Thanks for the video tutorial! I didnt know I could do this! Just a note, you can evaporate the solution faster by using a container with a high surface area. A tall thin container will evaporate much slower than a shallow wide container of the same volume.
i use one of those big pyrex bowls from a turbo-oven with a broken powerhead, nice big cheap pyrex bowl is great for crystalization processes and repurposed broken appliance is green!
I Tried this At Home, And It Worked, Thanks for the video. But one Problem the mgso4 in claypot(Negitive) seems to turn blue although not a issue for concern
Did you remember to check the hole in the bottom of the clay pot? If you didn't plug it in any way, or if your plug is leaking, then that's a good reason to get copper sulfate on the wrong side.
@@MR-ub6sq I certainly did and there were zero crack fractures, and most importantly no hole.... I even put a thicccc layer(s) of paper to wrap the clay pot ensuring zero possiblities.... But Thanks for the idea of checking for a hole in the pot
Iononmer concrete is the true best. made of 1:3 ratio of cement powder and plaster of paris or 1:3 ratio of cement powder to ground up deionizer resin.
What would have happened to the crystallization if you had continued to boil the copper sulfate solution stronger? Would it have produced any problems compared to the long wait? Decades ago, I had a ferric chloride solution for etching circuit boards in which I had etched a circuit board. I had not remembered to save the solution in the storage bottle, but it remained in a shallow etching container and eventually all the water had evaporated when I came to look in the container. Of course I saw yellow ferric chloride crystals, intense green copper chloride crystals. But at first I wondered what the light green crystals were, which are also a little here and there. I concluded that they must be stannous chloride because one of the circuit boards I etched had solder tin in it at some point. Now I could collect all the tin compounds with tweezers and also all the copper compounds. It was an interesting experience. Indeed, crystallization produces precise separation!
If I had continued to boil the copper sulfate solution stronger, I would have ended up with a more over-saturated solution, which would speed up the crystalization. However, it might not be good to crystalize too fast, as we want to let the particles the time to properly phase-separate from the impurities.
@@BlueMoonshine So, by speeding up the crystallization too much, the end result would be impurities in the crystals? At least we in Finland have a couple of sayings: "Slowly the good comes" "Too much is always too much" I don't know how international these phrases are, but I think the same things have been noticed everywhere :) Thanks for the educational interesting video! In fact, I tried today that the tin in the anode would move through the electrolyte to the surface of the aluminum in the cathode. My goal was to get the aluminum pieces in such a way that I could solder them together using a regular soldering iron. I had sanded the critical points from the aluminum and cleaned with acetone. The impression was that the soldering was not successful. I wonder if I should change the method? Should I try copper instead of tin for the anode? If I can get the surface of the aluminum coppered, I believe that soldering it with tin could also be successful. Do you have an idea for this?
@@MR-ub6sq Directly copper plating aluminum won't work. First, you have to remove the natural oxide layer of the aluminum in a mild acid or alkaline solution (I don't know the exact details, I never tried). Then you have to zinc plate it, and only then you can copper plate it.
@@BlueMoonshine Thanks for the advice. At least I have hydrochloric acid. Copper was secondary in my mind, while tin plating was the original goal. So if I first coat the aluminum with zinc, is there a viable method to coat the zinc with tin afterwards? If I can avoid the copper plating, the final result will be visually better because aluminum, zinc and tin are very close in color. My purpose is to make non-anodized metal busbars that contain 60 and 120 degree angles. And since the copper bars are considerably valuable, I'm thinking of using aluminum. This need is related to the fact that I connect a series of round 20Ah LFP cells, which come in three rows on top of each other. Of course, I could use the two-pole busbars supplied with the cells, but their positions relative to each other are not completely stable. On the other hand, if I only used a straight long enough busbars, so that all the cells are next to each other in one row, the dimensions and shape of the battery would be impractical. Of course aluminum can be soldered with silver wire and some alloy wire at temperatures above 700ºC, but this kind of chemical approach is more interesting to me.
Very cool. The crystallization part could also be used to purify any impure copper sulfate you source if there are any additives. Am I right in assuming that the crystallization will happen faster the more seed surface area you provide? This type of ion bridge is really interesting. What would they use in a laboratory setting? Is there anything in particular to look for in a pot? Will any un-glazed ceramic work, or just specifically clay? I don't know too much about pottery materials :P
The crystalization speed will mostly be affected by the surface of the container. The larger the container, the faster the water will evaporate, hence the faster the copper sulfate will have to crystalize in order to prevent an over-saturation of the solution. I really don't know what they use in laboratory. They probably have some specific membranes that select a particular species of ions (charge and size). The clay pot seems to let all ions go through, but it prevents large volumes of fluids from mixing up.
