The Electrolysis of Copper Sulphate :: Papers

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