Making Copper from Aluminum - Single Displacement Reaction

Today we will be doing a very basic project in order to show some cool things about the reactivity of metals. We can make a copper powder from aluminum and and copper 2 sulfate. We will then reclaim our copper and dry it out for possible future use. This small chemistry tutorial is an excellent way to show students which metals will cause others to be displaced. It is a single replacement reaction.
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[@chemicalmaster3267]

+The Preston Impression The formula for aluminum sulfate is not AlSO4, it´s Al2(SO4)3. The correct reaction equation is: 3 CuSO4 + 2 Al = Al2(SO4)3 + 3 Cu

[@PrestonImpx]

Ohh thanks for pointing this out!

[@chemicalmaster3267]

@@PrestonImpx No problem! What do you think about making a soluble chromate or dichromate from old stainless steel? If you´re interested I can tell you how it can be done.

[@PrestonImpx]

I am very curious about this. Tell me more

[@chemicalmaster3267]

@@PrestonImpx Well the idea is to dissolve the stainless steel in hydrochloric acid to make iron(II), nickel(II) and chromium(III) chlorides. After that sodium carbonate must be added to precipitate iron(II) carbonate, basic nickel(II) carbonate an chromium(III) hydroxide. The precipitate mixture is then washed and treated with a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and either sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide or ammonia to turn the chromium(III) hydroxide into a soluble chromate. After filtering and boiling to decompose any possible excess of hydrogen peroxide the solution can be acidified with most acids to turn the yellow chromate into orange-red dichromate. However if plan on making ammonium dichromate from ammonium chromate you can just boil its solution since it unstable and decomposes on heating even in solution, but this process releases ammonia gas so be careful.