Using a similar setup, you can turn Epsom salt into sulfuric acid if you replace the copper electrode by a lead-dioxide electrode, as I show here: th-cam.com/video/l9ifS3ubiBc/w-d-xo.html
@@BlueMoonshine i just think if probably high concentration OH around vase will make them corrode cause i remember certain ceramic will dissolve at high alkalinity
@@dogodogo5891 I don't know, but the reaction equations that I give are valid only a low concentrations. At higher concentrations, some secondary reactions can take place. So, you should keep the concentrations low during the electrolysis, then concentrate the final product by evaporating the water.
I did the same arrangement as you in this video, but in the clay pot I had aluminum as the cathode instead of copper. Does it make any difference except through the resistance value of the metal? In such a situation, does the degree of refinement of the anode and cathode have any significance for the success of the process?
The cathode won't corrode, so in principle you can use any conducting material. The difference in resistance between aluminum and copper doesn't play any role, since both these resistances are negligible compared to the resistance of the solution. On the other hand, it is crucial to use a copper anode, since this is the source of copper atoms that turn the magnesium sulfate into copper sulfate.
Quick question for clarification purposes. Crystals formed by bonding to the seed on the thread. If this is a first time attempt, with no seed, do you just place thread from a pencil into the compound liquid to initiate crystallization? Thanks and awesome video! 👍
For the first attempt i don't put anything in the liquid. I just wait several days, the water evaporate and the solution becomes over saturated with copper sulfate, so the crystals will spontaneously appear at the bottom.
While the method Blue Moonshine uses to get a starter crystal is viable; another way would be to dip your stir rod into solution and then hold it in the air until the liquid evaporates leaving tiny "starter" crystals in its place. Then just scrape them into the solution and you'll be growing crystals. This a much faster and more effective way in my opinion.
@@ryanallen1014 Seems Legit. I'm just starting another batch from scratch, so it's a good time to try this. I don't see why it wouldn't give you a bit of a jump on the whole process. If so, I grow Many types of crystals, and use sound to alter their growth, or suspended things like strontium(glow stuff) in them that otherwise gets pushed out. You may be doing me quite a favor here, and WTF didn't I think to do this, I'm usually the "creative solutions" guy.🤷😅 Thanks bub!
@@EagleOxford glad I could be of help. I've never heard of altering crystal growth with sound. I can see how it would work though and sounds pretty badass. Is it part of your job or doing it as a hobby? Ive always loved chemistry, but never had a practical use for it until I discovered....e-scrapping. I now make my own acids, strong bases (hydroxides), test solution (stannous chloride) and stuff like ferrous sulfate to precipitate gold out of solution. Pretty basic reactions for the most part but still fun to me and have learned quite a bit along the way.
hey! I did a similar reaction with a similar setup, but my anode produced a mix of copper and magnesium hydroxides. Any idea why? Also my cathode solution of copper sulfate remained very weak. After a point it looks like copper sulfate production stopped. not sure why this happened.
@@ceasargaming9041 So, if you can't control the voltage, at least can you insert an ammeter and use a separation between the electrodes so that the current is not greater than 1 amp?
You need an evaporation dish using a cylinder like that is probably the worst way to allow evaporation you need as much surface area as possible exposed to air. Any simple bowl will do or even a tupperware container, anything would be better than the cylinder
Over the years I have done this and then further making acid from the copper solutions, I have found that if I leave it for too long it will turn blue inside the pot no mater Ho well it's sealed? 🤔 Im best bless is that it is as the salts are used it will turn more and more blue maybe from the acid forming hence the electrode usually turned black? 🤔 Edit: I only use tap water in the main body if water. NO EPSON SALTS AT ALL.
The clay pot is not preventing ions to go in and out, it only prevent massive transfers from one solution to the other one. So, eventually, the two solutions mix up.
@@BlueMoonshine interesting.... All books say smaller clay fired pot without the hole. I guess I'll read more, I was hoping for a better explanation. As I stated, the electrode in the pot always turns black no matter what voltage is used. My understanding was that there is a weak solution of sulphuric acid that is corroding the electrode. Hence the bluing. It also seems bluer than usual because it is in a white and *_Unsuitable_* powder suspended and magnified through the water.... The only electrodes that have wonder without bluing in the pot was titanium and lead dioxide electrodes, titanium being the better and lead dioxide can and will gather an _unknown to me_ clear stacked square crystals but it lead! So I stay away from it. Either way once filtered I just use the same solution and top it up with magnesium sulphate and more water. The blue is almost always gone at the end.
Thank you, please share it! Also, you may want to check my new tutorial on how to make 95% nitric acid at home from household items: th-cam.com/video/NHBDXtn7pjA/w-d-xo.html
Great video. I just bought 2KG "100% pure copper sulphate" from eBay which is in no way close to being pure so I need to find a way to purify it without owning a chemistry lab.
Chemicals, including CuSO4, that kill algae or fungal disease, are toxic to animals, i.e. humans. This is NOT a health supplement (1gram or less is toxic, and adding copper supplements to your diet often overwhelms needed zinc. Just eat a healthy diet!) Avoiding excess algae in water? Try keeping more animal waste out of it. Fresh algae growth is often beneficial; dying algae and cyanobacteria are bad.
