The Electrolysis of Copper Sulphate

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The Electrolysis of Copper Sulphate

Aim

Analyse and evaluate the quantity of Copper (Cu) metal deposited

during the electrolysis of Copper Sulphate solution (CuSo4) using

Copper electrodes, when certain variables were changed.

Results

Voltage across Concentration of solution

electrode 0.5M 1.0M 2.0M

2

5.0

10.6

19.5

4

10.5

19.8

40.3

6

14.3

26.0

60.2

8

15.2

40.4

80.3

10

15.0

40.2

99.6

12

15.1

40.0

117.0

Analysing/Conclusion

The input variables in this experiment are; concentration of the

solution and the voltage across the electrodes. The outcome is the

amount of copper gained (measured in grams) at the electrodes. By

analyzing the graph, we can see the rapid increase of weight gained

for the 2.0 molar concentration as the gradient is steeper. Whereas

the 1.0 mol and 0.5 mol concentrations increases steadily at a slower

rate. This obviously shows that if the voltage increase, the weight

also increases. Hence I can conclude; the higher then voltage and

concentration, the more copper is produced. The reason for this would

be because we used electrolysis. This is used to separate metals from

their ores and metal compounds. The electrolyte (solution) contains

negative and positive ions. For electrolysis to work there must be the

same amount of positive ions to negative ions so that the solution is

electrically balanced. A solution of metal compounds can only conduct

electricity if it is balanced. The negative ions are attracted to the

anode (+ve electrode) and the positive ions (protons) are attracted to

the cathode (-ve electrode). The electrolyte effect the amount of

atoms attracted.

This happens at the cathode:

Cu2+ +2e- =Cu

And oxygen is produced at the anode.

Increasing the concentration is more affective than increasing the

voltage but in order to gain more copper, you will need the highest

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