Dana's World

Copper:
Symbol: Cu
Reaction with water: Copper is not reactive with water, because it was used for down pipes, with a lot of contact with water. Meaning that it cannot afford to be reactive with water.
Reaction with acid: Copper doesn’t react with Hydrochloric acid. But, if it was left for a week the acid would start to evaporate and the copper would disintegrate leaving the acid to turn green.
Electrical conductivity: Copper is highly conductive.
Malleable/Ductile: At normal room temperature, 20◦, copper is both malleable and ductile.  Unlike some metals copper will bend with ease, still giving the same result as other metals with these properties.  It can also take a lot of stress before it fractures.
Common uses:  65% of copper that is produced is used in electrical appliances. Copper has one of the highest electrical conductivity, leading to it being used in circuitry. Copper is in all sorts of things you find in your home. Such as the circuitry in televisions and phones. Copper also has huge anti-bacterial properties. A bench top made with copper helps to stop the easy spread of disease.
Advantages/disadvantages: The main advantage of copper is that it is malleable. This means that it is easier to bend copper pipes into shape. A lot of people like copper because of its beauty and durability. The only real disadvantage is the cost to buy copper. Copper is expensive because it is a rare metal and is in high demand! This forces the price to rise.

Zinc:
Symbol: Zn
Reaction with water: Zinc doesn’t react with cold water, but rather with hot water.
Reaction with acid: Zinc with hydrochloric acid. Zinc has a slower reaction time then magnesium but a faster one then lead. When it reacted it bubbled vigorously for quite some time. It released gas at medium pace also.
Electrical conductivity: Zinc isn’t a very good conductor, but it isn’t the worst either.
Malleable/Ductile: Zinc is malleable at and above 100◦, however below this temperature it is very brittle. Zinc isn’t greatly ductile. The combination of zinc with brass is the complete opposite; it is both malleable and ductile. Brass is both, when combined with the zinc it creates another product that has much higher of both properties.
Common uses:  As most people know the main use of zinc is coatings. Zinc is used to coat all sorts of metals. Steel nails are normally covered in zinc coatings. The main reason behind this is because of its slow corrosion time. Because zinc doesn’t corrode quickly it opens a world of opportunities, and the life time of the nail is extended greatly.
Advantages/disadvantages: Although there aren’t many for zinc the advantage is how hard it is after a certain temperature. Also zinc is malleable. As said earlier the main advantage to zinc is its corrosion time. The disadvantage on the other hand is that zinc is very brittle before it is heated up.

Iron:
Symbol: Fe
Reaction with water: No, Iron doesn’t react with water.
Reaction with acid: Iron with Hydrochloric acid. Heated a little then it released hydrogen.  It smelt like Sulfur, bubbled. Created Iron chloride.
Electrical conductivity: Iron is an okay conductor. It could be better or it could be worse. But it is not as good as Copper or silver.
Malleable/Ductile: Pure iron is neither! But iron as we know it is not pure. It is more than likely to be steel. Steel is malleable and ductile but as far as a pure metal goes this is one of the metals without these two properties.
Common uses:  The uses of iron are vast and mainly consisting of the creation of steel. Iron is used in vehicles, airplanes, office supplies (staples and paperclips), boats, computers, furniture and steel reinforcements.  This is due to its low costs.
Advantages/disadvantages:  Disadvantages are that it rusts easily if not coated with some form of sealant and it takes a lot of energy to process it. The main advantage is we can turn it into steel. Steel is a lot stronger! But, we consume a lot of energy in the transformation process.

Magnesium:
Symbol: Mg
Reaction with water: Magnesium reacts with water.
Reaction with acid: Magnesium and hydrochloric acid. Bubbled, quick reaction, dissolved, heated up, gas was released quickly.
Electrical conductivity:  Magnesium is a good conductor.
Malleable/Ductile: Along with a pile of others magnesium, when heated, is both malleable and ductile.
Common uses:  Magnesium is used in aluminum beverage cans as an alloy. Sparklers contain magnesium. When a weightlifter uses a chalky powder so his hands don’t slip he is using magnesium carbonate. So magnesium is in everyday things.
Advantages/disadvantages:  Magnesium is an excellent fire starter like flint. In the pure form magnesium is highly explosive. This is why it is used to start fires but, it is insanely hazardous.

COMPARING AND CONTRASTING:
Lead and copper:
Lead and copper have similar properties with one main difference, the price. Lead is in low demand and very cheap, Copper on the other hand is in high demand and is very expensive. These two metals are at complete opposite ends of this scale. A sheet of lead is normally sold between $30 and $100 US dollars. Copper is very expensive, with its price range starting from $100 US and going up to unspeakable prices.
Magnesium and Zinc:
Both magnesium and zinc have fast chemical reactions. They have very similar properties. With hydrochloric acid their reaction time was almost simultaneous. Both bubbled vigorously for a long time. By the end of two minutes it was still going. Over 10 minutes later they were still going but about to stop at any moment.

Zinc and Iron:
Zinc had a fast reaction but was slightly slower than magnesium however; iron and zinc are more closely linked. They both had almost identical reaction times. Iron released gas and bubbled. Zinc did the exact same thing.

Lead and Iron:
The main chemical difference between lead and iron is how reactive they are. Lead has little to no reactivity, and iron has a medium reaction. These two metals are almost the same apart from slight differences in reaction.

Copper and lead pipes:
Lead piping has one problem, but this is a major problem. Our drinking water has agents in it that insure it is safe to drink. However these agents corrode the piping. They allow the lead, which is toxic for human consumption. To leak out of the pipes and into the water. This is why lead piping has been removed. Then we come up to copper. Copper is quite flexible and uses fewer fasteners to install it. It also doesn’t allow bacteria to grow inside the piping. Copper does not leak any kind of poisons. The reason why lead piping was more popular than copper, is the price. However this is where people went wrong. Even though copper has a higher expense it is not going to harm the consumer. Lead corrodes a lot faster than copper, meaning that it would have to be replaced more often than is really necessary. It is true in today’s society that a little extra cost can go a long way; the differences in these types of pipes show that.