Name

DavidHernandez
Date
12/18/15
SludgeReport
Chemistry

ExecutiveSummary

Respondtoquestion,ShouldtheewasterecyclingplantbeallowedtosetupinPawtucket?
Clearlyarticulatea
claim
(recommendation)regardingoperationoftheelectronicrecyclingplant.
Identifycomponentsofsludgeas
evidence
tosupporttheclaim.
Linkevidencebacktoclaimbydeterminingwhetherthosecomponentsaretoxic,valuable,orrecyclable
(
reasoning
).

TheewasterecyclingplantshouldbebeallowedtosetupinPawtucket.Theewaterrecyclingshouldbe
allowedtosetupherebecausethewaterwon'twegoodiftheydumpthissludgeinthelakes.Thewater
wouldn'tbegoodbecausecopper,zincandberylliumaretoxic.Andifwegointhelakesoreatthefishinititit
canleadtoseriousdiseases.SoiftheewasterecyclingplantsetsupinPawtucketitcanpreventthisfrom
happening.

Methods

Describewhatyoudidtoseparateandidentifythecomponentsofyoursludgesample.Justifytheorderof
separationmethodsyouused.

Example:
Wenoticedanoilysubstanceontopofoursludge,sowedecidedtostartbypipettingthatoiloffintoanother
beaker.Theboilingpointofoilisveryhigh,soitwouldhavebeendifficulttoseparateitfromeverythingelse
usingadistillation.Pipettingitoffthetopatthebeginningalsomadeourotherseparationproceduresmuch
cleaner.Oncewehadtheoilinaseparatebeaker,we.

Inordertofindoutwhatwasinoursludgeourgroupseparatedallthesubstancesbyputtingeachofthemin
Petridishesbyusingfilterpaper.Afterweseparatedthemwetooklayersoffoftheliquidsabouttwotimes
becausetheywouldmixwitheachother.Tofigureoutwhatthesolidswerewefoundoutwhatthedensity
wasandfortheliquidswediddistillationthencomparedthedatawegottothereferencesheetwehad.The
onlyunknownsubstancewefoundoutbynotusingthesetechniqueswaswax.Wefoundoutwhatitwasby
meltingit,feelingthetextureandusingwhatwealreadyknewaboutwaxtoseeifitwas.

Table

Createatablewiththechemicalandphysicalpropertiesofeachcomponentofyoursludge.Forliquids,you
shouldincludechemicalandphysicalpropertiessuchasboilingpoint,density,color,andflammability.For
solids,youshouldincludechemicalandphysicalpropertiessuchasdensity,solubility,polarity,color,and
magnetism.Youshould
researchthisinformation
tomakesureyouveentereditcorrectly.Hereisnotthe
placetotellmethedensityyoufoundwhileexperimenting,forexample.Iveprovidedtwoexamplesforyou,
butyoushoulderasethesebeforesubmittingyourfinalreport.

Component
Density
Boilingpoint
Polarity
Color
Magnetic?
8.366g/mL
Copper
Nonpolar
Orange/Brown No

Zinc

7.7g/mL

Polar

silver

No

Wax
Seawater

1.09g/mL

Nonpolar
Polar

Orange
clearwith
whitecrystals
clear
sandcolor

No
No

Water

101.7
Polar
No
Beryllium
1.9833g/mL

Nonpolar
No

Findings

Identifyeachcomponentofyoursludge.Foreachone,providequantitativeandqualitativedataonthat
componentschemical/physicalpropertiestosupportyourclaim.ThinkofthisasaminiCERparagraphfor
eachcomponentofyoursludge.

Example:
Onecomponentofthesludgefromtheewastefactoryisaluminum.Oursludgecontainedasolidsubstance

thathadadensityof2.64g/cm3
,whichisclosetothedensityofaluminum.Additionally,thissubstance
lookedmetallicbutwasnotattractedtoamagnet.Thisfurthersupportsourconclusionthatthissubstanceis
aluminumbecausealuminumisnotmagnetic.Finally,thissubstancewassilverinappearance,whichmatches
thecolorofaluminum.Thedensity,lackofmagnetism,andcolorofthisunknownconfirmthataluminumis
oneofthemetalspresentinthesludge.

