Aluminum Lab: The Purpose Of The Creation Of Alum

The purpose of the making alum from aluminum lab was to create alum from a series of chemical reactions involving aluminum. Small pieces of an aluminum can were cut and measured before being taken through a series of chemical reactions. This process involved filtering out waste product that was no longer needed in the reaction by using Whatman #4 filter paper and an aspirator. The first reaction that took place was placing aluminum pieces into the strong base NaOH and then heating it. This reaction is shown in the equation
〖2Al〗_((s))+〖2KOH〗_((aq))+〖6H〗_2 O_((l))→〖2K〗_((aq))^++〖2Al(OH)〗_(4(aq))^-+〖3H〗_(2(g)) (1). The solution was allowed to cool before being filtered. The filtrate was then mixed with
As the solution was cooled, an alum precipitate began to form. This reaction can be seen in the equation
K_2 〖SO〗_(4(aq))+〖Al〗_2 〖(SO〗_4 )_(3(aq))+〖24H〗_2 O_((l))→〖2KAl(SO〗_4 )_2*〖12H〗_2 O_((s)) (4).
The solution was then cooled which caused the formation of alum crystals. This reaction is shown in the equation
K_((aq))^++〖Al〗_((aq))^(3+)+〖2SO〗_(4(aq))^(2-)+〖12H〗_2 O_((l))→〖KAl(SO〗_4 )_2*〖12H〗_2 O_((s)) (5).
A real world use of this laboratory experiment is through hydrometallurgy. Hydrometallurgy is the process of obtaining pure metals from ores. This process is incredibly is performed in a similar method in which an ore containing multiple metals is run through chemical reactions involving strong acids and bases in order to extract a particular type of metal. The process of making alum from aluminum is also important in the real world. Alum is a type of salt that is created in the form of crystals. Alum is an ingredient found in many products in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, the food industry, as well as paper, dyes, glue and