Fibonacci13 Posted September 9, 2011 Posted September 9, 2011 I passed a current through a solution of water and Epsom salt using a copper wire as an anode and a paper clip as a cathode. This produced a blue precipitate, which I filtered out. Can anyone tell me what this blue substance is?
hypervalent_iodine Posted September 10, 2011 Posted September 10, 2011 Sounds to me like copper sulfate, though I could be entirely wrong on this as I am by no means an expert in this area.
Enthalpy Posted September 12, 2011 Posted September 12, 2011 Cu++ has a nice blue colour like in azurite http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azurite precipitates I saw have this colour but not as dark and intense. Cu+ is green like in malachite http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malachite Electrolyse salts but not dissolve the electrodes is difficult. Apart from gold, platinum and a few more... you can use graphite, which makes the central electrode of a banal zinc battery (the non-alkaline 1.5V elements). When opening an element, beware the liquid chemicals in it: protect your eyes, have water at hand. Better avoid it with an alkaline battery, it contains KOH.
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