How to make sulfuric acid by electrolysis of copper sulfate using an inert anode. Copper sulfate is very easy to obtain in large quantities at gardening and hardware stores and provides a convenient route to sulfuric acid if the appropriate anode can be obtained. Warning: This should be done in a well-ventilated area as hydrogen gas build up is explosive. Copper sulfate is toxic and sulfuric acid is corrosive, wear gloves when handling them. The procedure is extremely simple, just get a copper sulfate solution, insert two electrodes and run a current through them. The anode, the positive electrode, must be an inert material that can withstand extremely oxidizing conditions. Very few materials meet this condition, platinum, lead dioxide, and carbon among them. Other metals, even stainless steel, are quickly destroyed under these conditions and cannot be used. The cathode, the negative electrode, is exposed to reducing conditions so the metal requirements are must less stringent. Copper is the best choice here since it has high electrical conductivity. When applying power, the current should be adjusted so that corrosion at the positive terminal and bubbling at the negative terminal are both minimized. The bubbling at the negative terminal is hydrogen production and that’s wasted energy that should have gone into reducing the copper sulfate. After the solution has gone clear, filter off the particles and the clear filtrate is dilute sulfuric acid that can be boiled down to …
Video Rating: 4 / 5
We make copper sulfate from copper and sulfuric acid using two chemical methods and one electrochemical method. Copper does not directly react with sulfuric acid so some form of oxidant is needed. Hydrogen peroxide and nitric acid are excellent oxidants and the first two methods demonstrate this. The nitric acid method however produces toxic nitrogen dioxide gas so you’ll need to perform this one outside or in a fumehood. Because both chemical methods are rather expensive. A very cheap electrochemical method can be performed by running a current through two copper electrodes immersed in sulfuric acid. The copper is converted to copper ions at the positive electrode and hydrogen gas is formed at the negative electrode. However if the electrodes are placed side by side then the copper ions will diffuse to the negative electrode and get converted back into copper. This is wasteful as you’ve used power to accomplish nothing. So the better way is to separate both by gravity with the positive electrode at the bottom. The denser solution of copper sulfate will remain near the bottom and thus increase efficiency. As a side note, the electrochemical method is actually very expensive if you use batteries as your power source. The charge on a battery generates a comparatively small quantity of total copper sulfate compared to the same cost of chemicals for the chemical methods. The cheapest way is to use a DC power supply. The cost of municipal electricity is very small compared to …
Video Rating: 4 / 5
can gold be used instead of platinum?
@TheWillthecub online, or you can purify by recrystalization (nurdrage has a video about this) copper sulfate from some types of rootkiller (make sure it says copper sulfate though XD)
are there any other metherds for making H2SO4
where can I buy copper sulfate, sulfuric acid, nickel oxide, anodes, etc…. I am getting into metal plating and looking for somewhere to buy the chemicals
@UNITA4 thank you
Lol i’ve used something gold plated (think it was gold) as the positive electrode and the solution is turning green using DC 12V. What’s happening?
@MrPwnage231 yes, dissolve the powder/crystals in water.
Can I use a gold cathodes instead of platinum?
i have a problem how can i make the copper sulfate liquid again i have powdered copper sulfate do i add water or something? im a bit of a noob with these things
Nurdrage, can i use a gold or gold plated electrode?
im so confused. im just here cause i wanna burn shit
you cannot do this with epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) because magnesium reacts with sulfuric acid. you can, however, electrolyze molten magnesium sulfate to make like sulfur and magnesium metal or something
how do you do this with masnesium sulfate? if you can
copper sulfate is corrosive and toxic? hm
Sweet!!! Now I don’t have to take all those dead prostitutes the Arkansas. This will safe me a great deal of money on gas. Lol
Can this be done with two copper electrodes?
sir help me please how to make h2so4 from mgso4 please
Nice , .
@EINSTEINxxPRODIGY No no no no no don’t even think on doing that. The wall socket delivers AC, high voltage (110~220) and low amperage. The electrochemical method is actually a very complicated process. Carbon electrodes should work, but they will fill your solution with carbon. You really need platinum electrodes. A power supply with a lower voltage than 5v, and 1A. But since you suggested using wall socket as the power supply for this process, you are not ready to mess with sulfuric acid.
can it be done with two carbon electrodes? and can it be plugged to a power supply like a wall socket? if it ca, how will i know wich one is the cathode and the anode?
pls answer
is it a good idea to buy planu jewlery that has been plated with platnum there are 10mm thin disks on ebay plated for 99p for 100
can i heat it to dryness?
