Which equation is correct for this reaction involving Copper Carbonate?

The copper carbonate will be heated until it has fully decomposed and all of the gas is given off. This must be done using testube holders and safety goggles and the boiling tube will get very hot and the copper carbonate is irritating to the eyes. After all the gas is collected I will let it cool to room temperature, before taking a reading and noting it down, this should take between 10-15 minutes. Any water vapour that was given off will cool at this point so will not affect my results.

The experiment should be repeated twice more for an average reading to be obtained. A gas syringe is used because it is a very accurate way of recording gas. The gas in the gas syringe must have cooled to room temperature before a reading is taken, as this will affect the accuracy of the results.

Basic cooper carbonate contains 61 % by mass of CuCO3. The relative atomic mass of CuCO3 is 123.5g. 123.5/61 * 100 = 202.45, 1 mol of Basic copper carbonate has the mass of 202.45g. As this is a too large amount to use in the experiment I will divide it by 30,000, to give me an easier quantity to work with.

. 2 mol ------- 2.5 mol of gas

So 1 mol ------ 1.25 mol of gas (30 dm3/30,000 cm3)

2. 1 mol ----------- 1 mol of gas (24dm3/24,000 cm3)

The gas syringe I will be using will have a capacity of 100 cm3, for safety and accuracy of results I will aim to collect a smaller amount of gas. Gas also expands when heated so this will have to be considered. I will aim to collect around 50 cm3 of gas.

. 202.45/30,000 * 50 = (0.337 mol) 50 cm3

2. 24,000/30000 * 50 = 40 cm3

I will use 0.337g or basic copper carbonate, Equation 1 if true will give out 50 cm3 of gas; equation 2 if true will give out 40 cm3 of gas. 1 mol of any gas at room temperature and 1 atmospheric pressure will occupy a space of 24dm3. From this and the amount of gas given off I can work out the mol of the gas given off and find out which of the two equations are correct.

Bibliography:

http://dwb.unl.edu/chemistry/microscale/mscale16.html

http://www.hummelcroton.com/cuco3.html

GCE "A" LEVEL Chemistry - CD ROM

Chemistry 1, B Ratcliff, H Eccles, D Johnson, J Nicholson, J Raffan.

of 2 23/04/07 Gareth MacGlennon Practical assesment