CHE1700

Experiment 11: An investigation of the reaction between copper(ii)

sulfate and sodium hydroxide

1.1 Aim
To investigate the reaction and find the ratio between copper(ii)
sulfate and sodium hydroxide using regression analysis

1.2 Introduction

In this experiment sodium hydroxide solution was added to the

copper(ii) sulfate at 5 mL intervals (ex. 5 mL, 10 mL till 40 mL) to

form a blue precipitate of a binary salt aCu(OH)2.bCuSO4 but if not

enough of the sodium hydroxide is added to the copper(ii) sulfate,

1
not all of the copper(ii) sulfate will be converted to the binary salt.

Equation1. 2aNaOH(aq)+ (a+b) CuSO4(aq)→aCu(OH)2.bCuSO4(s)

+aNa2SO4(aq)

The excess copper ions will be quantified by adding an excess

amount of potassium iodide to ensure that all the copper ions react
and hence iodine is formed. The iodine formed will then be titrated
against thiosulfate until the endpoint is reached. From the titre
2
value the excess amount of copper ions can then be calculated.

2+ − +
Equation 2. 2Cu + 2I → 2Cu + I2

2- - 2-
Equation 3. I2 + 2S2O3 → 2I + S4O6
The ratio of Cu(OH)2 : CuSO4 can be found by noting the moles the

sodium hydroxide solution (n2) that reacted with the copper(ii)

sulfate solution (n1) to produce the binary salt with the use of the
following equation:
(a+b)/2a = n1/n2

2. Method

2.1 Chemicals used

Chemical name Grade Brand

Copper Sulfate GPR BDH

Potassium Iodide GPR Fischer

Sodium Hydroxide GPR Fluka

Sodium Thiosulfate GPR BDH

Starch GPR Timstar

2.2 Apparatus
• Stand and clamp
• Hot plate
• Beaker
• Funnels
• Conical flasks
• Filtered paper

2.3 Set up

2.4 Procedure
• Copper sulfate solution was pipetted into 8 separate beakers using
a 25 mL volumetric pipette
• To a beaker, 5 mL of 0.1M sodium hydroxide solution was added
using a graduated pipette, sodium hydroxide solution was pipetted
into the rest of the beakers always increasing the volume by
increments of 5 mL
• The precipitate formed in each beaker was collected in separate
conical flask by filtration using a fluted filter paper
• The residue was then rinsed with water with the washings being
collected in the conical flask
• To each conical flask, 3g of potassium iodide was added
• The contents of each conical flask were then titrated against 0.1M
sodium thiosulfate using starch solution as an indicator

2.5 Precautions
• Apparatus was washed well before used to avoid contaminations
• Residue was washed with 20 mL of distilled water to collected all
of the solute in the conical flask
• The starch indicator was added as the titration progressed
• Titrations were carried out carefully are there was only one
chance per conical flask

3. Results and observations

Volu 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
me of
NaO
H/
mL

Initia 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

l

Final 19.4 16.3 13.2 10.2 7.40 4.60 1.50 0.40

Titre 19.4 16.3 13.2 10.2 7.40 4.60 1.50 0.40

value

• Upon adding the NaOH to the copper (ii) sulfate a blue precipitate
was seen
• When the potassium iodide was added a brown solution was seen
which decolourised when enough soidum thiosulfate was added
• When adding the starch indicator the solution turned black and
then white when the endpoint was reached

3.2 Data Analysis

Figure 1 showing the graph of volume of sodium thiosulfate(mL)
against NaOH (mL) made by using Microsoft Excel
 25

20
f(x) = − 2.80476190476191 x + 21.7464285714286
R² = 0.9935824871997
15
Volume of thiosulfate (mL)

10

0
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Volume of sodium hydroxide (mL)

Figure 2 showing linear regression data using Microsoft Excel

Gradient m = -2.8048
y-intercept c= 21.746
r2= 0.9936

Δm= 0.0184
Δc=0.4647

m±Δm=-2.8048±0.0184
c ±Δc=21.746±0.4647

c± Δ c
Volume of NaOH=
m± Δ m
= (21.746±0.4647)/( -2.8048±0.0184)
= 7.753 mL

CuSO4 :
0.1 moles = 1000 mL
? moles= 25 mL
(25x0.1)/1000= 2.5x10-3 moles
Hence, n1=2.5x10-3

