Copper Lab

Copper Lab

Copper to Copper

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November 7, 2010
SCH 3UI
Block D

Introduction:
In this experiment copper metal is being regenerated using several reactions. Copper is a ductile reddish-brown metal, widely used in plumbing and electrical wiring often known in the form of a penny. In this lab 0.100g of copper metal gets placed in a 50 mL Erlenmeyer flask and nitric acid, a colourless liquid which highly corrosive and toxic and usually used to make fertilizers is added to the copper metal, with added heat they react using a redox reaction, where on reactant loses electrons also known as oxidation and another reactant gains electrons also know as reduction, in to form copper(II) nitrate, nitrogen dioxide gas, a yellowish brown toxic gas with a bad odour which is very harmful, and water.
Cu(s) + 4HNO3(aq)       Cu(NO3)2(aq)   +   2NO2(g)   +   2H2O(l)
Then using a dropper about 85 drops of sodium hydroxide which is a strong alkaline compound used to modulate the pH of a product, are added to the copper(II) nitrate until the solution becomes basic which is tested by a red litmus paper which is a small red paper known as a pH indicator used to indicate how basic or acidic a liquid is (Acids 0-6.9, Neutral 7 , and bases 7.1-14), in a double displacement reaction which is a chemical reaction between compounds in which the elements in the reactants recombine to form two different compounds, each of the products having one element from each of the reactants, therefore copper(II) hydroxide   a light blue precipitate and a solution of sodium nitrate, a oxidizing agent that is very soluble, are produced, in the chemical formula shown below:
Cu(NO3)2(aq)   +   2NaOH(aq)   Cu(OH)2(s)   + 2NaNO3(aq)
The solution of copper(II) hydroxide is now heated and stirred until copper(II) oxide is formed which is   the higher oxide of copper it is also known as tenorite as a mineral, and water. This is an example of decomposition reaction which is the separation of a...