In chemistry, we did a lab in which we had a certain mass of copper, performed multiple experiments on the copper, and at the end, extracted the copper from a solution and weighed it. The goal was that the mass of the final copper should be the same as the mass of the initial copper.

Question

During the final step, the copper pieces are put in an evaporating dish and placed over boiling water in a beaker (on a hot plate) so that the copper will dry, the excess water will evaporate, and all that will be left is the mass of the copper. Here is the question:

What is the maximum temperature to which the evaporating dish containing copper will be heated in Part G? How is this known?

I really don't know the answer to this question or how to find out, as we did not take the temperature of anything during the experiment. The only thing I can think of is that water boils at 100 degrees Celsius so the temperature of the steam (the heat of which evaporates the water) must be around then, so that must also be the max temp of the evaporating dish..
Or I was also thinking that we know that max temp of the evaporating dish must be lower than the melting point of copper because the copper is dried but not overheated.

Answer 1

Both of your conjectures are correct but the second one doesn't answer the question. Your first educated guess is correct; the MAX temperature of the evaporating dish MUST be 100 C because that's the boiling point of water. The evaporating dish CAN'T get hotter than that. No way!

Answer 2

Great thanks! And I looked up the melting point of copper and it's 1085 degrees Celsius and it sure isn't getting that hot haha so it would make sense that 100 degrees Celsius is the maximum temperature.