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ELECTROLYSIS OF A copper sulphate SOLUTION HELP PLEASE!

Hi I'm a student currently enrolled in college and retaking science chemistry as I needed a B to do it in a level and I got double CC which wasn't good enough:( .. ummm I have been given a coursework on ELECTROLYSIS OF A copper sulphate ⇦ this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] SOLUTION but I have no idea of how to start it as I never did this last year can you please suggest me some thingass criteria which I'd need to pass... PLEASE HELP!

Natalie Gertrude Felix
student - United Kingdom
2006

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2006

Natalie,

First of all you need to break this down into little chunks. Do you know what electrolysis is? If not I would suggest you look it up pretty rapidly, someone at your level should already know this information, otherwise it is going to be a very long way to that B.
Now look at the reaction at the anode and the cathode (having looked up electrolysis you now know what these are).
You haven't told us whether you are designing an experiment to electrolyse copper sulphate or whether you need to understand the basic principles of electrolysis. If it is the latter then the above is all you need, if it is the former then go to the library where you will find copious amounts of information about electrolysis and design of simple electrolysis experiments.

Brian Terry
Aerospace - Yeovil, Somerset, UK

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You need to do your research, as Mr. Terry suggests.

Two things: if you decide to actually *plate* something, 1) pick something made out of brass, there is no complicated preparation required as there would be with a steel object, and 2) add some blackstrap molasses (yes, from the grocery store) to the electrolyte. That will make the plating come out shinier.

Good luck!

Dave Wichern
Consultant - The Bronx, New York
2006