Copper Sulphate

The purpose of this experiment was too start with an initial weight of Copper, synthesis copper (II) Nitrate, Copper (II) hydroxide, Copper (II) Oxide and Copper (II) Sulphate, than see how close the percent recover was to 100%. The percent recovery found during this experiment was 309%, this was due to multiple influences. Examples of these influences are foreign materials and incomplete removal of Zinc. The biggest influence was incomplete evaporation of water in the recovered Copper. This could be avoided in future labs by allowing the Copper to sit longer giving the water more time to properly evaporate.

It was also concluded that out of the six reactions done, there were three redox reactions that occurred. The reaction of Copper with nitric acid, the formation of Copper metal from Copper Sulphate and the removal of excess Zinc were all redox reactions that oxidized Copper for the first one and Zinc for the last two. In conclusion the experiment went well in terms of a hypothesized percent recovery of 300%, the procedure and methods also went well. The only changes to the procedure that should be made are a longer duration of time for a full evaporation of water and a better filtering method so that less Copper Oxide would be lost in transfer.