It depends in which country you live. In the USA, it is much cheaper and way faster to buy copper sulfate online. You can also find it at The Home Depot or Lowes as "Root kill". But there are some countries that prohibit the average citizen to buy copper sulfate. In that case, making it from Epsom salt is a good option.
@@BlueMoonshine Thanks! CuSO4 is toxic to plant and animal life. Is that why it's prohibited in some countries? Again, using the word "from" was misleading. Mark Hopper's question is an example of this misunderstanding.
@@Lightharvest-dd2bf I don't know why it is prohibited in some countries. Maybe because it is easy to turn it into sulfuric acid? For the title, it is indeed misleading. I will think of a better one.
@@BlueMoonshine Thank you for such a quick response! I'm going to try it this morning. I was partially successful with no bridge or membrane, but the solution only turns that turquoise/blue and even after a reduction it still will not crystalize out of solution. I'm guessing it's not saturated enough but I do not see how as I had to hear it considerably and add more distilled water to clear up the solution it was so saturated.
@@ryanallen1014 It's a little hard to understand what problem you had - but when you're talking about *adding* distilled water because "the solution was so saturated", and previous comment about "guessing it's not saturated enough" -- wait, *whaaaaat?*. Something's backwards, here: you get crystals when you take a solution (let's just say table salt in water) and let the water evaporate, i.e. GO AWAY (slowly) -- the remaining salt will begin to crystallize as the water leaves. AND: (pay attention) - that means the solution becomes more and more "saturated"! Think about it: ultimately, all the water's gone, only the crystal remains -- that's not just 100% saturated, but past super-saturated. You may want to look up a bunch of TH-cam vids on "making crystals" - something's seriously missing in the way you asked the question.
@@sumgai7 I am confused by your statement....I was asking if using a salt bridge would work and that when I tried the electrolysis without one I formed some copper sulfate solution; but the solution was not concentrated enough to produce crystals. So I either need to evaporate more of the solution or let the reaction run longer. I fully understand what saturation means. Thank you for your response and sorry for any confusion!
@@ryanallen1014 you cant make copper || sulphate from magnesium sulphate (epsom salt) via electrolysis while having the electrodes shorting out at the solution due to not having a membrane. Membrane is there to prevent certain things from leaking and making contact and contaminating the whole experiment
I have the exact same setup as you, but for some reason I only make unsoluavble copper hydroxide/carbonate, do you know what I am doing wrong? maybe higher or lower concentration of magnesium sulfate?
@@BlueMoonshine yeah will try that but it isnt a secondary product it is the only product, besides the hydrogen bubbles and magnesium hydroxide of course
your membrane is leaking thats why. plug the hole at the bottom of the clay pot or use something else as a barrier IE something with ion exchange properties like ionomer cement. 1:3 ratio of cement powder to gypsum/plaster and casted into a dam/wall then 2 solutions on both sides.
@@CatboyChemicalSociety can also make a make a membrane from tyvek soaked in fresh hot agar agar that's had non-ioduzed table salt added....aka the salt bridge.
epsom salt to copper sulfate: destroy copper bar to remove magnesium in the pot, and get the blue thing, then blue thing to sulfuric acid = clean clay pot add fresh water, put some titanium Pt coated mesh inside the pot and inverse polarity ... now ure coper plating the copper bar .. sulfur left behing end up as sulfuric acid in the pot
Wouldn’t it work better to have the solution only inside the flower pot and have distilled water on the outside(where anode is) so that only so4 ions will flow though resulting in less impurities? Although your product already looks pure enough
Is the wire clean? Did you clean it with steel wool? If you use copper wire, and a current similar to mine, the current might actually be huge compared to the area of the wire, so this could trigger some secondary reactions. You may want to either increase the amount of wire that is in contact with the solution, or decrease the current, and see if it helps.
@@BlueMoonshineno I didn't clean it, it looked really clean so I didn't worry and didn't have the powder like some wire has. I'm using a car battery charger with 2x 12v 5w light bulbs in line to keep current around 0.21
No! Neither citric acid nor hydrogen peroxide contain sulfur atoms, so there is no way they could form the sulfate ions that constitute copper sulphate.
@@VanillaAttila I don't know what adding elemental sulfur the mixture would do. But if you have some copper oxide (or if you can make some), you can do the following: Burn elemental sulfur in a sealed container. This will produce sulfur dioxide (SO2 ). Then you can bubble this gas into water, which will produce sulfuric acid. Once you have sulfuric acid, you can turn it into copper sulfate as described here: www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zysdgdm/revision/3
@@BlueMoonshine yeah I saw that one. I'm looking for a simpler solution. Since the water turns blue when I use citric acid I'm thinking the copper citrate could be an effective fungicide. I just don't know how to determine the potency of it since I'm just using copper mesh
@@VanillaAttila Why don't you simply make the copper sulfate solution from Epsom salt, as I showed? It is very easy and Epsom salt is cheap. You don't even need to turn the solution into crystals, I guess.
