Table of Contents
Dark red text has been formatted as certain heading types. To ensure the table of contents is rendered correctly, make sure any edits to these fields does not change their heading type. |
Name: Katie Bergen
Date and Time:
Location: 6th Floor Fayerweather Hall
Subject: Verdigris setup
After materials for project were distributed in class, I left them in my locker in 300 Fayerweather and retrieved vinegar from home. I decided I would keep my verdigris growing in this locker, because it is sturdy and stable (lowest locker, rests on the floor), and in a fairly controlled environment. The background readings on verdigris indicated that many contemporary recipes included packing the verdigris with dung or earth in order to create and preserve heat. Adding heat adds energy to any chemical reaction, which accelerates the process. I did not have access to this kind of fermenting energy, so I decided I would leave the verdigris to develop for a week and reassess at that point whether the reaction was progressing quickly enough.
I had apple cider vinegar to hand at home, and took some with me to begin the reaction. I folded the copper over the piece of string, then poured about two centimeters’ worth of apple cider vinegar into the bottom of the jar.
Caption: Apple cider vinegar with copper suspended above
| Image URL: |
|---|
|
I suspended the copper on the string over the vinegar, and attached it by clamping the string to the lip of the jar with the metal lid, screwing it fast. I added as much vinegar as I felt I could, leaving it about a millimeter from the edge of the copper. I knew that the copper should not touch the liquid, especially once the reaction started. I also knew that I would not be able to warm my verdigris, so I hoped that adding the maximum amount of vinegar would encourage the reaction. The large amount of vinegar was another reason for conducting the experiment in Fayerweather. I did not want to risk transporting the verdigris at the end of the experiment and splashing the copper with liquid vinegar.
As I was reading through the background information on verdigris, I saw that many recipes encouraged the use of salt. Salt would be used to coat the copper, which had been made sticky either by vinegar or by honey. I knew that the reaction would occur with just the copper and vinegar, because it is a chemical process that doesn’t require the addition of salt. I imagine that salt would add an aesthetic dimension to the verdigris, or perhaps make it easier to harvest.
Name: Katie Bergen
Date and Time:
Location: 3rd Floor Fayerweather Hall
Subject: Verdigris check-up
After a week I took my verdigris out of the locker to check on its progress. There is a marked teal color across the sheet of copper. The color of the vinegar has lightened somewhat, but it has not evaporated at all which indicates that I have a good seal on the jar. I’m a bit concerned, because along with the teal color there is a darker grey-black along the top and bottom edges of the sheet. At first I was worried I had joggled the jar and splashed it with vinegar, but that doesn’t explain why this color exists on the top of the sheet as well as the bottom. I wonder if it may have something to do with the properties of apple cider vinegar as opposed to white vinegar. I’ll check on it again in a week and see how it has progressed. It doesn’t seem necessary to me to be heating the jar at all, it seems to be reacting well in the absence of an added heat source. The weather has largely been warm and humid. I imagine I would have a different result if I were conducting this experiment during the winter.
Caption: Beginning to see the reaction appear
| Image URL: |
|---|
 |