Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo de Educación Bilingüe

Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León

Selected Topics of Chemistry

Lab Report 3

Teacher: Mrs. Jannet Salinas

Cleaning Silver by REDOX Process
Group: 416

Student name ID
Brenda Marcela González Garza 1951882
Fernanda Janeth Partida Moya 1948364

Danna Paola Recio Navarro 1959467

Andrea Liliana Reyes Reyes 1958325

Helí Villarreal de la Garza 1949896

Jorge Moeller Vela 1977347

Patricio Salazar 1965969

Due Date: April 30th, 2020

Background

This practice is about oxidation-reduction and REDOX process. ​Oxidation​ is the loss
of electrons and ​reduction​ is the gain of electrons, the opposite. This independent
oxidation-reduction process is recognized as the formation of oxide on a metallic
surface with the consequent increase in weight and when the metal is obtained from
its oxide resulting in its reduction. Is important to know what ​REDOX​ is, ​ it is a
chemical reaction in which the atoms state of oxidation changes, this reactions occur
in metals but it can also occur everywhere.

During this practice we experiment a REDOX process by cleaning a dirty silver

necklace, at the moment of cleaning it, it exchange electrons with the Sulfur (S), and
becomes a compound. In the discussion it is better explained and with more details
to understand better all the process, why and how it occurs.

Research Question

What will happen to a silver piece of jewelry if we try to clean it with a mix of sodium
chloride and sodium bicarbonate?

Hypothesis

The solution will react with the silver piece of jewelry, cleaning it and making it more
shiny.

Variables​:

Independent:

● The amount of each substance (NaCl and NaHCO3) we add into the solution.
● The amount of time we leave the piece of jewelry in the stove.

Dependent:

● The amount of time it takes for the water to boil.

● How bright the object turns after cleaning it.
Controlled:

● Temperature of the stove

Lab materials and reactants

● Aluminium Paper
● Toothbrush
● Napkins
● Metal Cup
● Spoon
● Tweezers
● Measuring Glass
● Stove
● ½ spoon of Sodium chloride (NaCl)
● ½ spoon of Sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3)
● Silver necklace

Methods

1- Select the silver product you want to clean

2-Cover a container with the aluminium and put the objects inside

3- Prepare a mixture of (½ of NACL, H2O, ½ of salt) and dissolve and put it inside
the container

4- Cover the object with the mixture and close the aluminium, cover the aluminium
too.

5- Heat 10 minutes in the stove.

6- Remove from the container and brush the object to get the same shine as when
you buy it.
Results

The results we got were pretty good, the silver looked much cleaner and shinier, it
smelled funny but it was way better than the silver it looked like before. The necklace
was left for 10 min inside the aluminum at high heat levels. Once taken out and
rubbed with the toothbrush the results turned out nice.

Smell Smells a lot fresher and like wet.

Color It has a shiny silver color, not grey like

before.

Feel It feels way slippery and smooth.

Discussion and Analysis

Redox reactions and its relation with the experiment

An oxidation-reduction reaction is a type of chemical reaction that involves a transfer

of electrons between two kinds. An oxidation-reduction reaction is any chemical
reaction in which the oxidation number of a molecule, atom, or ion changes by
gaining or losing an electron.

Why does baking soda and aluminium work while cleaning silver?
When silver tarnishes, it combines with sulfur and forms silver sulfide. Silver sulfide
is black. When a thin coating of silver sulfide forms on the surface of silver, it
darkens the silver. The silver can be returned to its former luster by removing the
silver sulfide coating from the surface, which is the experiment we did. ​Silver
tarnishes when sulfur attaches to the silver creating a silver sulfate. ​The baking
soda/aluminum combination pulls sulfur off the silver by a small electrolytic current
set up through a salt bridge. Both Silver and Aluminum are likely to accept sulfur, but
aluminum does it quicker and will pull atoms of it off the item as long as the
electrolytic current remains. The silver is left all alone again. The heat of the water is
just a catalyst and makes the reaction occur faster.

Why is it efficient?

Many metals in addition to silver form great bonds and compounds with sulfur. Some
of them have a much better and greater affinity for sulfur than silver does. Aluminum
is one of those metals. In this experiment, the silver sulfide reacts with aluminum. In
the reaction, sulfur atoms are transferred from silver to aluminum, freeing the silver
metal and forming brand new aluminum sulfide.

How does it work?

Aluminum has a lower ionization energy because it is energy required to remove

electrons from an atom of the element much more than silver. As a result, aluminum
is oxidized which means that it loses electrons and oxidation number increases, and
silver is reduced, it gains electrons and oxidation number is reduced. Depending on
the amount of tarnish, the silver will be bright and the aluminum foil may be brown
with tarnish in a short amount of time because of the catalyzer.

In experiments that involve cleaning, we've always seen a main material which is:
baking soda​. ​Why is it good in this subject?

Baking soda is a neutral compound formed from a positively charged ion, or cation,
and negatively charged ion, or anion. But while ionically speaking baking soda is
neutral, its pH is higher than neutral. This means that it is basic , which is key to
understanding why it’s such a good cleaner.This component acts a cleaning agent
because it is a mild alkali and can cause dirt and grease to dissolve easily in water
for effective removal. It is abrasive, which gives it the grit to dislodge particles and
remove stains from a number of surfaces.

What is redox?

Redox is a chemical reaction in which the atoms state of oxidation changes. Redox
reaction are a transfer of electrons between the reducing agent, which is the element
undergoing oxidation and the loss of electrons, and the oxidizing agent, that's
undergoing reduction and gaining electrons. This is easily memorized by the
acronym LEO (Loss of Electrons in Oxidation) and GER (Gain of Electrons in
Reduction).

Why is redox important?

Oxidation-reduction (redox) reactions conform a big part in our lives and are
responsible for many essential processes. They are responsible for the most
important source of energy on the planet, natural, biological and artificial. Oxidation
of molecules by removal of hydrogen or combination with oxygen normally liberates
large quantities of energy. Some of the everyday redox reactions include
photosynthesis, respiration, combustion and corrosion. Above all corrosion is by far
the most common redox reaction known. This is mostly because of the level of the
amount of times we are in contact with it and how easy is to “access” this reaction.
Another example of this could be this experiment or iron oxide, which is the
reddish-brown material known as rust.

Conclusion

We can conclude that the object of silver that we used was a silver necklace and
before making the experiment, the necklace was very opaque and didn’t shine at all.
After doing the experiment, we could see that the solution did work on the silver
object, since the object changed from being opaque to being very shiny, almost as if
it was brand new. We can say that our hypothesis was correct, the silver object did
become more shiny and was cleaned by the reaction that was made between the
silver and the solution. This experiment could have been better if all of us could
make it in the lab, but with pandemic virus that we are suffering it was impossible for
all of us to do it. Only one member of the team made the experiment and he was the
only person that could really see the results from making this experiment. So in our
opinion it would’ve been better if all of us got to see and experiment with the silver
object in the school’s laboratory.

References

● Ceceri, K. (2018, January 15). Clean Your Silver Jewelry With Chemistry! Retrieved
April 29, 2020, from ​https://www.wired.com/2012/07/silver-jewelry-chemistry/
● Redox. (2020, April 15). Retrieved from ​https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redox
● Crystal, M. (2019, March 2). Oxidation-Reduction Reactions Retrieved from
https://sciencing.com/oxidation-reduction-used-everyday-life-10020550.html