Investigation of Electrolysis of Copper Sulphate solution

using Copper Electrodes

AIM: To find out how different concentrations affects the mass of the cathode and
anode in the process of electrolysis

BACKGROUND RESEARCH

Electrolysis is the breakdown of a substance by electricity. Using electricity to create

a flow of electrons through the electrolyte (a compound that when molten or
dissolved in water conducts electricity) where they attract free ions (charged
particles), changing them into neutral atoms.

We use copper electrodes when we use a solution that contains copper ions for
example copper sulphate solution. We also use it because they are active electrodes.
This means that these electrodes take part in the actual electrolysis process as well, by
collecting pure copper at the cathode.

The anode is the positive electrode, where anions are attracted as they have a negative
charge; and we know that opposite charges attract. Cathode is the negative electrode,
which attract positive charged electrons that are called cations.

Oxidation is the loss of electrons which occurs at the anode, and reduction is the gain
of electrons which happens at the cathode.

Faraday’s Law

Wikipedia states this:

♦ The mass of a substance produced at an electrode during electrolysis is

proportional to the number of moles of electrons (the quantity of electricity)
♦ The number of Faradays of electric charge required to discharge one mole of
substance as an electrode is equal to the number of “excess” elementary charges on
that ion

From this, I can see that Faraday is saying that the amount of electricity used,
produces an equal amount of substance (mass). The mass gained at the cathode is
made up for the loss of mass at the anode. In other terms, loss of mass at anode is
EQUAL to the gain of mass at cathode.

HYOPOTHESIS

From my background research and own knowledge of electrolysis, my hypothesis

includes that as concentration of the Copper Sulphate solution increases, the mass at
the cathode will increase too, and at the anode it will decrease. The reason for that is
that as the concentration increases, more copper ions are present and therefore more
copper is deposited at the cathode. According to Faraday’s Law, the mass lost at the
anode will be replaced by the amount of mass gained at the cathode. The difference in
weight of the anode from start to end will be the same value as the difference in

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weight between the cathode from start to end; hence I predict that the graph will be
symmetrical. This diagram shows that this is what I predict of what the experiment
will look like:-

BEFORE AFTER

OBSERVATION

Table of Results
Mass of Anode Mass of Cathode
Concentratio (grams) Difference (grams) Difference
n (molars) (grams) (grams)
Start End Start End
0.2 5.001 4.884 -0.117 5.016 5.075 0.059
4.986 4.907 -0.079 4.997 5.094 0.097
0.2 Average 4.994 4.896 -0.098 5.007 5.085 0.078
0.4 4.996 4.826 -0.170 5.014 5.153 0.139
4.988 4.837 -0.151 4.988 5.155 0.167
0.4 Average 4.992 4.832 -0.161 5.001 5.154 0.153
0.6 5.016 4.795 -0.221 4.988 5.207 0.219
4.999 4.786 -0.213 4.999 5.220 0.221
0.6 Average 5.008 4.791 -0.217 4.994 5.214 0.220
0.8 4.982 4.750 -0.232 5.001 5.258 0.257
5.000 4.738 -0.262 4.992 5.265 0.273
0.8 Average 4.991 4.744 -0.247 4.997 5.262 0.265
1.0 4.988 4.687 -0.301 4.990 5.323 0.333
4.977 4.705 -0.272 5.004 5.312 0.308
1.0 Average 4.983 4.696 -0.287 4.997 5.318 0.321

The difference values between the start and end of the anode is the mass LOST, which
explains why there is a negative sign on each of the values.

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 Table of average of Results
Mass of Anode Mass of Cathode
Concentration (grams) Difference (grams) Difference
(molars) (grams) (grams)
Start End Start End
0.2 Average 4.994 4.896 -0.098 5.007 5.085 0.078
0.4 Average 4.992 4.832 -0.161 5.001 5.154 0.153
0.6 Average 5.008 4.791 -0.217 4.994 5.214 0.220
0.8 Average 4.991 4.744 -0.247 4.997 5.262 0.265
1.0 average 4.983 4.696 -0.287 4.997 5.318 0.321

I recorded my results on a table and then illustrated it on a graph. The first table
shows the changes in the mass of the anode and cathode including the two repeats of
the experiment with the average underneath through five different concentrations.
The second table shows all the averages in one go, where I produced a graph
illustrating all the averages.

ANALYSIS

Overall, the graph shows that as the concentration increases the mass at the cathode
increases, and the anode decreases in mass.

You can see this from the table containing all the average by comparing the figures:
The mass of the anode starts from -0.098 and difference increases up to -0.287,
showing that more and more of the anode is disappearing. As for the cathode, the
difference values starts from 0.078 and finishes at 0.321 at the end of concentration
one, illustrating that the cathode is increasing in size.

I also believe that my graph supports Faraday’s Law (see background research).
Despite the fact that the difference values are not the same as it should be (according
to Faraday’s Law) however, they are very close. You can see this because I have
noticed the shape of the graph, it looks symmetrical, as I had predicted in my
hypothesis. It is not EXACTLY symmetrical, but close, I believe that with better
equipment, more time and more accuracy my difference values could have been the
same, providing excellent evidence in supporting Faraday’s Law.

The ions present in the copper sulphate solution are:

Copper Ions Chloride Ions Hydrogen Ions Hydroxide Ions

2+ 2-
Cu SO4 H+ OH-

At the cathode

The positive ions are pulled towards the negative cathode and vice versa. There is
competition between the copper ions and the hydrogen ions. Hydrogen will stay in the
solution. The copper ions are reduced from the positive electrode (anode) and are
deposited at the negative electrode (cathode) forming pure copper metal. Here you

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will see a pink layer. At the cathode, each copper ion requires two electrons for
discharge and become a neutral atom/copper ion.

