.
5. Note your observations (color emissions).
6. Repeat the procedure with the other metal solutions.

B. Physical properties and reactivity of metals with acid.

1. Obtain samples of Copper(Cu), Lead (Pb), Magnesium(Mg) and Zinc(Zn) metals 2.

Identify its properties:
a. Luster: Scrape or sand the metal sample and identify the appearance as
shiny or dull.
b. Electrical conductivity : Test each metal with a conductivity apparatus by
touching the two wires to each end of the metal.
 c. Malleability: Wrap the materials being tested to heavy plastic or cloth to
prevent pieces from flying off the sample. Place the material on a hard, flat
surface and try to pound the material flat using a hammer.
d. Ductility: Bend each sample to determine how ductile it is
3. Place a small piece of each metal in separate test tube.
4. Add 1.00 ml of 1M HCl (hydrochloric acid) to each test tube containing the metal
5. Record the time it takes for the metal to react with the acid.

C. Ranking some metals in order of reactivity

1. Place about 1.00 ml of each solution of copper (II) nitrate (Cu(NO3)2), lead (II)nitrate
(Pb(NO3)2), magnesium sulfate(MgSO4) and zinc chloride Zn(NO3)2 on properly
labeled test tubes.
2. Obtain samples of Cu, Pb, Mg and Zn metals
3. Clean each piece of metal with steel wool to remove any oxide coating.
4. Place a piece of Cu metal in each of the solutions except in Cu(NO3)2 solution.
5. Repeat the procedure with the other metals.
6. Write your observations and arrange the metals on the order of reactivity based on
the results observed.

D. Effect of heat treatment on metals

1. Obtain pieces of metal paper clips.

2. Straighten one metal paper clip and determine how many times it takes to bend the
clip back and forth in order to break it.
3. Straighten another clip and using a tong heat the clip over a flame of a burner until it
is red.
4. Allow the piece to cool on its own until it is safe to handle. Then try to break it again
by carefully bending it back and forth exactly as you did on the first clip.
5. Heat another paper clip to redness then cool by plunging into the water. Repeat the
heating and cooling with water several times. Then try to bend it again.
6. Record all your observations and describe the effect of heat treatment on the
characteristics of the metal.
Documentation:

DOCUMENTATION
The table below depicts the steps undertook during the data gathering
procedures.
(In chronological order, Left to Right, Top to Bottom)

The CaCl solution emitted a red-orange The LiCl solution emitted a pinkish-red
flame when it was lit. flame when it was lit.

The BaCl2 emitted a light yellow-orange The NaCl solution emitted an orange flame
flame when it was lit. when it was lit.
The KCl solution emitted a light red-orange The lightbulb did not immediately light up
flame when it was lit. when the conductor used was lead.

The lightbulb immediately lit up when the The lightbulb immediately lit up when the
conductor used was zinc. conductor used was aluminum.

The lightbulb immediately lit up when the The lightbulb immediately lit up when the
conductor used was iron. conductor used was copper.
The lightbulb immediately lit up when the The group hammered the metals to test for
conductor used was magnesium. malleability.

The copper metal did not react with the HCl The lead metal reacted with the HCl
solution. solution after 33.43 seconds.

The iron metal did not react with the HCl The magnesium metal reacted with the HCl
solution until 5 minutes. solution after 5.69 seconds.
The zinc metal reacted with the HCl solution The aluminum metal did not react with the
after 18.71 seconds. HCl solution until 8 minutes.

The group first tried to bend the paper clip The group then heated the paper clip in the
without heating. second trial and let it cool down. In the third
trial, after being heated, the paper clip was
immediately dunk in water. The process
was repeated several times.