My favourite shade of blue…and such beautiful crystals…!
@DisillusionedAmerica Yeah. I bought the H2SO4 for chemical synthesis. I already made copper sulfate and manganese heptoxide. You ever heard of manganese heptoxide?
3:47 it transfroms that fast!
im in 9th grade, all of my classmates only use vocabulary used in the jersey shore. i am compleatly souronded by half, no, not even quarter wits. it is realy nice to listen to people who are smart. this girl asked me if you could swim up a tornado. and yes, she was a prep whos mind never leaves her cell phone.
@tommy9688 that would defeat the purpose, in this video we WANT the copper to be oxidized and go into solution to form copper sulfate. Preventing that would prevent us from obtaining the desired product.
Another way to avoid copper ions to oxidize at the positive terminal is to use a tin electrode instead of copper.
@lyrison Thanks. Actually, that price sounds like a pretty good deal, IMO. I have an ACE nearby, maybe I’ll check if they stock a smaller, more manageable-sized bottle of H2SO4 drain unclogger, like in 16 oz or something. I don’t need much of it; my interests involve mostly small electrolytic cells.
My whole interest in synthesizing it was mainly for the academic challenge, plus it would be fun to find a reliable way to make H2SO4 out of gypsum or epsom salts as a sulfate source.
@DisillusionedAmerica You can get 96% concentration, high purity sulfuric acid in 1 gallon bottles for $24 at Ace Hardware. I just bought some yesterday. It is a plastic bottle in a plastic bag titled Rooto Professional Drain Opener. Great stuff.
what is the concentration of H2SO4 used for the electrolysis method?
or as it called HHO gas
where do you get all your chemicals?
@Tutorializer100 It is not.
is not the copper sulfate posionus?
@NurdRage Thanks, and I didn’t intend to step on any toes, btw, if that’s how I came across. I really appreciate your videos; they have helped me and countless others learn. You’re probably right about my proposed procedure costing way more than just simply buying H2SO4 and Cu, IF it even worked. The sheer volume of NH4OH needed alone would likely end up being a royal pain in the ass to deal with, lol. Not to mention the CuO would have to be made, which would be energy intensive. Thanks again.
@DisillusionedAmerica 6 step synthesis with plenty of wastes Versus 1 or 2 step synthesis with few or no wastes.
all those extra chemicals would probably add up costing a lot more than H2SO4.
If you want to do it just for the didactic value then go for it, but there are more interesting complicated synthetic processes out there, like making luminol for instance.
Step number (5) should be: React (NH4)2SO4 w/CuO. I’m not even sure if any of this would work; that is, the precipitation of soap, by raising the pH of the Na2SO4 solution with NH4OH, and using the ethanol as a solvent and phase transfer medium for the (solid at room temp) stearic acid. If this method did work, it would use cheap raw materials, and the soap formed could be recycled by converting it back to stearic acid with a cheap, OTC acid like vinegar. Just an idea I’ve had kicking around.
Instead of wasting H2SO4 to make CuSO4, how about: (1) synthesize Na2SO4 from plaster of paris and washing soda; (2) dissolve formed Na2SO4 in NH4OH solution, w/ 2x molar equivalent of NH4; (3) add stoichiometric amount, in relation to Na, of stearic acid, after first dissolving in enough ethanol to keep fatty acid liquid; (4) Remove “soap,” which should form, & float on top of the aqueous layer, replacing fatty acid; (5) React (NH4)2SO4 solution w/ Cu; (6) Heat tetraammine CuSO4; drive off NH4.
it’s so pretttyyyyyyyy lol
Maybe CuCO3 with H2SO4
i did this experiment for a 5th grade science fair and i won haha .. i remember those days .. i loved science
@UserName9587 well pennys are no longer made of complete copper , just a thin coat .. so that probably isnt the best idea
CAN I USE A PENNY
The hydrated copper sulfate crystal plates makes the grown crystal look like huge masses of crystal when they are in fact sheet crystals lol
not so funny when you get those.
@ThePhDChemist please research “overpotential” and “reduction potential” in the context of electrochemistry.