Cu2+ (aq) + 2e Cu (s) (The process of REDUCTION occurs here)

At the anode

Since we have used active electrodes (see background research for more
information), meaning they are made of copper. It is easier for the copper at the anode
to dissolve leaving its electrons behind on the anode. You see, each copper atom
gives up two electrons to become a copper ion/ neutral atom.

Cu - 2e Cu2+

The Ions remaining in solution:

Copper is deposited at the cathode and is dissolved at the anode. As a result, the
concentration of copper ions in solution remains constant. That is why the colour does
not change any different form blue. This can also be used as a method of
‘purification’ of copper seeing that only pure copper is deposited at the cathode.

The Copper Sulphate solution is blue because of the copper ions. The concentration
of the solution (Copper Sulphate) did not change because as the concentration
increased, more copper ions are present; therefore none of the copper ions are being
displaced, or taken over.

A redox reaction is both reduction and oxidation that has taken place.
The loss of electrons, but also gain of oxygen is oxidation. The gain of electrons, but
also loss of oxygen is reduction.

As you can see, both reduction and oxidation has occurred, hence a redox reaction.
Instead of two separate half equations, showing separately the reduction and
oxidation process, it can be expressed by a redox equilibrium:-

Cu2+ + 2e Cu
All redox equilibriums are expressed as reductions going from left to right, and
oxidation is shown from right to left.

DIAGRAM:

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LIMITING FACTORS (VARAIBLES)

♦ The more time there is available, at the cathode more copper is deposited- the
rate of reaction is affected.
♦ The higher the temperature is, the faster the reaction as the ions gain more
energy and therefore moves faster, consequently increasing the rate of reaction.
♦ The bigger the copper electrodes are then this slows down the reaction, as
more electricity is needed to deposit the copper ions.
♦ The more concentrated the Copper Sulphate solution, the higher the rate of
reaction because more ions are present which can carry more of the copper towards
the cathode.
♦ The shorter the distance between the electrodes, the less distance the copper
ions have to travel and therefore it will increase the rate of reaction.
♦ Shape of electrode- the more rounded the electrodes are, the easier it is for
copper ions to move away from the anode and towards the cathode, thus will increase
rate of reaction.

EVALUATION

The experiment went quite well, even thought it was rather tiring seeing that you
really had to be quick and make sure you do not waste time. You had to be on alert
and make sure everything was precise.

How reliable were your results?

Even though the difference values were not the same, I think it was highly unlikely I
could have achieved those results with the lack of accurate equipments. I believe my
results were reasonably reliable, not only because it produced an excellent graph as
close to even help support Faraday’s Law but also because I repeated the experiment
and in turn producing averages. I also went up

Here I have produced a table showing how small the variation is between the
difference of the anode and cathode:-

Concentration Average loss of Average gain of Difference between

(molars) mass in anode (g) mass in cathode (g) the gain and loss (g)
Average 0.2 -0.098 0.078 -0.020
Average 0.4 -0.161 0.153 -0.008
Average 0.6 -0.217 0.220 0.003
Average 0.8 -0.247 0.265 0.018
Average 1 -0.287 0.321 0.034

As you can see form the table above, the difference between the gain and loss is very
small but there nonetheless. This would provide an explanation as to why they are not
exactly symmetrical on the graph or the exact same distance apart from the x-axis.

Explaining the anomalies:

I did have a few anomalies that are illustrated on the graph. Above, on the table, the
values coloured in red are the anomalies circled on the graph. I drew a line of best fit

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on both curves where the points on both the anode and cathode of concentration 0.4
and 0.6 are slightly far off, from the line of best fit.

These could have occurred due to some of the difficulties I cam across during the
experiment such as:

♦ Trying to measure the exact volumes of Copper Sulphate solution using a

measuring cylinder did not provide very accurate measurements as I would have liked
♦ The water residue (even if there was a tiny amount) when drying the
electrodes could have affected the results
♦ Human error- timing was inaccurate; it was difficult to stop the stopwatch at
EXACTLY ten minutes. It was either a several seconds too much or too early, enough
for a few grams of copper to be deposited, not quite making the experiment
completely fair
♦ Temperature was one thing we did not have control of, and may have affected
the results as it is considered as a limiting factor
♦ This also applies to he size of electrodes- the ones we used were rather big,
and once again size of electrodes is considered as a limiting factor
♦ To keep the anode and cathode the same distant apart was a another hard task
♦ The weighing machine often switches its measurements after a second or two,
forcing us to in the end decide which measurement to record

IMPROVEMENTS

If I were to do the experiment again, the following improvements I would like to

make are:
♦ When rinsing the electrodes, we could use distilled water
♦ To dry them properly, it would be better to use propane
♦ The size of the electrodes are considered as one of the limiting factors and the
one we used were quite big therefore I would like to use standard size
♦ To keep the temperature constant seeing that it is also a limiting factor that
can affect the result, I think using a water bath would be appropriate
♦ Allowing the process to be last longer will provide better results, with more
contrast in them
♦ Perhaps repeat it for a third time
♦ Instead of using a measuring cylinder, we can use a more accurate piece of
equipment for example a burette

FURTHER WORK

If I were to repeat this experiment but test out a different factor, I would choose to
investigate the how the size of current affects the rate of electrolysis while the
concentration and the rest of the variables are kept the same.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Chemistry Text Book by Lawrie Ryan and exercise book.

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