The group then tried to bend the second The succeeding paper clips took longer to
and third paper clips. break after being bent several times.
Data and Results:

A. Flame Tests of Alkali and Alkaline Earth Metals

Metals solutions Observations

LiCl Emitted a pinkish-red flame

NaCl Emitted an orange flame

KCl Emitted a light red-orange flame

CaCl2 Emitted a red-orange flame

BaCl2 Emitted a light yellow-orange flame

B. Physical properties and reactivity of metals with acid

Luster Electrical Malleability Ductility Reactivity with Acid

Conductivity

Cu Shiny Good Conductor Malleable Ductile Did not react pass 10

mins

Mg Shiny Good Conductor Malleable Ductile Reacted within 5.29 sec

Pb Dull Poor Conductor Malleable Ductile Reacted within 33.43 sec

Zn Shiny Good Conductor Malleable Not Ductile Reacted within 18.71 sec

Fe Shiny Good Conductor Not Malleable Not Ductile Reacted after 5 mins

Al Shiny Good Conductor Not Malleable Not Ductile Reacted after 8 mins

C. Ranking some metals in order of reactivity

Cu(NO3)2 MgSO4 Pb(NO3)2 ZnCl2

 Cu n/a No reaction No reaction No reaction

Mg Became hot, Formed many Changed in color, Few bubbles

3.42 sec bubbles, Decayed, formed,
15.47 sec 4.00 sec 5 sec

Pb Formed few Formed few Formed many No reaction

bubbles, bubbles, bubbles,
7.72 sec 7.45 sec 12.26 sec

Zn Formed few Formed few Accumulated No reaction

bubbles, bubbles, glittery particles,
8.62 sec 18.71 sec 18.42 sec

Order of reactivity from most reactive to least reactive: Magnesium, Lead, Zinc, Copper

D. Effect of heat treatment on metals

Observations

1st clip (control) Broke after being bent 12 times

2nd clip Broke after being bent 42 times

3rd clip Broke after being bent 54 times

Discussion of Results

A. Flame Tests of Alkali and Alkaline Earth Metals

Table 1 presents the data gathered by the group from flame testing of Alkali and
Alkaline Earth metals.

In the first part of the experiment, the group was provided with different metal solutions
that includes LiCl, NaCl, KCl, CaCl2, and BaCl2. According to Clark (2018), with the use of
flame tests, the presence of a relatively small number of metal ions in a compound can be
identified but not all metals can give colors.

The first metal to be tested was NaCl in which sodium emitted a red-orange or a strong
red color. Next was the LiCl where it emitted pinkish red or close to red color. Next to be tested
was KCl wherein potassium emitted a light red-orange flame. The fourth one to be tested was
CaCl2 wherein Calcium emitted a red-orange flame. Last to be tested was BaCl2 giving a color
of light yellow-orange flame.
 By testing the metal solutions under a strong heat, it makes the electron to be in a
higher orbitals from their unexcited state. As the atom falls from the lower levels, it produces
light wherein it specific amount of energy corresponds to spectrum that's why there are
different colors produced from the experiment. The jumps happen the electrons falls from the
higher level to the lower levels of metal atoms.

B. Physical properties and reactivity of metals with acid

The first physical property the group tested was the luster of the metals. After scraping
the metals all of the metals showed a shiny exterior except for lead. However according to
Chemicool (2012), there exists shiny, untarnished lead balls.

Image Source: https://www.chemicool.com/elements/lead.html

Holmes (2017) explained that the lustrous appearance of metals comes from a large
cloud of relatively free electrons present in the metal. When a beam of light comes into contact
with a metal surface, it polarizes the electron cloud thus a field appears which makes the
electrons to start oscillating. This oscillation generates another electromagnetic wave which
opposes the incident of radiation, and hence our incident light rays get reflected.

When tested for electrical conductivity, the only metal who showed a poor conductivity
was lead. It may be related to the fact that it was dull when it was scraped. According to
Reference (2019), some metals are good conductors of electricity because they have free
electrons flowing within them. These free-flowing electrons act as charge carriers in the
metals, allowing an electric current to flow through the metal.

