Copper Challenge Lab

Purpose: The purpose of this lab is to react aluminum with copper (II) chloride to yield
aluminum chloride and as close to 100% of the the theoretical value for copper without
exceeding it.

Introduction: A redox reaction is a chemical reaction that involves the transfer of electrons from
one substance to another. The reaction between aluminum and copper (II) chloride is a redox
reaction, where aluminum is oxidized as it loses 3 electrons to become an ion with a +3 charge,
and copper is reduced as it gains 2 electrons when it separates from the copper (II) chloride
reaction. In this lab, a perfect percent yield of 100% can be obtained if no mistakes are made in
the procedure and every last formula unit is accounted to produce the exact amount of copper
that is theorized by the calculations. Although it is almost impossible to obtain a percent yield of
100%, the more carefulness used in the lab such as making sure not to spill anything, accounting
for every last drop, and filtering as best as possible can increase the percent yield closer to 100%.

Materials: 

 ● 100 mL beaker ● Funnel
● 50.0 mL of distilled water ● 250 mL beaker
● 0.75 g copper (II) chloride ● Watch glass
● 12-15 cm piece Al wire ● Beaker tongs
● Bunsen burner ● Balance
● Filter paper ● Ring stand
● Wire gauze ● Iron ring
● Glass stirring rod ● Safety glasses


Safety:
● Don’t point bunsen burner towards anyone
● Keep hair tied up
● Wear goggles at all times
● No loose clothing
● Be careful when dealing with bunsen burner *1
a. Make sure gas hose is connects securely to gas outlet
b. Handle bunsen burner by the base
c. Adjust until it burns a clear blue flame, not orange
● Wait until beaker is cooled before touching *2

Procedure:
1. Determine the mass of a 100 mL beaker.
2. Measure out 0.75 g CuCl2 and add to 100 mL beaker.
3. Measure out 50.0 mL of water and add to 100 mL beaker.
4. Stir the mixture for 20 seconds.
5. Heat the mixture over bunsen burner until just below boiling. *1
6. Stir the mixture until the crystals are completely dissolved.
7. Add 12-15 cm aluminum wire to solution.
8. Allow Al to react with CuCl2.
9. Weigh filter paper while Al and CuCl2 are reacting.
10. Filter out produced copper using filter paper and a funnel into a 250 mL beaker. *2
11. Place filter paper with filtered copper on a watch glass.
12. Wait for the filter paper to dry, then mass it.
 13. Subtract new filter paper mass by initial in order to find the mass of the copper.

Data and Observations:

Qualitative Data:
Water with blue-green crystalline structed powder added (CuCl2)
Water gains blue hue, with bright green spots
Heating causes crystals to dissolve, liquid becomes a lighter, clearer blue
Added silvery-white lustrous solid aluminum strip, liquid temporarily fills with white bubbles,
aluminum turns into a brown, rough substance.
Steam comes out
Brown solid becomes very porous and rough — and a bit red
[Broke up solid with stirring rod] → liquid turns clear and whitish, blue disappears
Solid is now in small, flakey chunks
Brown wire shape still remains
Wire shape contains a grey metal inside of it, presumably more aluminum

Quantitative Data:

Substance Mass
CuCl2 • 2H2O powder 0.75 g

Aluminum wire 0.52 g

Copper produced 0.25 g

Calculations:
3CuCl2 (aq) + 2Al (s) → 2AlCl3 (aq) + 3Cu (s)

Molar mass of copper (II) chloride:

63.55g Cu + 35.45g Cl + 35.45g Cl = 134.45g CuCl2

Molar mass of copper (II) chloride dihydrate:

134.45g CuCl2 + 18.02g H2O + 18.02g H2O = 170.49g CuCl2•2H2O

Converting mass of copper (II) chloride dihydrate to copper (II) chloride:

0.75g CuCl2•2H2O | 134.45g CuCl2 .= 0.59g CuCl2
| 170.49g CuCl2•2H2O

Limiting reactant calculation:

0.59g CuCl2 | 1 mol CuCl2 | 2 mol Al | 26.98g Al | = 0.079g Al needed
|134.45g CuCl2 | 3 mol CuCl2 | 1 mol Al |
0.079g Al needed < 0.52g Al present
Therefore, CuCl2 is the limiting reactant

Theoretical copper yield:

0.59g CuCl2 | 1 mol CuCl2 | 3 mol Cu | 63.55g Cu = 0.28g Cu
| 134.45g CuCl2 | 3 mol CuCl2 | 1 mol Cu

Percent yield:
0.25g Cu actual x 100% = 89% yield Cu
0.28g Cu theoretical

Discussion:
There are many similarities between this lab and the previous “Relating Moles to Coefficients of
a Chemical Equation” lab. The procedures follow the same general structure, mixing the copper
compound hydrate into water, then heating until almost boiling and adding the other reactant.
There seems to be some minor differences between these lab such as having a remaining amount
of aluminum which was left in with the copper while drying it in this lab. We did not have any
excess of the iron powder in the first lab, as iron was the limiting reactant. In this lab however,
the copper (II) chloride is the limiting reactant, meaning some aluminum remains after the
reaction completed. It also appears to be easier to isolate the copper that was produced from the
beaker after the reaction in the second lab. This may be due to the different substances being
used changing how much the copper stuck together. It could also be due to the increased amount
of experience with handling these materials, having already done a similar lab beforehand.

While the percent yield of copper is fairly high at 89%, there are some potential sources of error
that prevented the maximum amount of copper being produced. The source of these errors is
likely from not allowing all of the reactants to complete the reaction. This probably occurred
because not all of the aluminum was exposed during the reaction, and thus not able to react to its
full potential with the copper (II) chloride. Though copper did have a percent yield under 100%,
there are other mistakes we could have made that would cause the mass to seem to be higher than
expected. This could include if we failed to properly remove the other substances from the
copper we measured, such as leaving parts of the aluminum wire in the copper powder or not
allowing the copper to fully dry before it was massed. However, as we did not have a mass
which was higher than the expected 0.28 grams of copper produced, it is likely that we
succeeded in avoiding these mistakes.