√(
2 2
Δn1 = n1
v) ( )
Δ v +√ Δ c
c

√(
2 2
= 2.4x10-3 0.03 + √ 0
25 o .1 ) ( )
= 3x10-6
n1± Δn1 = 2.5x10-3 ± 3x10-6

The uncertainty value used for the 25 mL and 10 mL volumetric

pipette is ± 0.03
The volume of NaOH which was previosly found to be 7.753 mL

( ) √( )
2 2
Δc Δm )
Δv = NaOH volume x ( √ +
c m
 ) √(
2 2
= 7.753 x ( √ (
0 .4647
21.746
+ 0.0184 )
−2.8048 )
= ±0.1733
Uncertainty of n2= ±0.1733

0.1 moles NaOH = 1000 mL

? = 7.753 mL
(7.753x0.1)/1000= 7.753x10-4 moles

√(
2 2
Δn2= 7.753x10-4
v) ( )
Δ v +√ Δ c
c

= 0.023
n2±Δn2 = 0.1733± 0.023
b
a ( )
=2 n1 -1
n2
b
a (7.753 x 10−4 )-1
=2 2.5 x 10−3

¿5

Hence the ratio of Cu(OH)2 : CuSO4 is

4. Discussion
In this experiment a regression analysis was used to examine the
data obtained during the practical. With this type of statistical
method, the relationship between the variables could be examined.
Hence then the ratio of a: b could be found using the above
calculations. A graph of sodium thiosulfate(mL) against NaOH (mL)
made by using Microsoft Excel was plotted to view the trend in
between the NaOH and titre value. The graph clearly shows that as
volume of the sodium hydroxide solution increases the titre values
3
decreases as there would be less copper(ii) sulphate to react with.
It was found that the ratio of a: b is 1:5 indicating that the reaction
equation is as shown in equation 4. During the experiment a blue
precipitate was seen which was collected. When the potassium
iodide was added the solution turned to a brownish colour which
became a light brown colour when titrated against the sodium
thiosulfate. As the titration progressed the starch indicator was
added which gave a black colour to the solution. The titration was
carried out until the solution decolourised indicating that the
endpoint was reached. If the starch indicator is added to early there
would still be a high concentration of the iodine ions which would
form a complex with the starch and resist the end-point colour
4
change.

Equation no 4: 2 NaOH + 6 CuSO4 Cu(OH)2 . 5CuSO4 + Na2SO4

There were some sources of errors present in this experiment such

as losses when filtering the precipitate which would lead to low
titre values, during this experiment the procedure was only carried
our once hence concordant values could not be obtained to
compare the titre values and ensure that the titre value is not
overshot or under shot.

4.1 Sources of errors

• There might have been some losses when filtering the precipitate
• The titre values might be a bit overshot as an average value from
concordant values could not be taken
• Colour change of the endpoint is subjective
5. Conclusion
In this experiment the reaction between copper sulfate and copper
hydroxide was analysed and when all of the calculations were
carried out it resulted that the ratio of copper(ii) sulfate is to copper
hydroxide to be 5 is to 1.

References:

1. Clark, J., 2022. Copper. [online] Chemguide.co.uk. Available

at:
<https://www.chemguide.co.uk/inorganic/transition/copper.htm
l> [Accessed 2 April 2022].
2. Corporate Finance Institute. 2015. Quantitative Analysis.
[online] Available at:
<https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/knowledge/fi
nance/quantitative-analysis/> [Accessed 2 April 2022].
3. Gallo, A., 2015. A Refresher on Regression Analysis. [online]
Harvard Business Review. Available at:
<https://hbr.org/2015/11/a-refresher-on-regression-analysis>
[Accessed 2 April 2022].
4. Ophardt, C., 2020. Starch and Iodine. [online] Chemistry
LibreTexts. Available at:
<https://chem.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Biological_Chemistry/
Supplemental_Modules_(Biological_Chemistry)/
Carbohydrates/Case_Studies/Starch_and_Iodine> [Accessed 2
April 2022].