When malleability was tested, the only two metals which were not hammered or
shaped were iron and aluminum. However according to Priya (2014), metals like iron and
aluminum are malleable metals. It was probably our inability to hammer the metals strong
enough that determined our inference about their malleability. Priya (2014) added that a metal
behaves as an array of metal ions or kernels immersed in a “sea” of mobile valence electrons.
Metallic bonds which are non-directional consist of the attractions of the ions to the
surrounding electrons. Whenever a metal receives stress, the position of the adjacent layers
of metallic kernels shifts. The atoms roll over each other but the environment of the kernels
does not change. The deforming force just moves the kernels from one lattice site to another
which then changes the shape of the metal itself. Some metals like tin are not malleable
because it breaks apart when it is struck with an adequate amount of force.
 We based ductility on whether the metal was able to be bent. The hard metals such as
iron, aluminum, and zinc were considered not ductile because the group members were not
able to bend them. Croc (2014) metals become ductile when they possess delocalised
electrons that are free to move. Metallic bonds are formed by the electrostatic attraction
between the positively charged metal ions, which form regular layers, and the negatively
charged delocalised electrons. These are the electrons which used to be in the outer shell of
the metal atoms. These delocalised electrons are free to move throughout the giant metallic
lattice, so as one layer of metal ions slides over another, the electrons can move too keeping
the whole structure bonded together. These movements of electrons allow the metal to be
bent and stretched into wires. Otherwise the metal will break apart when bent.

The metals were then tested for reactivity with hydrochloric acid. Some metals
immediately reacted with the acid, some took longer while the copper metal did not react with
the solution at all. According to PBS (2013), hydrochloric acid which reacts with the metals
dissolves some of them to form oxidized metal chlorides and hydrogen gas. Depending on
their atomic structure and how readily they give up electrons when exposed to hydrogen ions
in an acidic solution, certain metals, including zinc and magnesium, corrode more easily than
others.

C. Ranking some metals in order of reactivity

According to our observations, the order of metals with the highest reactivity to lowest
reactivity was first magnesium, second lead, then zinc, lastly copper. While some of the metals
took time to react with the solutions, the group observed no reaction with copper whatsoever.
This is supported by CopperAlliance (n.d.) who stated that copper is the only metal from
precious metals that will not react with water or dilute acids. However, it will still react, though
very slowly, with oxygen.

CopperAlliance (n.d.) further explained that metals can be listed according to their
reactivity. Some metals are so reactive that they explode on contact with water. Yet others are
so unreactive that they appear to be unchanged even after being buried for thousands of
years.

D. Effect of heat treatment on metals

The last table presents the data gathered by the group by testing the effect of heat
treatment on metals.

According to Wojes (2019), if the metal was exposed to extreme heat, it will result to
expanding where it impacts its structure, electrical resistance, and magnetism. By using heat
treatment, a metal changes its microstructure and brings out its physical and mechanical
characteristics where it becomes more desirable where after the heating, it also has its
different way of willing which significantly affects the properties of a metal.

In this part of the experiments, the group was provided with 3 metal clips in which it was tested
with three given conditions. The first metal clip was not subjected to heat treatment and it
lasted for about 12 times of bending until it broke down into 2 pieces. The second metal clip
was subjected to heat and after it reaches the possible highest temperature to be given using
the burner, the metal was then cooled in a slow manner. After cooling it down, it took 42 times
until the metal broke down into two pieces. Lastly, the 3rd clip was also subjected to heat but
the difference was the use of water wherein after turning the middle of metal into red, it was
placed in a beaker containing water for faster rate of cooling down, and it was repeated 5
times. After performing the given condition, it took 54 times to break the metal into two pieces.

By using heat treatments, it changed the properties of the metal clips where it was very
evident because of the changes of the metal’s hardness provided with the variations of data
from 12 up to 54 times of metal bending.

Findings:

1. The physical properties of metals are directly related to the electrons that they
possess. These electrons determine the properties of the metal such as
lustrousness, electrical conductivity, malleability, ductility and reactivity.
2. Some metals are very similar in terms of their properties while other metals are
extremely different that they exhibit different reactions when subjected to certain
conditions.

