copper sulfate/ammonium chloride question

[rvdzero]

hey i just got a few questions, if anyone can help itd be most appreciated.

 

ok my questions:

 

ok i mixed some copper with some sulfuric acid (from a car battery) and heated. the copper dissolved, which i thought it would. i heated it till the h2so4 was concentrated and i bubbled the gas through a solution of na2co3 and water. first it went a bit blue, then the solution fizzed and turned a yellow colour. when the acid evaporated, i was left with a grey crystal soild. (that was the second time i did the experiement, the first time i stopped evaporating the liquid when the solution was a few mls. the solution had white crystals on the bottom, when i added water the solution turned blue and the crystals dissolved.)

 

so now to try and piece together this whole thing. would the grey left overs be copper sulfate?

and in the na2co3 soution, would the gas have reacted to make sodium sulfate and water? (also elemental copper precipitated)

 

and one more question to do with ammonium chloride.

for nh4cl, nh4oh + hcl = nh4cl and h20. then evap to be left with some crystals. now would the suds or additives in the couldy ammonia affect the end product, or will the additives evap out of the solution with the remaining water? also im just wondering if it would be possible to increase the yield somehow? 50mls 3% nh4oh + 35% hcl = 3.5grams nh4cl.

 

thanks, rick (ps i can post diagrams if needed)

[YT2095]

the gray solid would be anhydrous copper sulphate (impure) and you probably did make sodium sulphate and sulphIte soln.

[rvdzero]

Thanks for the reply yt, helped alot. Ive another question too. i made another cell, with two copper electrodes in aqueous solution of MgSO4. The solution turned blue, which means copper sulphate has formed. However, i have a fine light blue precipitate forming at the anode. So now, is the precipitate CuSO4 (if i assume the solution is saturated) or would it be a by product? Also, if the Cu reacts with the SO4 to form CuSO4, what happens the the magnesium? would the blue precipitate be some sort of magnesium compound?

 

Thanks, rick

[YT2095]

I know a few that have run this reaction with varying degrees of success, you`ll have copper and Magnesium hydroxide as a ppt, and mixture of both as sulphate too.

it`s quite messy but can be done, although the ones with the best results used a porous pot set-up to do this, and frequent electrode scrapping to remove the Mg(OH)2 that builds up and slows the reaction.