Synthesis of Copper Compounds

Sythesis of Copper compounds

Resources are abundant in the world. Some of these compounds and elements can be found in nature , such as gold which can be obtained by panning , while the others cannot .Therefore , human beings has started manipulating materials in their environment to obtain their desired materials. The smelting ores to produce metals, the manufacture of plastics, synthetic fabrics are the examples of the applications.( Petrucci , 2007) Many useful organic and inorganic compounds are synthesized in the chemical industry, but there is no specific pattern of the procedures. For example, lye, bicarbonate of soda, ammonia, aspirin, Clorox or nylon has their own difficulties based on things such as availability of equipment, percentage yields, and value of by-products. (Sue Stathopoulos, 2008)

The aim of this experiment is to synthesize assorted copper compounds from the metallic copper wire by placing it with the solutions of concentrated nitric acid, sodium hydroxide, dilute sulphuric acid, and hydrochloric acid. Heating with the Bunsen burner and the use of a vacuum flask with a Buchner Funnel help to facilitate the formation of new substances. The following equation represents the flowing of compounds that are formed throughout the whole experiment:

Firstly, hydrated copper nitrate can be prepared by treating the copper wire with the concentrated nitric acid. The Cu ions formed make the whole solution turns to bright blue colour. The chemical change is represented by the following equation:

The solution is then turned to alkaline by adding NaOH , however , the precipitate CuOH is gelatinous and it is difficult to separate by filtration, heating is necessary for the decomposition of the precipitate to become less gelatinous .(Sue Stathopulos) At this stage, all blue Cu (OH) is all converted into black CuO.

By utilizing the vacuum flask with the Buchner funnel, the process is much...