Park, Hoyong

Date Performed: September 18, 2015

2011-17943

Chem16-WFWX2
Experiment 1: Chemical Changes

1. What type of process and/or chemical change is observed in 1, 2, 3, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, and 5?
a. For the Precipitation of copper (II) hydroxide, a double replacement reaction
happened as Cu(NO3)2 and NaOH turns into Cu(OH)2 and NaNO3.
b. For the formation of copper (II) oxide, a decomposition occurred as Cu(OH)2
decomposes into CuO(s) and H2O(l).
c. For Conversion of copper (II) oxide to copper (II) Sulfate, a double replacement
reaction happened as CuO and H2SO4 turns into CuSO4 and H2O.
d. For part 4.1 of Reduction of Cu(II) ion to metallic copper, single replacement
occurred as Zn takes the SO4 from CuSO4.
e. For part 4.2, test of completeness, Cu(NO3)2 + NH3 gave a double replacement,
Zn(NO3)2+NH3 gave a single replacement, and ZnSO4 + NH3 gave a single
replacement.
f. For part 4.3, CuSO4 + HCl gave no reaction.
2. Why must zinc be added gradually to the solution in procedure 4.1?
One reason is to increase reaction surface area to the Copper (II) Sulfate solution.
Another reason is because the reaction between Copper (II) Sulfate and Zinc produces
heat and large quantities of Zinc will produce high temperatures.
3. What is the purpose of the test using ammonia solution?
It is to confirm that enough Zinc has been added to the solution to remove any traces of
Copper in the supernate. Ammonia, added to the supernate (ZnSO4) should not turn blue,
else it means there is still the presence of Copper in the supernate.
4. Why must HCl be added to the solid after the reaction with zinc dust is completed?
HCl will react with any solid Zinc left in the solution producing ZnCl(aq) which can be
decanted.
5. Why is it not advisable to dry the copper directly over the Bunsen flame?
If Copper will be exposed to oxygen while heated, it will become copper oxide. For the
copper to remain pure, it must be left to air-dry.
6. Calculate the percent recovery in the experiment. Does your result refute the Law of
Conservation of Matter? Explain.
The law of conservation of mass states that matter can be changed from one form to
another but the total amount of mass remains constant. In numerous stages of our
experiment, we changed the phase of copper from liquid to solid, back to liquid. None of
the copper was lost in any stage as other compounds were decanted and evaporated,
therefore there should be no loss or gain of Copper. In the experimental data, the mass of
the final Cu product was measured at 0.04g, however the theoretical yield is 0.032g
(Calculated from 5 mL of 0.1M of Cu(NO3)2 The weight of Copper is 33.88% of
Cu(NO3)2. Considering the volume (5 mL) and the Mole (0.1M), the weight of the
Copper component should theoretically be 0.032g). Having a percent yield of 125%,

which is over 100% and is impossible, the data contradicts the law of conservation of
mass. However, the discrepancy may be due to human error and/or the weighing scale not
measuring up to the thousandths decimal place (both times when measuring the filter
paper and the filter paper with the product copper).
Citation:
Romer, C. (2015). Chris Romers Chemistry Page. Retrieved on: September 23, 2015.
http://www.ccchemistry.us/ch%20111%20experiment%208.pdf

University of Winsconsin. The Law of Conservation of Mass. Retrieved on: September 23, 2015.
https://www.chem.wisc.edu/deptfiles/genchem/sstutorial/Text1/Tx14/tx14.html