@@BlueMoonshine I wasn't actually referring to anything you might have said - I was just reading off on of the bag :) But you're probably right. Maybe water is not an impurity, although I think it is more than half the weight of the whole substance. BTW: You left undissolved MgSO4 crystals in the measuring jug, but you said it's not about "milligrams" LOL
You can make your own power supply using a old 12v transformer and a voltage board from China look it up on you tube I made it very cheaply on a board of wood and works great
What is more suitable in the present case is a current supply instead of a voltage supply, and I wouldn't be surprised if @BlueMoonshine is planning on making a tutorial on how to make one.
BOTH BOWLS CONTAIN EPSOM SALT RED POSITIVE WIRE CONNECT TO A COPPER PIPE OUTSIDE OF CLAY POT AN BLACK WIRE ALSO CONNECT TO A COPPER PIPE INSIDE THE CLAY POT. (COPPER SULFATE)(blue)
This video was misleading because it says it's making copper sulfate FROM epsom salts--which contain no copper. We're a few minutes into this beautifully-spoken video, before we learn there are COPPER electrodes used--and this is the essential source of copper here! The epsom salts are the primary source of the sulfate. If you don't have the electrical equipment already, and your goal is to obtain copper sulfate, and the chemistry process is less important to you, it's probably less expensive to buy CuSO4 crystals at your hardware store.
The title used by Blue Moonshine might not be the best, but you are completely missing the point with your comment about the cost. The point of this video is (i) to provide a way of making copper sulfate to people who live in countries where this chemical is not available to everyone while Epsom salt is, and (ii) to communicate some knowledge about electro-chemistry. Many students (including mine) appreciate Blue Moonshine's pedagogical videos.
The name is not misleading, because Magnesium sulfate is used for the preparation You know what... You are made of the dust of the Earth, so you shouldn't be wise :)
I love science, at least the chemistry side of it. Can you just use salt water. You wouldn't even have to buy the salt. I wonder how they make this on a large scale.
Thanks for the video tutorial! I didnt know I could do this!
Just a note, you can evaporate the solution faster by using a container with a high surface area. A tall thin container will evaporate much slower than a shallow wide container of the same volume.
Yes, that's true. Thanks for reminding me of this!
i use one of those big pyrex bowls from a turbo-oven with a broken powerhead, nice big cheap pyrex bowl is great for crystalization processes and repurposed broken appliance is green!
great setup and explanation!! Thanks for taking us through the process. May The LORD bless you and keep you.
Thank you! Please, share it on your social network!
I Tried this At Home, And It Worked, Thanks for the video. But one Problem the mgso4 in claypot(Negitive) seems to turn blue although not a issue for concern
Try using a graphite cathode
@@user-lb8do4ew6k I am not haveing all that graphite to spare and clean the solution
@@kunaldhar6713 the cathode doesn't degrade, the anode will but only if the voltage is set too high
Did you remember to check the hole in the bottom of the clay pot? If you didn't plug it in any way, or if your plug is leaking, then that's a good reason to get copper sulfate on the wrong side.
@@MR-ub6sq I certainly did and there were zero crack fractures, and most importantly no hole.... I even put a thicccc layer(s) of paper to wrap the clay pot ensuring zero possiblities.... But Thanks for the idea of checking for a hole in the pot
Excellent video! Very clear instructions with a successful outcome. Thanks you!
You're welcome. Please, share it!
Super! Thank you very much!
You're welcome. Please share the video if you can.
Very noice video. Does it matter if the clay pot has a protective
coating though?
Yes, I believe it won't work with a protective coating. You want the irons to be able to go through.
@@BlueMoonshine thanks
Terracotta pot is up there with best inorganic semipermeable membranes you can get at home
I believe this is what I'm using in the video.
Iononmer concrete is the true best.
made of 1:3 ratio of cement powder and plaster of paris or 1:3 ratio of cement powder to ground up deionizer resin.
What would have happened to the crystallization if you had continued to boil the copper sulfate solution stronger? Would it have produced any problems compared to the long wait?
Decades ago, I had a ferric chloride solution for etching circuit boards in which I had etched a circuit board. I had not remembered to save the solution in the storage bottle, but it remained in a shallow etching container and eventually all the water had evaporated when I came to look in the container. Of course I saw yellow ferric chloride crystals, intense green copper chloride crystals. But at first I wondered what the light green crystals were, which are also a little here and there. I concluded that they must be stannous chloride because one of the circuit boards I etched had solder tin in it at some point. Now I could collect all the tin compounds with tweezers and also all the copper compounds. It was an interesting experience. Indeed, crystallization produces precise separation!
If I had continued to boil the copper sulfate solution stronger, I would have ended up with a more over-saturated solution, which would speed up the crystalization. However, it might not be good to crystalize too fast, as we want to let the particles the time to properly phase-separate from the impurities.
