Copper sulphate is prepared by blowing a current of air through copper scrap and dilute H2SO4. Dilut β d and f Block Elements Chemistry Question
Question
Copper sulphate is prepared by blowing a current of air through copper scrap and dilute H2SO4. Dilute HNO3 is also added :
π‘ Solution & Explanation
Step 1: Copper(II) chloride (CuCl2) can be reduced by metallic copper in a concentrated hydrochloric acid (HCl) medium. Step 2: The copper(II) ions are reduced to copper(I), while the metallic copper is oxidized to copper(I), forming soluble chlorocuprate(I) complexes such as H[CuCl2] in solution. Step 3: Upon diluting this solution with water, white cuprous chloride (CuCl) precipitates. Thus, boiling CuCl2 with Cu in conc. HCl yields CuCl as the main copper(I) chloride product, which corresponds to option (a).