Kathleen Sylva Head Researcher Ceramic Artisans Dear Mrs.

Sylva, Hi, I am Sai Alam, the head of the research team. My team and I have been working on the task by Mr. Reginald Brown to determine which of the four substances that you gave us to test best match the requirements that you gave us and will therefore become your new ceramics glaze. We have undertaken many tests that would establish the chemical that would best fit your requirements for the glaze you wish to use. Based on your guidance the characteristics of the final substance must have a high melting point, is able to dissolve in water but not dissolve in alcohol, is transparent when dissolved, but white when it has died, and has a high electrical conductivity. All of these characteristics fit under the category of a compound that has an Ionic Bond. An ionic compound is a chemical compound in which ions are held together in a lattice structure by ionic bonds which is when electrons are transferred instead of shared. Usually, the positively charged portion consists of metal cations(+) and the negatively charged portion are anions(-). Ionic compounds have a high melting and boiling point, and they are hard and very brittle. Ions can be single atoms, as the sodium and chlorine in table salt (NaCl. In order to be considered an ion, a compound must carry more positive cations than the number of anions or vice versa. Ions usually have a high melting point, are electrically conductive in water, and are soluble in water. These characteristics of an Ionic Compound fit into place with the specifications given. The final selection must follow all of the listed conditions. We performed several tests on the four different substances specified to find out which compound would make the best glaze as your conditions specified. To begin our testing process we first set out to determine the melting point of each substance. We started by measuring.5g of each substance into individual sterilized test tubes. We then held the test tubes one by one over the flame via Bunsen burner. We left it until it melted. If it

was before one minute, then it did not fit the high melting point condition and failed to qualify. Next we observed the solubility of each substance in water and in alcohol. We started by acquiring 250 ml of both distilled water and alcohol. Then we proceeded to added in 1g of each substance into both beakers separately. We then recorded if the substances were transparent when dissolved into each liquid. The substance fit the requirements if it was soluble in water but not in alcohol. Then we let a few drops of the liquid containing the dissolved substance onto a surface to dry. We then observed carefully the color of the substance when it dried. This test was used to record if the substance was to fit the criteria of being clear when dissolved and white when dried. Our last test involved using an Electric Conductivity Tester Machine. This instrument showed the conductivity based on the brightness of the light when the probes were placed in the water. We tested each substance by using the water in which the substance was dissolved into. The requirements demanded a compound with high conductivity. After all these tests were conducted, we slimmed down a viable candidate for the requirements to just one compound. The substance my team and I chose to best fit the criteria provided is Sodium Chloride or NaCl. We have come to this conclusion because of its high melting point, its solubility in water but not alcohol, its transparency when dissolved, its white color(even though they were all white) when dried and its relatively high conductivity Which was higher than one other substance, which was why we chose this instead of the other substance. When we first tested the melting point of all four substances we noticed that both Sodium Chloride and Sodium Carbonate had high melting points. Because of this we could correctly determine that Sucrose or Salicylic acid were out of the running, but we continued to test the criteria for all the substances. Next we tested the solubility each compound in water and in alcohol. We found out that only Salicylic acid was not able to dissolve in water and was also able to dissolve in alcohol. After that we tested the color of each substance when dissolved. Also all of the substances were white when dried. At this point we could eliminate Sodium Carbonate from our

options, but we continued to test the conductivity of each substance. We observed that Sodium Carbonate and Sodium Chloride both had a high level of conductivity and displayed to my team by our conductivity tester. However, for us, Sodium Chloride was much brighter so we chose it instead of Sodium Carbonate. Due to its relative fitting of all of your specified criteria, we decided that Sodium Chloride (NaCl) or table salt, was the best compound to be your future glaze. Yours Truly, Sai Alam Che Mystery Labs, Inc. 52 Fulton Street Springfield, VA, 22150