@@BlueMoonshine So, by speeding up the crystallization too much, the end result would be impurities in the crystals? At least we in Finland have a couple of sayings:
"Slowly the good comes"
"Too much is always too much"
I don't know how international these phrases are, but I think the same things have been noticed everywhere :) Thanks for the educational interesting video!
In fact, I tried today that the tin in the anode would move through the electrolyte to the surface of the aluminum in the cathode. My goal was to get the aluminum pieces in such a way that I could solder them together using a regular soldering iron. I had sanded the critical points from the aluminum and cleaned with acetone. The impression was that the soldering was not successful. I wonder if I should change the method? Should I try copper instead of tin for the anode? If I can get the surface of the aluminum coppered, I believe that soldering it with tin could also be successful. Do you have an idea for this?
@@MR-ub6sq
Directly copper plating aluminum won't work. First, you have to remove the natural oxide layer of the aluminum in a mild acid or alkaline solution (I don't know the exact details, I never tried). Then you have to zinc plate it, and only then you can copper plate it.
@@BlueMoonshine Thanks for the advice. At least I have hydrochloric acid. Copper was secondary in my mind, while tin plating was the original goal. So if I first coat the aluminum with zinc, is there a viable method to coat the zinc with tin afterwards? If I can avoid the copper plating, the final result will be visually better because aluminum, zinc and tin are very close in color. My purpose is to make non-anodized metal busbars that contain 60 and 120 degree angles. And since the copper bars are considerably valuable, I'm thinking of using aluminum.
This need is related to the fact that I connect a series of round 20Ah LFP cells, which come in three rows on top of each other. Of course, I could use the two-pole busbars supplied with the cells, but their positions relative to each other are not completely stable. On the other hand, if I only used a straight long enough busbars, so that all the cells are next to each other in one row, the dimensions and shape of the battery would be impractical. Of course aluminum can be soldered with silver wire and some alloy wire at temperatures above 700ºC, but this kind of chemical approach is more interesting to me.
@@MR-ub6sq
I never tried, but yes, zinc can be directly electroplated by tin.
Very cool. The crystallization part could also be used to purify any impure copper sulfate you source if there are any additives. Am I right in assuming that the crystallization will happen faster the more seed surface area you provide?
This type of ion bridge is really interesting. What would they use in a laboratory setting?
Is there anything in particular to look for in a pot? Will any un-glazed ceramic work, or just specifically clay? I don't know too much about pottery materials :P
The crystalization speed will mostly be affected by the surface of the container. The larger the container, the faster the water will evaporate, hence the faster the copper sulfate will have to crystalize in order to prevent an over-saturation of the solution.
I really don't know what they use in laboratory. They probably have some specific membranes that select a particular species of ions (charge and size). The clay pot seems to let all ions go through, but it prevents large volumes of fluids from mixing up.
Using a similar setup, you can turn Epsom salt into sulfuric acid if you replace the copper electrode by a lead-dioxide electrode, as I show here: th-cam.com/video/l9ifS3ubiBc/w-d-xo.html
Where did the magnesium go to?
On the cathode and in the clay pot.
Nice presentation 👍
Thanks. Please, share the video.
very interesting did teracota will eventually corrode?
Teracota?
@@BlueMoonshine flower vases
@@dogodogo5891
No they won't corrode.
@@BlueMoonshine i just think if probably high concentration OH around vase will make them corrode cause i remember certain ceramic will dissolve at high alkalinity
@@dogodogo5891
I don't know, but the reaction equations that I give are valid only a low concentrations. At higher concentrations, some secondary reactions can take place. So, you should keep the concentrations low during the electrolysis, then concentrate the final product by evaporating the water.
I did the same arrangement as you in this video, but in the clay pot I had aluminum as the cathode instead of copper. Does it make any difference except through the resistance value of the metal? In such a situation, does the degree of refinement of the anode and cathode have any significance for the success of the process?
The cathode won't corrode, so in principle you can use any conducting material. The difference in resistance between aluminum and copper doesn't play any role, since both these resistances are negligible compared to the resistance of the solution. On the other hand, it is crucial to use a copper anode, since this is the source of copper atoms that turn the magnesium sulfate into copper sulfate.
@@BlueMoonshine Right. Thank you!
How copper is disolving when. Copper has lower Reactivity than magnesium?
Is it gold also disolving in copper sulfate with electrolysis?
Copper is dissolving because it is oxidized at the anode (it loses electrons).
Quick question for clarification purposes. Crystals formed by bonding to the seed on the thread. If this is a first time attempt, with no seed, do you just place thread from a pencil into the compound liquid to initiate crystallization? Thanks and awesome video! 👍
For the first attempt i don't put anything in the liquid. I just wait several days, the water evaporate and the solution becomes over saturated with copper sulfate, so the crystals will spontaneously appear at the bottom.
