The CuSO4 Page

[olmpiad]

Since CuSO4 is such a common chemical, I thought that this page would be a good one to have posts about things that you can do with it.

[latentheat]

You could synth copper(II) oxide by reacting sodium carbonate or bicarbonate with copper sulfate. Then roast the copper carbonate ppt.

 

Form the green tetrachlorocuprate(II) complex by adding a small amount of copper sulfate to a saturated soln. of sodium chloride like in my avatar. Drop some aluminum metal into this solution and witness a neat redox reaction that ppts copper metal.

[YT2095]

or add a few drops of ammonium hydroxide to a weak copper sulphate soln to make tetramine copper (II) Sulphate, an absolutely beautifull deep blue color.

[jsatan]

I've added Na(OH) to it, makes a black shlug of copper hydroxide

[MulderMan]

Crystals!!!

[woelen]

or add a few drops of ammonium hydroxide to a weak copper sulphate soln to make tetramine copper (II) Sulphate, an absolutely beautifull deep blue color.

Even better, synthesise yourself TACS (tetra ammine copper sulfate). I have done this synthesis. Look at the beautiful crystals of the blue complex mentioned by YT2095.

 

http://woelen.scheikunde.net/science/chem/compounds/copper_tetrammine_sulfate.html

 

This can be done by adding concentrated NH3 (25%) to a concentrated solution of copper sulfate, until all precipitate, which is formed initially has redissolved again. You get a really beautiful dark royal blue liquid. To the clear liquid, add half the volume of ethanol (denatured is OK) and then let stand for a night. Beautiful blue crystals are formed. Rinse with a cold mix of ethanol and water, 1 : 1. Then rinse with cold ethanol (96%). Finally rinse with diethyl ether and let dry. If you don't have the latter, then just let it dry after the final alcohol rinse, but in that case, you may loose some ammonia during the slower drying process and the crystals become covered by some light blue/cyan powdery stuff. As soon as the crystals are made, store them in an air-tight container in order to prevent loss of ammonia.

 

DON'T do this with copper nitrate, or you'll have a serious risk to blow off your hands! The compound formed is TACN and that is REALLY bad stuff, which you don't want to have in your house. The sulfate, TACS, however, is safe to make and safe to keep. Of course, you have to be careful with the NH3 fumes and the blue compound itself, as it is quite corrosive.

[woelen]

Yet some other nice experiments with copper sulfate:

 

Only Al-foil, dilute HCl and table salt needed besides copper sulfate:

http://woelen.scheikunde.net/science/chem/exps/cu+al/index.html

 

Another experiment, which requires more chems, but for the somewhat better equipped home lab, it also is feasible:

 

http://woelen.scheikunde.net/science/chem/exps/cu-redox/index.html

 

If you have sodium thiosulfate (hypo, photo fixer) at hand, then the following may be very interesting. If someone can explain the observations, please let me know :

 

http://woelen.scheikunde.net/science/chem/riddles/copper+thiosulfate/index.html

 

Finally, if you have conc. HCl and plain copper wire (electricity wire) besides copper sulfate, then you can do the following (the CuCl2 can be replaced by CuSO4 in most cases without any problem):

 

http://woelen.scheikunde.net/science/chem/riddles/copperI+copperII/index.html

 

OK, for now there are enough interesting copper sulfate experiments. If you want more, I have tons of experiments with copper compounds. This is one of my favorite elements, because it has a really remarkable and very rich chemistry, which can be explored by people with even very moderate resources.