Chemistry of Copper Lab Questions:

1) Why must of the following steps be carried out in a fume hood?

- Oxidizing the copper metal to copper(II) ion.

- Reducing the copper(II) ion to copper metal.

2) How will the initial reaction with copper metal be affected if concentrated hydrochloric acid is used for the first step of the experiment instead of concentrated nitric acid?

(First step:) add 3-4mL concentrated nitric acid to the copper sample and swirl occasionally until the copper wire is dissolved.

3)During precipitation copper(II) hydroxide, what else in the mixture reacts with sodium hydroxide.

4) How might the recovery of copper metal be affected if additional drops of sodium hydroxide were not added after allowing the copper(II) hydroxide to settle.

5) What is being removed when washing the copper(II) oxide product?