ScienceSource.ca Dry Lab Activity

Unit B - Chapter 6

Investigating Science 10

Inquiry Activity

Isolating Copper by Electrolysis

Skills Reference 2

Skills you Will Use

  • Using appropriate equipment and tools
  • Drawing conclusions

Safety

  • Apron
  • Goggles

Caution

You will be handling chemicals that will be undergoing a reaction in this activity. Protect your eyes and clothes with an apron and goggles.

In a single displacement reaction, one element in a compound replaces another element. Displacement reactions are used by some industries to recover metal from solutions. The reaction in this activity will be sped up by the application of electricity in a process known as electrolysis.

In this activity, you will use electrolysis to isolate copper from a copper chloride solution.


Question

How can copper be isolated from a compound by electrolysis?


Materials and Equipment

  • glass jar
  • 2 paper clips
  • 6-V battery
  • connecting wires with alligator clips
  • index card
  • 100 ml 0.6 M copper chloride solution

Dry Lab

A "dry lab" activity includes collected data and/or a video solution for your convenience. You can simply watch the following video and use the provided data, or if you wish to perform this lab for yourself, follow the procedure steps 1 through 10 described in the video. The same steps are included in written form in the documents available for download on the bottom of this page.



Analyzing and Interpreting

  1. A student performing the procedure steps 1 through 10 recorded the following observations:

    • pale copper-coloured build-up on one of the electrodes
    • bubbles formed at one of the electrodes during the reaction
    • faint bleach or chlorine odour coming from the reaction

    What do these results indicate about the reaction that took place?

  2. Write skeleton and balanced chemical equations for the reaction that took place. Assume the paper clips are made primarily of iron.

Forming Conclusions

  1. Can copper by isolated by electrolysis? If so, what type of chemical reaction makes it possible?