Alloys

An alloy is a mixture of two elements, one of which is a metal and contain atoms of different sizes.
 

 

It is more difficult for layers of atoms to slide over each other in alloys.

 

 

 

An example of an alloy is brass. Brass is made up of copper and zinc. It is mainly used in hinges and electrical plugs. Brass is also divided into many other brass alloys, but the most common type of brass contains 70% copper and 30% zinc. The density of brass is approximately 8.4g/cm3. If we take the volume of brass to be 160m3, then we can use the formula:

 

 

 

.. and rearrange the formula for mass. This would be: m = PV. Therefore, to find the mass of the copper and zinc contained in brass, we would need to find 70% of copper and 30% of zinc in brass and multiply both variables to find the mass of each metal.

 

Copper:

70% of 160m3 = 112m3

 

m = P x v

m = 8.4g/cm3 x 112m3

m = 940.8g

m1 = mass 1 = 940.8g

 

Zinc:

30% of 160m3 = 48m3

 

m = P x v

m = 8.4g/cm3 x 48m3

m = 403.2g

m2 = mass 2 = 403.2g

 

m1 + m2 = mT

940.8g + 403.2g = 1344g