Core Practical: Preparing Copper Sulfate Flashcards

All 5 cards in this deck

When making copper sulfate from copper oxide and dilute sulfuric acid, how do you know to stop adding copper oxide?

When some powder remains in the beaker after stirring — the copper oxide is in excess, so all the acid has reacted.

Why is an excess of the insoluble base added when preparing a soluble salt from an acid?

To make sure all the acid is used up, so the solution left contains only salt and water.

How is the excess insoluble base removed after reacting it with an acid?

By filtration — the unreacted solid stays in the filter paper and the salt solution passes through.

In the copper sulfate core practical, how are dry crystals obtained from the filtrate?

Heat the filtrate in an evaporating basin over a water bath to evaporate some of the water, leave it to cool so crystals form, then pat the crystals dry with filter paper.

When making copper sulfate from copper oxide, why is the dilute sulfuric acid warmed in a water bath first?

Warming the acid makes it react faster with the insoluble copper oxide.