Video Transcript
Fill in the blank. Brass is an alloy of copper and
blank.
Let us review our understanding of
alloys, and then we can determine the answer to this relatively short question.
Alloys are metallic solid solutions
that contain at least two different types of elements. There are lots of alloy substances
in the world, and brass is one of the oldest. We know that copper is one of the
elements in the brass alloy, and we need to determine the other one.
Brass has a characteristic yellow
color that is somewhat similar to the color of pure gold. It is also more malleable than
other alloys, such as bronze, meaning brass can be hammered or pressed into
different shapes and thin sheets without breaking or cracking. Many manufacturers use brass to
make musical instruments that have complex shapes and excellent acoustic
properties. They press the highly malleable
brass alloy into musical instruments like the trumpet or tuba.
Brass is highly malleable and has
excellent acoustic properties because of its composition. It contains pure copper and some
zinc metal as well. The ratio of elements in this alloy
is approximately two parts copper to one part zinc. Therefore, the correct answer is
zinc.