While the method Blue Moonshine uses to get a starter crystal is viable; another way would be to dip your stir rod into solution and then hold it in the air until the liquid evaporates leaving tiny "starter" crystals in its place. Then just scrape them into the solution and you'll be growing crystals. This a much faster and more effective way in my opinion.
@@ryanallen1014
Seems Legit.
I'm just starting another batch from scratch, so it's a good time to try this. I don't see why it wouldn't give you a bit of a jump on the whole process.
If so, I grow Many types of crystals, and use sound to alter their growth, or suspended things like strontium(glow stuff) in them that otherwise gets pushed out.
You may be doing me quite a favor here, and WTF didn't I think to do this, I'm usually the "creative solutions" guy.🤷😅
Thanks bub!
@@EagleOxford glad I could be of help. I've never heard of altering crystal growth with sound. I can see how it would work though and sounds pretty badass. Is it part of your job or doing it as a hobby? Ive always loved chemistry, but never had a practical use for it until I discovered....e-scrapping. I now make my own acids, strong bases (hydroxides), test solution (stannous chloride) and stuff like ferrous sulfate to precipitate gold out of solution. Pretty basic reactions for the most part but still fun to me and have learned quite a bit along the way.
Nice i came from r/chemistry
Thanks! Please share on your social network, and check my other tutorials.
There should be more chemistry principles taught in grade school!! No need to wait till high school. Safety-wise, not all learning has to be hands-on.
Gud vid for hobby chemists
Thank you! Please, share it!
What the composition of Epson salt
MgSO4, it is explained in the video.
hey! I did a similar reaction with a similar setup, but my anode produced a mix of copper and magnesium hydroxides. Any idea why? Also my cathode solution of copper sulfate remained very weak. After a point it looks like copper sulfate production stopped. not sure why this happened.
Did you use a voltage too high, or a different concentration of the Epsom salt? If you did, that could generate secondary reactions.
@@BlueMoonshine hmm mayve, i was using an 18V battery not a power supply...that could be why
@@ceasargaming9041
Yes, 18 volts seems to be a lot, although it depends on the distance between the electrodes.
@@ceasargaming9041
So, if you can't control the voltage, at least can you insert an ammeter and use a separation between the electrodes so that the current is not greater than 1 amp?
@@BlueMoonshine hmm maybe. I dont know too much about electricity and electronics tbh. im very new to electroysis.
You need an evaporation dish using a cylinder like that is probably the worst way to allow evaporation you need as much surface area as possible exposed to air. Any simple bowl will do or even a tupperware container, anything would be better than the cylinder
Yes, that's right!
Over the years I have done this and then further making acid from the copper solutions, I have found that if I leave it for too long it will turn blue inside the pot no mater Ho well it's sealed?
🤔 Im best bless is that it is as the salts are used it will turn more and more blue maybe from the acid forming hence the electrode usually turned black? 🤔
Edit: I only use tap water in the main body if water. NO EPSON SALTS AT ALL.
The clay pot is not preventing ions to go in and out, it only prevent massive transfers from one solution to the other one. So, eventually, the two solutions mix up.
@@BlueMoonshine so hence the smaller pot? 👌
@@hulkgqnissanpatrol6121
No, I simply used what I had.
@@BlueMoonshine interesting.... All books say smaller clay fired pot without the hole.
I guess I'll read more, I was hoping for a better explanation.
As I stated, the electrode in the pot always turns black no matter what voltage is used.
My understanding was that there is a weak solution of sulphuric acid that is corroding the electrode.
Hence the bluing. It also seems bluer than usual because it is in a white and *_Unsuitable_* powder suspended and magnified through the water....
The only electrodes that have wonder without bluing in the pot was titanium and lead dioxide electrodes, titanium being the better and lead dioxide can and will gather an _unknown to me_ clear stacked square crystals but it lead! So I stay away from it.
Either way once filtered I just use the same solution and top it up with magnesium sulphate and more water. The blue is almost always gone at the end.
Cool!
Can we use a clay cup without hole
Sure, we don't want the hole, that's why I put some resin in mine!
Great video
Thank you, please share it!
Also, you may want to check my new tutorial on how to make 95% nitric acid at home from household items: th-cam.com/video/NHBDXtn7pjA/w-d-xo.html
Thanks.
You're welcome. Please, share the video!
Is the magnesium formed, usable?
Probably, but I don't know yet how to purify it or what to do with it.
@@BlueMoonshine Interesting, but if a fairly pure magnesium was achieved, it would be highly flammable?
@@Lightharvest-dd2bfyes
Great video. I just bought 2KG "100% pure copper sulphate" from eBay which is in no way close to being pure so I need to find a way to purify it without owning a chemistry lab.
So, make a saturated solution of impure copper sulfate, and let it crystalize. As shown in the video.