*Dontforgettousethefollowingwords:density,solubility,solute,solvent,polar,nonpolar,saturation,
atoms,molecules,distillation,boilingpoint

AunknownsubstancethatwefoundoutwasZinc.Iknowthattheunknowniszincbecauseofthedensity.The
densitywas7.7g/mLandintheknownsubstancesheetwehaveitisclosesttozincwhichis7.14g/mL.Ialso
knowthatitszincbecauseofthecolor.Ilookeduppicturesongoogleandtheywerebothsilver.Somygroup
cametotheconclusionthattheunknownwaszinc.

Anotherunknownsubstancewefoundwaswater.Ourgroupknowsthattheunknowniswaterbecauseofthe
boilingpointwefound.Wefoundthattheboilingpointwas101.7andonthereferencesheetwater's
boilingpointis100.Sobecauseofthisweknowthatitiswater.

Wealsofoundoutthatanunknownsubstancewaswax.Ourgroupknowsthatthesubstancewaswax
becausewhenweputitinwateritdidn'tdissolveandbecauseofitweknowitisanonpolar.Wealsoknow
becauseofthewaythetexturefeltandbecauseitmeltedandsinceIseenwaxbeforeIknowthatit'swax.All
thesecharacteristicsshowthatthesubstanceiswax.

Berylliumisanothersubstancewefoundinthesludge.WeknowthatBerylliumwasoneoftheunknowns
becauseofthedensity.Thedensitywefoundwas1.9833g/mLandonthereferencesheetitwasclosestto
Berylliumwhichis1.848g/mL.SobecauseofthedensityourgroupknowsitsBeryllium.

Ourgroupalsofoundoutthatoneoftheunknownswasseawater.Wefoundoutthattheunknownwassea
waterbecauseofthedensitywegotforit.Wefoundthatthedensityfortheunknownwas1.09g/mLand
afterlookingatthereferencesheetitwasclosesttoseawaterwhichis1.03g/mL.Soafterfindingthedensity
oftheunknownwefoundoutthatitwasseawater.

Thelastunknownsubstanceourmygroupfoundwascopper.Weknowthatthesubstancewascopper
becauseofitsdensity,colorandseeingifitwasmagnetic.Thedensitywefoundfortheunknownwas8.366
g/mLandonthereferencesheetitwasclosestto8.96g/mLwhichiscopper.Theunknownwasa
orange/browncolorwhichlookedlikethecolorofcopperwhenwelookedituponGoogle.Lastlywechecked
ifitwasmagneticwhichitwasn'tandcopperisalsononmagnetic.Soafterfiguringoutthesecharacteristics
wecametotheconclusionthatitwascopper
.

ExtraCredit

Prompt1

Whileworkinginthesludgetestmygrouphadsometrouble.Wehadtroubleidentifyingwhatthecomponents
werebecauseofthedensitywefoundforeachofthem.Iknowthatwemadeamistakebecauseafterlooking
atwhatthecomponentwaswelookeduppicturesandtheylookeddifferentfromthesubstancewehadinour
sludge.

Prompt2

ThemistakesImadeinthesludgetestaresimilartotheonesprofessionalscientistsmake.Theyaresimilar
becausewhenImadethemIknewwhatnottodoafterandprofessionalscientistsdotoo.Ialsodidn'tfind
whateachcomponentwasthefirsttimeandtheyalsoexperiencethat.It'simportanttomakethesemistakes
becauseyoulearnfromthemandyourdataismoreaccurate.

Rubric

SludgeAnalysis(LabWork)
Total
Componentof
Identified?(5pointseach)

Sludge

/35

WrittenReport
Total
ExecutiveSummary

Claim(5points)
Evidence(5points)
Reasoning(5points)

/15
Methods
(ClearlyDescribed)
/5
Table
(Showscharacteristicchemicalandphysicalproperties)
/5
Findings
(CERParagraphs)

Identified
Claim(2points)
Qualitative
Quantitative
Reasoning(2

Component
Evidence?(2
Evidence?(2
points)
points)
points)

Water

WrittenReportTotal

/48
/73