Alvarez 1

Omar Alvarez

Chemistry 1/ Mrs. Thomas

Period 3

May 7th, 2010

Fe-Cu Single-Replacement Reaction

Question: In the iron-copper single replacement reaction, does the amount of copper
produced depend on the amount of iron used?

Background: A single-replacement reaction occurs when the atoms of one element

replace the atoms of another element in a compound (Dingrando, 287). When a metal
replaces another metal in compound, they will not always react to replace each other
because metals differ in their reactivities (Dingrando, 287-288). In this case, iron (Fe) will
replace the copper (Cu) in the copper sulfate solution (CuSO4), because iron is more active
than copper. The products of the reaction would be iron sulfate (FeSO 4) and solid copper
(Cu). Iron will react with copper sulfate in a one to one ratio (1 mole to 1 mole), according
to the following chemical equation:

1Fe(s) + 1CuSO4(aq) → 1FeSO4(aq) + 1Cu(s)

iron copper sulfate iron sulfate copper

In the reaction, iron will be the limiting reagent; it will all be used up in the
reaction. Copper sulfate will be the excess, meaning that not all of it will be used up in the
reaction. The number of moles of iron that reacts will be equal to the number of moles of
copper produced (1:1). The occurrence of the reaction will be visible since the blue copper
sulfate solution turns green due to the iron reacting with the solution, and a color change
in iron will occur because iron will react with the copper sulfate solution. After the
reaction, the copper will be visible and it will sink to the bottom of the beaker. If the
copper sulfate solution is warm, the reaction occurs almost instantaneously.
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Hypothesis: If various amounts of iron (Fe) in the range of 0.75g – 2.25g are added to an
aqueous solution of copper sulfate (CuSO4), then the amount of dry, solid copper (Cu) will
be the same because the mole ratio is of iron to copper is 1:1.

Materials:

 Iron powder
 Copper sulfate pentahydrate (12g/50mL)
 Distilled water
 Stirring rod
 150-mL beaker
 400-mL beaker
 100-mL graduated cylinder
 Weighing paper
 Centigram electronic balance
 Hot plate
 Beaker tongs
 Distilled soap solution

Safety Precautions:

 Always wear safety glasses and a lab apron

 Hot objects will not appear to be hot
 Do not heat broken, chipped, or cracked glassware
 Turn off hot plate when not in use

Procedure:
1. Measure and record the mass of a clean, dry 150-mL beaker.
2. Place approximately 50-mL (12g) of copper (II) sulfate pentahydrate (CuSO4 . 5H20)
into the 150-mL beaker and measure and record the combined mass.
3. Heat the solution on the hot plate at a low-medium setting. Do not boil. Using
tongs, remove the beaker from the hot plate carefully, without spilling any
solution.
4. Measure approximately 0.75-2.75g of iron (Fe) metal filings onto the piece of
weighing paper. Measure and record the exact mass of the iron powder.
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5. While stirring the copper sulfate solution with the stirring rod, slowly add the iron
filings to the hot copper (II) sulfate solution. Do not add all the iron powder at
once. Continue to stir.
6. Allow the reaction mixture to stand, without stirring, for about five minutes to
ensure complete reaction. The solid copper metal will settle to the bottom of the
beaker. If small iron powder is still floating, use a small amount of soap dish to
make the filings settle to the bottom.
7. Use the stirring rod to decant (pour off) the liquid slowly into a 400-mL beaker. Be
careful to decant only the liquid.
8. Add about 15-mL of distilled water to the copper solid and carefully swirl the
beaker to wash the copper. Decant the liquid slowly and carefully into the 400-mL
beaker.
9. Repeat step 8 two more times.
10. Place the 150-mL beaker containing the wet copper carefully on the hot plate. Use
low heat to dry the copper. Do not overheat the wet copper.
11. Once there is no signs of water vapor on the beaker, remove the beaker from the
hot plate using tons and allow it to cool.
12. Measure and record the exact mass of the cooled 150-mL beaker and copper.

