Beer-Lambert Law - Lab Report Example

Data analysis will involve determination of copper’s concentration using Beer-Lambert law. During the analysis, relevant graphs and calibration curves will feature in establishing the relationship between experimental variables. In addition, relevant statistical tests, especially the t-test well are used in detecting significant differences between absorbance by reference and sample solutions. Discussion of results will lead to eventual conclusion regarding the amount of copper metal in a penny.

Technically, penny coins comprise of copper, zinc and metals in different proportions. In the past, copper metal was cheap; hence was used primarily in manufacture of coins. After 1980, copper metal became valuable and rare. Therefore, coin manufacturers used only copper coating in pennies and used primarily zinc in making the bulk part of the coins. With increasing value of copper, the metal’s composition in a coin keeps changing. The only way to determine the metal’s proportion today is to carry out quantitative analysis using reliable analysis methods like molecular spectroscopy.

Concentration and hence the quantity of a metal species within a mixture is determined through molecular spectroscopy. This means that metals contained by a penny must be converted into molecular species in order to employ spectroscopic analysis. Fortunately, copper and zinc form molecular species with different colors. Copper form deep-blue ions while zinc form colorless species (Smith 45). The variation in ionic colors for the two penny components forms the basis of spectroscopic differentiation between copper and zinc.

In this context, both copper and zinc must be converted into their ionic species with distinct colors before proceeding with subsequent steps of the experiment. This explains why the experiment’s procedure involved dissolution of a penny in nitric acid. Chemically, zinc is more reactive than copper.