Knowledge Base Article
Article ID: 27164 [Last Updated9/19/2007 9:04:20 AM]
Summary:
Sample Physical Science lab report
Article:
Experiment 1.1
Data:
When I put the ends of the wire into the glass, I saw bubbles forming on the wires. The bubbles formed on both wires.
After 10 minutes, the wire hooked to the positive end of the battery turned blue-green. In fact, the whole solution in the glass had a faint blue-green tint to it.
The wire hooked to the negative end of the battery did not turn colors at all.
Summary:
In this experiment, I hooked up two wires to the two sides of a battery. When those wires were put in a solution of baking soda and water, bubbles formed on the wires. As time went on, the wire hooked to the positive side of the battery turned a blue-green color. Eventually, the whole solution turned blue-green. The wire hooked to the negative side of the battery did not turn colors.
Two things went on during the experiment which caused these results. First, the electricity from the battery broke water molecules down into their constituent atoms, hydrogen and oxygen. The bubbles I saw were the hydrogen and oxygen forming. The other thing that happened was the formation of the blue-green color. That happened because copper atoms in the wire were linking up with oxygen, carbon, and hydrogen atoms in the solution to form copper hydroxycarbonate, which is the same stuff that turns copper statues (like the Statue of Liberty) green.