A. Place a plastic weighboat on the scale and tare (re-zero) the scale.
B. Measure 1.0 g of the copper gluconate in the weighboat on the scale. If you don’t land exactly on 1.0,
that’s OK. Just get as close as you can, and record the exact mass in Table 1 below.
C. Transfer all of the copper gluconate into a glass 250 mL beaker. Try not to leave any behind in the
weighboat, as this will affect your calculation later.
D. Using a clean, dry 10 mL graduated cylinder (you may want to first rinse with distilled water prior
to using, then dry), measure 10.0 mL of 0.5% NaCl solution, and pour it into the beaker with the copper gluconate. If you need to use a pipette to help transfer the NaCl into the graduated cylinder, that’s fine. You may need to gently swirl or stir (with your glass stirring rod) the solution if all the copper gluconate does not immediately suspend into the solution.
E. Place 2 aluminum (Al) washers into the beaker with the solution.
F. Fasten your iron ring to your ring stand, about 6-10 inches high. Place your beaker on the iron ring. It
should fit just enough inside the ring where it won’t fall, but if yours does not fit as nicely as you’d like, you can place your watchglass over the ring to create a more stable platform on which to sit your beaker. Be very careful that your beaker does not fall, or you will lose your data for this experiment, not to mention have a mess to clean up.
G. Place your Sterno® fuel underneath your beaker. This will be your heat source and take the place of a traditional Bunsen burner. Your final setup should look similar to this: