A student was isolating copper metal from a copper salt. If the student started with 1.255g of copper (II) sulfate how many grams of copper solid would you expect them to recover?
1.225 g CuSO4 x (atomic mass Cu/molar mass CuSO4) = ?
In reality that CuSO4 probably was CuSO4.5H2O.
To determine the amount of copper solid that can be recovered from copper (II) sulfate, you need to consider the stoichiometry of the reaction. The balanced chemical equation for the reaction can be written as:
CuSO4 + Fe → Cu + FeSO4
From the equation, it can be observed that one mole of copper sulfate (CuSO4) reacts with one mole of copper (Cu) to produce one mole of copper solid.
To calculate the amount of copper solid, you need to:
1. Calculate the molar mass of copper sulfate (CuSO4).
2. Convert the given mass of copper sulfate to moles using its molar mass.
3. Determine the moles of copper (Cu) based on the stoichiometry of the reaction.
4. Convert the moles of copper to grams using the molar mass of copper.
Let's proceed with the calculations:
1. Calculate the molar mass of copper sulfate (CuSO4):
Molar mass of Cu = 63.55 g/mol
Molar mass of S = 32.07 g/mol
Molar mass of O = 16.00 g/mol (four oxygen atoms in CuSO4)
Molar mass of CuSO4 = (1 x 63.55) + (1 x 32.07) + (4 x 16.00)
= 159.61 g/mol
2. Convert the given mass of copper sulfate to moles:
Moles of CuSO4 = Given mass / Molar mass of CuSO4
= 1.255 g / 159.61 g/mol
≈ 0.00787 mol
3. Based on the stoichiometry of the reaction, the moles of copper (Cu) will be equal to the moles of copper sulfate (CuSO4), as they have a 1:1 mole ratio.
Moles of Cu = Moles of CuSO4
= 0.00787 mol
4. Convert the moles of copper to grams using the molar mass of copper:
Mass of Cu = Moles of Cu x Molar mass of Cu
= 0.00787 mol x 63.55 g/mol
≈ 0.4991 g
Therefore, you would expect the student to recover approximately 0.4991 grams of copper solid.