Chemical Forums
Specialty Chemistry Forums => Citizen Chemist => Topic started by: CausticPotash on June 19, 2007, 06:16:58 PM
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I was heating a strip of copper over my butane burner just seeing if I could melt it or shape it or something, but something much cooler happened. At first, the strip turned blue, then green, kind of in a wave like manner. Like if you were dipping the strip in a blue liquid at an angle and then taking it out a little and then putting back in again. Then it turned pink (in the "wave like" manner) and looked molten but wasn't. After I let the strip cool, a thin blue layer of flaky stuff was left on top of the copper. I immediatly thought copper sulfate... but there wasn't even any sulfur involved. Could anyone tell me what was going on here? (both the changing of colors and the blue stuff)
Thanks,
CausticPotash
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Just 2 thoughts, probably both are wrong.
Maybe, because of the high temperature, the carbon dioxide and water produced by the combustion could form a copper carbonate/hydroxide complex like in the minerals malachite (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malachite) and azurite (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azurite).
Alternatively just copper (II) carbonate and copper (II) hydroxide might be produced. I doubt this could be happening, but look at pictures of the 2, and see if either of them look anything like what you saw.
I've never put much thought into what is actually going on when you heat a piece of copper in the manner you did (I've done the same, and seen the same).
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It some parts it looks similar to the color of azurite in others it looks similar to the color of the copper(II) hydroxide. definetly not the carbonate or malachite
Thanks
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Were you heating an old piece of copper?
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No, I had just gotten it.