Copper Wire Reaction

In Reaction 1, the mass of the pre-cut copper wire was measured with watch glass on the analytical balance, the mass was recorded using as many significant figures as possible on Table 2. The copper wire was bended into a circle and laid flat on the bottom of the 250 mL beaker. Inside the fume hood, 4mL 16M of HNO3 was added into the 250mL beaker that contained the copper wire. The copper wire was completely dissolved by swirling the beaker. The observation was recorded in Table 3. For Reaction 2, 30mL of 3M NaOH was measured using a graduated cylinder. The 30mL of NaOH was added into the solution from Reaction 1, the same stir bar was added into the beaker to simultaneously stir the solution. The stir bar was not remove from the container
The solution was decanted and the copper was left in the beaker. The steam bath was being prepared to dry the copper. 50mL H2O was added into the 100mL beaker and boiled on the hot plate. Before the copper was taken out from the beaker, the small evaporating dish was measured first and recorded in Table 2. The recovery copper was taken out from the beaker into the small evaporating dish using the stir bar and deionized water was used to wash out the copper on the bottom of the beaker. The excess deionized water inside the evaporating dish was decanted into the waste beaker. The copper was washed with three 5mL portions of deionized H2O and three 5mL portions of ethanol and the solution was decanted into the waste beaker. The evaporating dish that contained the recovery copper was placed on the steam bath to dry out the excess water inside the copper until the copper was thoroughly dried. The evaporating dish that contained copper was measured on the analytical balance when the evaporating dish was cool to room temperature. The mass was recorded in Table 2 and the observation was recorded in Table 3. The liquid in the waste beaker was decanted into the waste container and the copper and Al(s) wire were disposed into the waste beaker in the fume