Personal projects / Materials & heat
Copper-oxide reduction experiment
An electrochemistry experiment and the resulting copper sample.
Open the numbered review →Apparatus and sample
Photos 159–161
A water-electrolysis cell I built as part of an experiment in reducing copper oxide to copper metal. The chamber used graphite electrodes and a perforated plastic divider, with gas collected from the two sides. I used the hydrogen in the subsequent reduction experiment; I no longer fully recall the divider’s specific role.
A different angle on the same cell and its gas-collection connections. The project linked water electrolysis with a reduction reaction in which hydrogen removes oxygen from copper oxide, producing copper and water.
The lower glass tube contains the copper recovered from the reduction experiment, while the upper tube holds a small copper-oxide sample for comparison. I sealed the sample tube to limit further oxidation of the recovered metal.