Chemicals, including CuSO4, that kill algae or fungal disease, are toxic to animals, i.e. humans. This is NOT a health supplement (1gram or less is toxic, and adding copper supplements to your diet often overwhelms needed zinc. Just eat a healthy diet!) Avoiding excess algae in water? Try keeping more animal waste out of it. Fresh algae growth is often beneficial; dying algae and cyanobacteria are bad.
Is it profitable to get the copper out of magnisium sullfate
It depends in which country you live. In the USA, it is much cheaper and way faster to buy copper sulfate online. You can also find it at The Home Depot or Lowes as "Root kill". But there are some countries that prohibit the average citizen to buy copper sulfate. In that case, making it from Epsom salt is a good option.
I mean extracting copper metal for scrap
There is no copper in magnisium sullfate. The copper comes from the metal anode which is already pure.
@@BlueMoonshine Thanks! CuSO4 is toxic to plant and animal life. Is that why it's prohibited in some countries? Again, using the word "from" was misleading. Mark Hopper's question is an example of this misunderstanding.
@@Lightharvest-dd2bf
I don't know why it is prohibited in some countries. Maybe because it is easy to turn it into sulfuric acid? For the title, it is indeed misleading. I will think of a better one.
do you make nitrate from food salt
Food salt is NaCl. There is no nitrogen in it.
Will it work with Ammonium sulfate sollution?
I think so.
WHAT CAN YOU DO WITH COPPER SULFATE ?@@BlueMoonshine
can i use normal salt insded
No, there is no sulfate ion in normal salt, so no way to make copper sulfate from it.
Can you use a salt bridge for this?
I think so, but I never tried.
@@BlueMoonshine Thank you for such a quick response! I'm going to try it this morning. I was partially successful with no bridge or membrane, but the solution only turns that turquoise/blue and even after a reduction it still will not crystalize out of solution. I'm guessing it's not saturated enough but I do not see how as I had to hear it considerably and add more distilled water to clear up the solution it was so saturated.
@@ryanallen1014 It's a little hard to understand what problem you had - but when you're talking about *adding* distilled water because "the solution was so saturated", and previous comment about "guessing it's not saturated enough" -- wait, *whaaaaat?*. Something's backwards, here: you get crystals when you take a solution (let's just say table salt in water) and let the water evaporate, i.e. GO AWAY (slowly) -- the remaining salt will begin to crystallize as the water leaves. AND: (pay attention) - that means the solution becomes more and more "saturated"! Think about it: ultimately, all the water's gone, only the crystal remains -- that's not just 100% saturated, but past super-saturated.
You may want to look up a bunch of TH-cam vids on "making crystals" - something's seriously missing in the way you asked the question.
@@sumgai7 I am confused by your statement....I was asking if using a salt bridge would work and that when I tried the electrolysis without one I formed some copper sulfate solution; but the solution was not concentrated enough to produce crystals. So I either need to evaporate more of the solution or let the reaction run longer. I fully understand what saturation means. Thank you for your response and sorry for any confusion!
@@ryanallen1014 you cant make copper || sulphate from magnesium sulphate (epsom salt) via electrolysis while having the electrodes shorting out at the solution due to not having a membrane. Membrane is there to prevent certain things from leaking and making contact and contaminating the whole experiment
I have the exact same setup as you, but for some reason I only make unsoluavble copper hydroxide/carbonate, do you know what I am doing wrong? maybe higher or lower concentration of magnesium sulfate?
Maybe you used a current too high. This can generate secondary reactions.
@@BlueMoonshine yeah will try that but it isnt a secondary product it is the only product, besides the hydrogen bubbles and magnesium hydroxide of course
your membrane is leaking thats why.
plug the hole at the bottom of the clay pot or use something else as a barrier IE something with ion exchange properties like ionomer cement.
1:3 ratio of cement powder to gypsum/plaster and casted into a dam/wall then 2 solutions on both sides.
@@CatboyChemicalSociety I used plain old candle wax
@@CatboyChemicalSociety can also make a make a membrane from tyvek soaked in fresh hot agar agar that's had non-ioduzed table salt added....aka the salt bridge.
So is there one small hole at the bottom of the pot?
No, why?
@@BlueMoonshine Because these plant clay pots usually have a small hole at the bottom to let out the water when you water the plants.
@@Berghiker Yes, but as explained in the video, I filled the hole with resin.
epsom salt to copper sulfate: destroy copper bar to remove magnesium in the pot, and get the blue thing, then blue thing to sulfuric acid = clean clay pot add fresh water, put some titanium Pt coated mesh inside the pot and inverse polarity ... now ure coper plating the copper bar .. sulfur left behing end up as sulfuric acid in the pot
Wouldn’t it work better to have the solution only inside the flower pot and have distilled water on the outside(where anode is) so that only so4 ions will flow though resulting in less impurities? Although your product already looks pure enough
I believe the SO4 ions are too big to go through the pot.
@@BlueMoonshine They flow fine when making sulfuric acid from epsom salt
@@PlentyOfColor Ok. good to know then.
if you are in the USA use a bit less that have of a cup
I'm using what I think is copper wire but the solution is turning brownish does that mean it's NOT copper wire?
