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Question:

What is the purpose of sanding copper?

Chemistry Lab Limiting reactantelements used silver nitrate and copperBefore massing the copper we were told to sand it what is the purpose of this?

Answer:

Sanding the copper would remove some of the oxides, and increase surface area, but it would not remove all of the surface contaminants and it would likely introduce new ones. I've never heard of sanding as a laboratory technique. If I wanted a corrosion-free copper surface with lots of surface area I would pickle the copper in acid and then rinse and store in deionized water.
It's to get rid of the oxidised layer on the outside of the copper piece which contains things other than copper, like dirt, oxygen, and anything that spilled on the surface. It'll make life easier later on because you won't have to factor in these impurities if you do calculations with the data you procure. Hope that helps, Simon H
Presumably to remove any surface oxidation or other material from the surface so that the copper is exposed directly to reactants.

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