What mass of copper oxide can we
make from copper carbonate?
Introduction
When you heat copper carbonate you get copper oxide and carbon
dioxide. We can do an experiment to find out how much copper oxide we
can make from a known mass of copper carbonate. We can then compare
our result with the calculated value
The equation is:
CuCO3  CuO + CO2
SAFETY SPECS MUST BE WORN
Procedure
1. Find the mass of your empty weighing boat
2. Find the mass of a weighing boat plus three spatulas of copper
carbonate.
3. Transfer these to a boiling tube and heat strongly until all the
powder is black copper oxide.
4. Let it cool and find the mass of the black copper oxide plus the
weighing boat
Questions
1. Work out what mass of copper oxide you should have produced in
theory from your mass of copper carbonate
CuCO3

CuO
+
CO2
2. How does this compare with your experiment? Can you explain any
differences?
3. What is the percentage yield of copper oxide?
4. Why did the green powder lose mass when it changed into the black
powder? What was being lost?
5. How could you prove that this was being lost?