making salt

making salt

Aim: To produce copper sulfate salt by reacting copper oxide with an acid.
Equipment: Copper oxide powder, dilute (0.5 mol L-1) sulfuric acid, 50mL measuring cylinder, two 100 mL beakers, Bunsen burner, tripod, gauze mat, funnel, filter paper, thermometer, spatula, evaporating basin, stirring rod.
Method: 

1. Add 20mL of sulfuric acid to a 100mL beaker. Heat the acid until it reaches degrees. Turn off your bunsen burner.
2. Once heated, use a spatula to add pea-size portions od copper oxide to the beaker. Stir the mixture for 30 seconds.
3. Repeat step 2 until no more will dissolve. Allow the beaker to cool.
4. Fold the filter paper and place it in the funnel. Place the filter funnel into the second beaker.
5. Make sure the beaker is cool enough to hold at the top. The contents should still be hot. You may need your teacher to complete this step.
6. Gently swirl the contents of the beaker to mix, and then pour into the filtered paper in the funnel. Allow filtering through.
7. Rinse the beaker you used to heat the mixture previously, and place it back on top of your tripod filled with 50-60 mL of water.
8.  Place the evaporating basin on top of the beaker and carefully pour some of the solutions from the beaker into the evaporating basin.
9. Gently heat the beaker until the solution in the evaporating basin has reduced by half.
10. Leave the evaporating basin to cool. Once cool, move the evaporating basin to a warm place where it will not be disturbed (i.e. a window-still) and observe over the next few days. Blue copper sulfate crystals should form.

Observations:

Discussion:

This was a fun experiment to do and when doing it I saw the copper oxide dissolve so many times and we had to like 3-5 pea-size full of the copper oxide. We then had to wait for it to get to 70 degrees when waiting we were a bit worried because we didn't want it to explode and crake the glass because it was getting really hot, and last time we did this experiment it happened to a few people in our class. In my group, I was the one that had to fold the filter paper and we weren't told how to do it and I knew that there was a certain way to fold it so it would actually work. So I had to guess, I ended up getting it and we were all ready to go. During the experiment, the reaction that was happening was copper oxide+ sulfuric acid ---> copper sulfate+water
 (CuO + H2So4--->CuSo4+H2O).
When we had finished the experiment we were waiting for it to cool down but someone in our class decided to touch it and tried to move it (Don't do that) when they went to move it they spilt it and it went on them and on the floor, they had to wash it off and our experiment was ruined and it didn't work. The next day we went to go and do it again but there was no more solution left and we couldn't do it. So I just took photos of other peoples experiments and how there's went and how it was meant to look.   

Evaluation: 

If you do this I would recommend making sure your measurements are accurate and correct. I would also say wait for the beaker to cool down before touching it so you don't spill anything. If I was to do it again I would make sure no one touches it when it is hot and I would make sure I get good photos so they are more clear and it isn't all foggy and blurry.