[Katsurao]

It's been a long time since I've posted, but, nonetheless, I've been exploring chemistry. I had a bottle of H₂SO₄ and sucrose explode on my balcony yesterday, but, I digress.

So I made a bit of crude CuCl₂ by mixing a solution of CuSO₄ with some NaCl, and stirred it until it became an emerald green:

http://i.imgur.com/gnC55Cch.jpg

I then repeatedly used the crude CuCl₂ to obtain some copper(I presume it to be an oxide or oxides of copper, due to the color):

http://i.imgur.com/ZaO0rlD.jpg

I noticed that the solutions would turn almost clear, but cloud, so I filtered the copper of one of the solutions, and isolated the solution which I thought to be of AlCl₃. I then researched this chemical(after attempting to boiling of the water, and noticing a strange gas coming from the flask) and realized that it was probably HCl gas bring released. But that didn't stop me. Two days later(after the explosion of the bottle; today), I had decided to boil a new solution, that had been left over night, and had gained a yellow tinge to it.  After a few minutes of heating, the solution turned a very cloudy yellow-green, and gas(which appeared to have a pH of 7) began bubbling out. Soon, a white substance began to collect on the bottom, and side of the beaker, and the gases kept fuming out. Finally, about ten or so minutes later, the substance began to crystallize, and a pH test of the condensation near the inside edge of the beaker produced an odd result; most of the pH paper remain a neutral pH, while, a bit of the edges of the paper had a pH of around 2(the same as the boiling solution).

I cut off the heat and let the solution cool a bit, before filtering off the solution. This is what was left in the beaker:

http://i.imgur.com/VRn7MG2h.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/OZ6vO5Sh.jpg

And this is the filtered solution(there is only a bit of the white substance in coffee filter; therefore I did not take a photo of it):
http://i.imgur.com/KhQmkqFh.jpg

And that's my progress for right now. I still have some copper chloride solution left over; if any of you have any suggestions on what to do with it, feel free to tell me them, as well as what you all think is the white-yellow-greenish substance.

[billnotgatez]

This is your first 4 images

[billnotgatez]

This is your last image

[billnotgatez]

I am curious
Are you just tinkering or do you have a goal?

By the way I inserted your images directly because I do not trust imgur to keep them for ever.

It's been a long time since I've posted, but, nonetheless, I've been exploring chemistry. I had a bottle of H₂SO₄ and sucrose explode on my balcony yesterday, but, I digress.

So I made a bit of crude CuCl₂ by mixing a solution of CuSO₄ with some NaCl, and stirred it until it became an emerald green:

http://i.imgur.com/gnC55Cch.jpg

I then repeatedly used the crude CuCl₂ to obtain some copper(I presume it to be an oxide or oxides of copper, due to the color):

http://i.imgur.com/ZaO0rlD.jpg

I noticed that the solutions would turn almost clear, but cloud, so I filtered the copper of one of the solutions, and isolated the solution which I thought to be of AlCl₃. I then researched this chemical(after attempting to boiling of the water, and noticing a strange gas coming from the flask) and realized that it was probably HCl gas bring released. But that didn't stop me. Two days later(after the explosion of the bottle; today), I had decided to boil a new solution, that had been left over night, and had gained a yellow tinge to it.  After a few minutes of heating, the solution turned a very cloudy yellow-green, and gas(which appeared to have a pH of 7) began bubbling out. Soon, a white substance began to collect on the bottom, and side of the beaker, and the gases kept fuming out. Finally, about ten or so minutes later, the substance began to crystallize, and a pH test of the condensation near the inside edge of the beaker produced an odd result; most of the pH paper remain a neutral pH, while, a bit of the edges of the paper had a pH of around 2(the same as the boiling solution).

I cut off the heat and let the solution cool a bit, before filtering off the solution. This is what was left in the beaker:

http://i.imgur.com/VRn7MG2h.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/OZ6vO5Sh.jpg

And this is the filtered solution(there is only a bit of the white substance in coffee filter; therefore I did not take a photo of it):
http://i.imgur.com/KhQmkqFh.jpg

And that's my progress for right now. I still have some copper chloride solution left over; if any of you have any suggestions on what to do with it, feel free to tell me them, as well as what you all think is the white-yellow-greenish substance.

[Katsurao]

I'm just tinkering around and thank you!

[billnotgatez]

While tinkering you might want to practice writing the chemical formulas for the process you think are happening.
It might be even better if you do it before you do the reaction.

Based on a portion of your post you might want to review your safety equipment and procedures.

As a side note
On the posting screen you will see
+ Additional Options...
This allows you to post images directly to your thread
The limit is 4 per post so you might want to combine images
I was going to do that to your images when I re-posted them but ran out of time.

[Katsurao]

Out of curiosity, why do you suggest me to write the formulas? I usually just keep them in my head, in case something out of the ordinary occurs. Yeah; I ran out of gloves a while ago, and I don't have the finances to buy them at the moment. I have stood away from any strong acids for the most part(except the H₂SO₄ incident). And, thanks for the advice—I didn't realize that prior to posting.

[billnotgatez]

Out of curiosity, why do you suggest me to write the formulas? I usually just keep them in my head, in case something out of the ordinary occurs. Yeah; I ran out of gloves a while ago, and I don't have the finances to buy them at the moment. I have stood away from any strong acids for the most part(except the H₂SO₄ incident). And, thanks for the advice—I didn't realize that prior to posting.

Many experimenters adhere to the scientific method.
From
http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_scientific_method.shtml

The steps of the scientific method are to:
    Ask a Question
    Do Background Research
    Construct a Hypothesis
    Test Your Hypothesis by Doing an Experiment
    Analyze Your Data and Draw a Conclusion
    Communicate Your Results

Now I know you are just tinkering, but if you are going to post here - it would benefit the fellow members if you at least did some of the steps.

At least we would know how knowledgeable you are so as to give a relevant response.

And

Just throwing some chemicals together without thought might make us feel you are not being safe. You know we like to promote safety.

I am hoping that in addition to gloves you have for starters
fire extinguisher
goggles (and you wear them)
lab clothing like a lab coat
etc.

[Corribus]

(and you wear them)

Yes, always more effective that way.

[billnotgatez]

Out of curiosity, why do you suggest me to write the formulas? I usually just keep them in my head, in case something out of the ordinary occurs. ...

I guess doing something in your head may work for you, but when posting about it you might want to use formulas to convey the process better.

I might start with

CuSO₄ + 2NaCl  CuCl₂ + Na₂SO4

This could lead to further thoughts like
"Is this reaction possible?"
"Is there a favored direction of the reaction?"


By the way some of the compounds we are talking about can be hydrated.

NaCl
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_chloride
Solubility in water 359 g/L

CuSO4·5H2O
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copper%28II%29_sulfate
Solubility in water 1.055 molal (10°C) 1.26 molal (20°C) 1.502 molal (30°C)

CuCl2·2H2O
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copper%28II%29_chloride
Solubility in water 70.6 g/100 mL (0°C) 75.7 g/100 mL (25°C) 107.9 g/100 mL (100 °C)

Na2SO4·10H2O
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_sulfate
Solubility in water anhydrous: 4.76 g/100 mL (0°C) 42.7 g/100 mL (100°C)