[onefear]

hi i need help please i need someone to work out a formulae and word equation for me please so i know what happened in my test tube lol
i added copper(II) sulphate to water and added a magnesium ribbon (that started the sacraficial protection) i got bored so i added potassium iodide i now im left with a huge amount of iodine and something dark green at the bottom what happened and whats left???

[Arkcon]

Can you start to work out this problem by expressing those substances by their chemical formulas?  And seeing what reactions will go forward.

[onefear]

well at the moment i have the unreacted formulae
Mg+2 + Cu(II)SO-2 + KI

[onefear]

oops mistake there
Cu(II)SO-2 + H2O + Mg+2 + KI

[onefear]

MgO + Cu(III)SO + K20 + i + H2
is it something like that??

[onefear]

Oh no hold on i forgot the 5H2O in the sulphate

[Arkcon]

This forum does have an option available to you to edit previous posts, ya know.

[onefear]

Cu(II)SO4-2+5H2O + H2O + 3Mg+2 + 6KI ->  3MgO + 3K2O + I + Cu(III)SO4-2 + 6H2

oops ok i didnt know thanks emm would it be something like this? will the Mg an K take the oxygen out of th sulphate to???

[Arkcon]

Well, lets try to break it down some.  First off, since this reaction occurs in aqueous solution, the 5 H₂O molecules attached to each CuSO₄ don't really have to be accounted for, not while surrounded by the rest of the water.

You started with:

CuSO₄ and Mg, right, what should have started to happen?  Hint:look up a table of electronegativity.

[onefear]

a right th Mg changes Cu(II) to something hold on im still reading

by the way im 15 so ive not bein doing chemistry long lol
Mg is 1,83 and Cu is 1,65 what ever that means lol (im trying here)

im sorry i dont get the electronegativity but what i do know is the electron from the Mg go to the Cu because the Mg is higher in the E.C.S so does Cu (II) become Cu(IIII) <<< i think thats impossible but im just guessin here

[Arkcon]

Look at the table of electronegativities.  At one end is gold and platinum, you see those all the time, they're always shiny, you'll often see copper and iron around as well, often, not as shiny.  Look at the other end, metals like sodium and potassium, you don't see those lying around often, do you?  Where do copper and magnesium fit in the sequence?  And what are they closer to?

by the way im 15 so ive not bein doing chemistry long lol

Not to worry, the laws of chemistry remain the same no matter how old you are.

Mg is 1,83 and Cu is 1,65 what ever that means lol (im trying here)

im sorry i dont get the electronegativity but what i do know is the electron from the Mg go to the Cu because the Mg is higher in the E.C.S so does Cu (II) become Cu(IIII) <<< i think thats impossible but im just guessin here

Nope, that's not what happens, but you're trying.  Read up a bit, and then come on back with some other theories.

[onefear]

ok Mg is right up the left beside K which is furthest left and Cu is sort in the middle we btty right o the middle
and yeah i know that metal like potassium are very reactive with oxygen and are never found in there pure form and gold is very unreactive and doesnt react with oxygen
so oooooooo.. magnesium wont be touched because there is a bigger gap between potassium and copper??

[Arkcon]

ok Mg is right up the left beside K which is furthest left and Cu is sort in the middle we btty right o the middle
and yeah i know that metal like potassium are very reactive with oxygen and are never found in there pure form and gold is very unreactive and doesnt react with oxygen

So close ...

so oooooooo.. magnesium wont be touched because there is a bigger gap between potassium and copper??

And yet so far.

[onefear]

OOOOOOOOOOOO potassium will just react with the oxygen in the water!! and magnesium will react with the copper and the oxygen in the water

man your making a bigger fool of me than im making of myself lol

[Arkcon]

No, write a single replacement reaction.