Gold / Silver / Copper Plating
Plating is used in a way that is not a very good image, such as the plating peeling off, but it is actually indispensable for coating metals and other surfaces. Simply put, the surface of a substance is coated with a thin metal to protect it. This time, I will introduce a simple galvanization and an alloy of copper and zinc.
you need: Copper plate, small amount of zinc powder, 2 g of sodium hydroxide, evaporating dish, crucible scissors, beaker
The experiment itself is very simple.
Put a well-polished copper plate in about 2 g of sodium hydroxide and a small amount of zinc powder in water and heat it.
The copper surface is galvanized to give it a silver color. The one in the center of the photo below
Further heating of galvanized copper results in an alloy of zinc and copper. This alloy is called brass. Since it will be gold, it will be gold, silver and copper with the original copper copper color, galvanized silver color, and brass gold color.
About galvanizing
I coat the surface of copper with zinc, but it is not simply attached.
In general, there are two types of plating: electroplating, which uses electricity to attract metal ions in aqueous solution (having positive electricity) to the cathode, and hot-dip galvanizing, which was performed this time.
The iron surface coated with zinc is called galvanized iron. It is a tin roof.
I grew up in Kawaguchi City, Saitama Prefecture, and when I say "galvanized iron," I imagine the tin roof and tin walls of a broken factory. This may also make the image of plating worse.
Here, zinc and hydroxide ions are present as ions in the aqueous solution in the form of sticking together.
When two electrons are attached to it, zinc adheres as the original metal. This is called reduction.
Since zinc is an amphoteric metal, it reacts similarly to acids. Therefore, this experiment can be performed with sulfuric acid instead of sodium hydroxide.