Conclusion

The experiment allowed the group to conclude that metals vary in physical and
chemical properties; however, the metals are separated and classified into the famous metallic
groups of the periodic table with nearly similar capabilities and properties. In the first
experiment, interaction between metallic solutions and flames can be observed while the alkali
metallic solutions used produce cooler flames than alkaline earth metallic solutions.

The second experiment reveals the physical properties of sample metals and their acid
reactivity; Transition Metals: copper (Cu), zinc (Zn) and iron (Fe) Poor Metals: Aluminum (Al)
and Lead (Pb) Alkaline Metal: Magnesium (Mg)

Bearing this in mind, by testing luster, electroconductivity, malleability, and ductility for each
sample metal, the group can compare the general physical description of the metal groups to
the observations. Transitional metals are known to be very hard, shiny, ductile, malevolent,
and have high electrical conductivity, enabling the group to pass the transitional metals sample
instantly. Poor metals are metals that have lower temperatures of melting and boiling and
softer texture than normal metals. They have better electronegativity and electroconductivity,
however. The weak metals sample matches the description and helps the team to assume
that the findings are correct.

Lastly, alkaline metals are generally known to be malleable and ductile, fairly soft and solid,
brilliant and low electronegativity and electroconductivity. Magnesium, the alkaline metal
sample, had almost exact tests.

The group also tested with hydrochloric acid the reactivity of the metals. Metals on the left of
hydrogen react with hydrochloric acid in the electrochemical series, and those on the right
have no reaction whatsoever. This explains why there was no reaction to all the sample metals
except for copper (Cu). This is almost the same as the third experiment where the same metals
were used to interact with copper(II)nitrate, lead nitrate, magnesium sulfate, and zinc chloride.
The reactivity of metals with such acids depends on their placement in the series of
electrochemicals.

The last experiment addresses the change in metal properties after heating. The metal paper
clip is said to be harder to break after heating through the data observed from the experiment.
This is because, in addition to its strength, electrical resistance, and magnetism, metals are
known to expand. The process of heating the metal to its equilibrium state and allowing it to
cool naturally is called annealing, whereas the metal takes longer to return to room
temperature and allow the metal to be further revamped. Usually, this is what medieval
blacksmiths do to forge metal equipment. It is called quenching the process of heating the
metal to its state of equilibrium and then returning it to room temperature using liquid. It helps
the metal to return almost immediately to temperature, reducing the time needed to allow the
metals to be changed desirably.
References:

California State University Northridge. (2016, March 16). Metals And Their Properties-
Physical and Chemical. Retrieved from
https://www.csun.edu/~jk323784/subjects/chemistry/notes/metal_prop.pdf

Croc, D. (2014, May 25). Why are metals malleable? Retrieved from
https://socratic.org/questions/why-are-metals-malleable

Holmes, B. (2017, April 21). Why do metals appear lustrous? Retrieved from
https://chemistry.stackexchange.com/questions/73028/why-do-metals-appear-lustrous

Lead. (2012, December 29). Retrieved from

https://www.chemicool.com/elements/lead.html

Metals in Hydrochloric Acid. (2013, September 26). Retrieved from

https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/lsps07.sci.phys.matter.metalshcl/metals-in-
hydrochloric-acid/

Priya, E. Z. (2014, March 26). Why are metals malleable? Retrieved from
https://socratic.org/questions/why-are-metals-malleable

Reactivity of Copper - reactions with the environment and chemistry of patination. (n.d.).
Retrieved from https://copperalliance.org.uk/knowledge-base/education/education-
resources/copper-reactivity-patination/

Why Are Metals Good Conductors of Electricity? (2019). Retrieved from

https://www.reference.com/science/metals-good-conductors-electricity-129b1351f57285aa

Clark, J. (2018, August). Flame Tests. Retrieved from

https://www.chemguide.co.uk/inorganic/group1/flametests.html

Wojes, R. (2019, October 7). What happens when metals undergo heat treatment?.
Retrieved from https://www.thebalance.com/what-happens-when-metals-undergo-heat-
treatment-2340016