Investigating Substances:

Synthesis with Copper and Sulfur

BACKGROUND
Chemists use chemical formulas to show the composition of compounds.
A chemical formula shows what elements are contained in a compound, and shows how many of
each element are present in one unit of the compound.
For example, the chemical formula of water, H
2
O, tells us that water contains the elements
hydrogen H! and oxygen O!. "he su#script 2 associated with the hydro$en tells us that there
are two hydro$en atoms present in one unit of water. "he oxy$en atom has an assumed su#script
of %, meanin$ that there is one oxy$en atom present. "he unit for water is called a molecule.
One molecule of water always contains exactly one oxy$en atom and two hydro$en atoms.
&e can also calculate the mass of oxy$en and hydro$en in a $i'en (uantity of water. )t turns out
that any sample of water contains a#out %%.% * hydro$en and ++.,* oxy$en #y mass. "his can
#e easily calculated usin$ the atomic masses of hydro$en and oxy$en, found on the periodic
ta#le. "he atomic masses of hydro$en and oxy$en are, respecti'ely, %.- and %..- amu atomic
mass units), meanin$ that the mass of a water molecule is %+.- amu this is called the formula
weight or molecular weight). "herefore the mass percent of H in water is

100
2.0
18.0
=11.1* and the mass percent of O in water is

100
16.0
18.0
= 88.9*
Chemical formulas are 'ery useful to chemists. /ut how are the formulas determined0 One way
to determine chemical formulas is #y findin$ the mass percent of each element in the compound
which can #e measured experimentally!. /efore we can do this, we need to find a way to count
atoms and molecules since formulas tell us numbers of atoms in a sin$le molecule!.
Any sample of a compound used in the la#oratory contains an enormous num#er of atoms or
molecules. For example, a %. o1 #ottle of water contains approximately 2 x %-
22
molecules of
water3 "o a'oid wor4in$ with these lar$e num#ers, chemists in'ented a unit called the mole.
A mole of a su#stance is a (uantity e(ual in $rams to the atomic or molecular wei$ht of a
su#stance. For example, one mole of water is e(ual to %+.- $.
"he molecular wei$ht of $lucose, C
.
H
%2
O
.
, is .%2.-! 5 %2%.-! 5 .%..-! 6 %+-.- amu.
"herefore, one mole of $lucose is e(ual to %+-.- $ of $lucose.
)nterestin$ly, a mole of a su#stance always contains a specific num#er of units of the
su#stance, either atoms or molecules. "he num#er of units in a mole of any su#stance is ..-2 x
%-
27
, called Avogadros number.
"his means that %+.- $ of water and %+-.- $ of $lucose #oth contain the same num#er of
molecules3 "he difference in mass is #ecause a molecule of $lucose is %- times hea'ier than a
molecule of water.
"he formula for a compound $i'es the ratio of types of atoms, #ut it also $i'es the molar ratio of
the elements in the compound. For example, water contains two moles of hydro$en for e'ery
one mole of oxy$en. 8lucose contains six moles of car#on to e'ery twel'e moles of hydro$en to
e'ery six moles of oxy$en.
"here are two types of chemical formulas that we need to #e concerned with9 molecular
formulas and empirical formulas. "he formula shown a#o'e for $lucose is a molecular formula9
it shows the actual num#ers of each type of atom in a sin$le molecule of $lucose. An empirical
formula $i'es less information9 it simply shows the ratio of the types of atoms usin$ the smallest
possi#le whole num#ers. For $lucose, the empirical formula would #e CH
2
O, tellin$ us that the
ratio for C9H9O is %929%. For water, the formula H
2
O is #oth a molecular and an empirical
formula. )onic compounds only ha'e empirical formulas #ecause they don:t exist as molecules.
;et:s ima$ine that you $o into the la#oratory and determine the percent composition #y mass of
an un4nown compound. <ou find that the compound consists of =>.2 * chlorine and 22.2 *
ma$nesium. /elie'e it or not, it is possi#le to determine the formula for the compound usin$ ?ust
this information3 /ut to do so, one needs to find a molar ratio.
"he easiest way to sol'e this is to assume that there is a specific mass of the compound and find
the num#er of $rams of each element in that mass. "o ma4e thin$s simple, let:s assume there is
%-- $ of the un4nown compound. "hen we can write9
=>.2 $ Cl
22.2 $ @$
Aow, if we con'ert each of these to moles, we can easily find the molar ratio9

74.5 g Cl
1 mol Cl
35.5 g Cl
=2.09 mol O
25.5 g Mg
1 mol Mg
24.3 g Mg
=1.05 mol Mg
"o find the mole ratio, di'ide /O"H molar (uantities #y the smallest %.-2 in this case!.
"his $i'es us a molar ratio of approximately 2 moles of Cl to one mole of @$. "herefore, we
can write our empirical formula as @$Cl
2
. Since this is an ionic compound, only the empirical
formula is needed.
OBJECTIVES
/y preparin$ for and performin$ this experiment, you will9
Synthesi1e a compound from elementsB
&rite the chemical formula for your product and reactionB
Ceinforce proper techni(ues for usin$ an topDloadin$ #alanceB
/ecome familiar with the locations of la# e(uipment and la# wasteB
Ese a /unsen #urnerB
Ese a la# note#oo4 to record your results.
MATERIALS
Chemicals (hood/balance bench):
Copper, Cu s! wire, preDcut!
Sulfur, S s!
!uipment (dispensing room):
Cruci#le with lid
ROCEDURES
%. Chec4 out a cruci#le from the dispensin$ room. Clean, dry, and
wei$h the cruci#le and co'er. Cecord this mass in your
note#oo4.
2. Flace the piece of copper wire into your cruci#le and wei$h the
cruci#le, co'er, and copper wire.
7. Cecord the wei$ht in your note#oo4 and calculate the mass of
the copper.
>. Set up the apparatus similar to the picture shown. )t should #e
as far under the 'entilation shroud as possi#le.
2. &ei$h approximately -.2 $rams of sulfur and add this to the
cruci#le.
.. Flace the cruci#le with the co'er in place as shown in the photo
on the pipestem trian$le, ad?ust your #urner, and #e$in heatin$.
Cemem#er to use ton$s to handle the cruci#le once hot3!
=. Heat $ently until the sulfur ceases to #urn #lue flame!.
+. Continue heatin$ for a#out 2 minutes to dull redness.
,. "urn the flame off and allow the cruci#le to cool for %-
minutes.
%-. &ei$h the cruci#le, co'er, and contents and record the mass.
REORT
@a4e sure to turn your note#oo4 pa$es in to your instructor #efore you lea'e la#. "his
experiment will re(uire a data sheet. Getails are posted on /#.