Is the wire clean? Did you clean it with steel wool? If you use copper wire, and a current similar to mine, the current might actually be huge compared to the area of the wire, so this could trigger some secondary reactions. You may want to either increase the amount of wire that is in contact with the solution, or decrease the current, and see if it helps.
@@BlueMoonshineno I didn't clean it, it looked really clean so I didn't worry and didn't have the powder like some wire has.
I'm using a car battery charger with 2x 12v 5w light bulbs in line to keep current around 0.21
@@hulkgqnissanpatrol6121 So, my only guess is that such a current is too large for the small area of a copper wire.
@@BlueMoonshine it all worked great, the brown G was the impurities as you said 👍 thank you
@@hulkgqnissanpatrol6121 Great! I'm glad to hear that!
Can I make copper sulphate from soaking copper in:
500 ml water
50 ml hydrogen peroxide
1 oz citric acid
No! Neither citric acid nor hydrogen peroxide contain sulfur atoms, so there is no way they could form the sulfate ions that constitute copper sulphate.
@@BlueMoonshine ok that makes total sense. What if I put elemental sulphur in the beaker too? I'm trying to make a fungicide for my fruit trees
@@VanillaAttila
I don't know what adding elemental sulfur the mixture would do. But if you have some copper oxide (or if you can make some), you can do the following: Burn elemental sulfur in a sealed container. This will produce sulfur dioxide (SO2 ). Then you can bubble this gas into water, which will produce sulfuric acid. Once you have sulfuric acid, you can turn it into copper sulfate as described here: www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zysdgdm/revision/3
@@BlueMoonshine yeah I saw that one. I'm looking for a simpler solution. Since the water turns blue when I use citric acid I'm thinking the copper citrate could be an effective fungicide. I just don't know how to determine the potency of it since I'm just using copper mesh
@@VanillaAttila
Why don't you simply make the copper sulfate solution from Epsom salt, as I showed? It is very easy and Epsom salt is cheap. You don't even need to turn the solution into crystals, I guess.
Nice👍
Thanks for the visit
"Pure Epsom Salt" ...but it looks crystalline... right? I think more than half of its weight comes from water molecules.
Yes, but I didn't say "anhydrous Epsom salt". Pure means no other component than the magnesium sulfate and the water that carries it.
@@BlueMoonshine I wasn't actually referring to anything you might have said - I was just reading off on of the bag :)
But you're probably right. Maybe water is not an impurity, although I think it is more than half the weight of the whole substance.
BTW: You left undissolved MgSO4 crystals in the measuring jug, but you said it's not about "milligrams" LOL
@@MR-ub6sq
"You left undissolved MgSO4 crystals in the measuring jug"
Yes, I noticed about it after I released the video.
OK Walter White get making the baby blue.😅
You can make your own power supply using a old 12v transformer and a voltage board from China look it up on you tube I made it very cheaply on a board of wood and works great
What is more suitable in the present case is a current supply instead of a voltage supply, and I wouldn't be surprised if @BlueMoonshine is planning on making a tutorial on how to make one.
BOTH BOWLS CONTAIN EPSOM SALT RED POSITIVE WIRE CONNECT TO A COPPER PIPE OUTSIDE OF CLAY POT AN BLACK WIRE ALSO CONNECT TO A COPPER PIPE INSIDE THE CLAY POT.
(COPPER SULFATE)(blue)
So what? Why are you repeating something that can clearly be seen in the video? Is your comment intended to me, or someone else?
What are you saying then? In capital letters? This was clearly explained in the video.
This video was misleading because it says it's making copper sulfate FROM epsom salts--which contain no copper. We're a few minutes into this beautifully-spoken video, before we learn there are COPPER electrodes used--and this is the essential source of copper here! The epsom salts are the primary source of the sulfate. If you don't have the electrical equipment already, and your goal is to obtain copper sulfate, and the chemistry process is less important to you, it's probably less expensive to buy CuSO4 crystals at your hardware store.
The title used by Blue Moonshine might not be the best, but you are completely missing the point with your comment about the cost. The point of this video is (i) to provide a way of making copper sulfate to people who live in countries where this chemical is not available to everyone while Epsom salt is, and (ii) to communicate some knowledge about electro-chemistry. Many students (including mine) appreciate Blue Moonshine's pedagogical videos.
The name is not misleading, because Magnesium sulfate is used for the preparation
You know what... You are made of the dust of the Earth, so you shouldn't be wise :)
not pure copper sulfate, most of it is magnesium sulfate with just enough copper to give it a light color.
That’s what I had thought but I wasn’t sure.
I love science, at least the chemistry side of it. Can you just use salt water. You wouldn't even have to buy the salt. I wonder how they make this on a large scale.
Yes, you can make salt crystals with this method. But it is not really chemistry, as no reactions are involved.
Heaven and hell @10:02