Cleanup and Disposal:

1. Make sure the hot plate is off
2. The dry copper can be placed in a waste container. Wet any residue that sticks to
the beaker and wipe it out using a paper towel. Pour the unreacted copper (II)
sulfate and iron (II) sulfate solutions into a large beaker in the fume hood.
3. Put all lab equipment to its proper place.
4. Wash your hands thoroughly after all lab work and clean up is complete.

Manipulated Variable:

The manipulated variable in this lab is iron because iron will be used to replace the copper
in the copper sulfate solution.

Responding Variable:

The responding variable will be copper because it is going to be affected by the amount of
iron used in the experiment.
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Controlled Variables:

 Copper sulfate pentahydrate (CuSO4 . 5H20)

 Distilled water
 Distilled soap solution

Data:

Mass of empty 100-mL beaker & stir rod 58.83g

Mass of iron powder 1.50g

Mass of 100-mL beaker & stir rod + 60.45g

dried copper
Mass of dried copper 1.62g

Gram and Mole Comparisons:

The grams of iron and the grams of copper were almost similar, but to really find
out if the mole ratio of 1:1 is similar, the grams could be converted into moles for each
element.
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The following equation is used to convert grams to moles:

With this equation, the moles of iron and copper could be determined:

From the graph above, the moles of iron are fairly similar to the moles of copper,
meaning that the mole ratio is accurate to 1:1.

Percent Yield:
The percent yield is used to determine the success of chemical reactions, because
most reactions never succeed in producing the predicted amount of product. The actual
yield is the amount of product actually produced when the chemical reaction is carried out
in an experiment. The theoretical yield is the maximum amount of product that can be
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produced from a given amount of reactant. These yields help determine how efficient the
reaction was. The percent yield of product is the ratio of the actual yield to the theoretical
yield expressed as a percent (Dingrando, 370). The following stoichiometric calculation
shows how to determine the theoretical yield of copper produced from iron:

Know that the theoretical yield is known, the percent yield could be easily
determined by the following equation:

According to the percent yield, the reaction was 94.74% successful, meaning that
the actual yield was very close to the theoretical yield.
Class Data:
When trying to compare and contrast the data, class data is very useful. The
following data was taken from other students with different amounts of iron, and it shows
the gram to gram comparison of iron to copper:
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To determine if the mole ratio of iron to copper is similar when using different
amounts of iron, the moles of iron and copper need to be calculated with the gram to
mole conversion. The graph below shows the similarity of iron moles and copper moles:

In conclusion, the mole ratios are almost similar when using different amounts of
iron. The data supports my hypothesis, because it is showing that no matter what the
amount of iron is used; the mole ratio of iron to copper will be close to 1:1.
The following graph also shows the class data, but this graph will be able to show any
errors that students made:
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The students 5, 6, 7, 8, and 11 had less amount of copper, meaning that there was an
error in their experiment. Some of the errors that the students could’ve done are:
 Small amounts of copper were decanted with the iron sulfate.
 Small amounts of copper were washed away with the distilled water.
 Used large amounts of distilled soap solution.
 Overheating the copper; oxygen could’ve reacted with the copper.
 Any mismeasurement of anything.
 Copper did not dry.

Conclusion:
A single-replacement reaction could be analyzed and predicted by knowing the
mole ratios, background, and calculations. In this lab, the reaction between iron and
copper sulfate was given a question and a hypothesis in which it could be tested and
analyzed. The manipulated and dependent variables were given to determine what to find
in the experiment. After the experiment was done, the data supported the hypothesis and
highlighted experimental errors. Also, the data was compared to the calculations to find
how accurate the experiment was. The lab overall showed how reactions could be made
and how they could be predicted.

Focus Question:
By analyzing the lab, more experiments could be made. One example is to find if
iron would replace metals in other substances (like magnesium sulfate, aluminum sulfate,
or silver sulfate) or not. This would test how active metals are, and to test what metals
would replace other metals in a single-replacement reaction.
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Works Cited

Dingrando, Laurel. Chemistry: Matter and Change. Columbus: McGraw-Hill

Companies, 2002.