YT2095
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Embarrassing mistake
ok, I`v Goofed.
I`ve been growing a copper sulphate crystal(s) for nearly 6 months now in a Gas jar, now I have a perfectly round crystal in the bottom of it and I
can`t get it out 
it`s well and truly stuck in the bottom of the jar.
currently I have the jar inverted with a small 22W Halogen light over it about 10cms away, it`s been there for half an hour and it`s still not even
starting to slide with gas pressure
anyone have any ideas How I can get this out?
I don`t want to re-dissolve it again and waste all those months.
\"In a world full of wonders mankind has managed to invent boredom\" - Death
Twinkies don\'t have a shelf life. They have a half-life! -Caine (a friend of mine)
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vulture
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Can you sacrifice the jar?
One shouldn't accept or resort to the mutilation of science to appease the mentally impaired.
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YT2095
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I can, but I`d really rather not, I only have 2 of them.
\"In a world full of wonders mankind has managed to invent boredom\" - Death
Twinkies don\'t have a shelf life. They have a half-life! -Caine (a friend of mine)
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YT2095
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Forget it, it`s a moot point now
my last Brainfart of putting it in a pan of water and slowly heating it up, resulted in the breaking of the gas jar before the water even hit 50c
and then there was one...
\"In a world full of wonders mankind has managed to invent boredom\" - Death
Twinkies don\'t have a shelf life. They have a half-life! -Caine (a friend of mine)
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Ozone
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You got your crystal out before the vessel flooded, right?!
O3
[Edited on 27-1-2008 by Ozone]
Well, a moment of silence for your jar...
And hooray for your big-fat crystal!
pics?
[Edited on 28-1-2008 by Ozone]
-Anyone who never made a mistake never tried anything new.
--Albert Einstein
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YT2095
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yes, it eventually came out perfectly, I gently knocked the glass away with small rock hammer, to leave my crystal, it`s sad to see that gas jar go
however, it`s roughly the same age as me.
\"In a world full of wonders mankind has managed to invent boredom\" - Death
Twinkies don\'t have a shelf life. They have a half-life! -Caine (a friend of mine)
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chemrox
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Next time use a tiny glass bead suspended on a thread as a nucleous. But you said your crystal is "perfectly round?" I hope not! A geologist friend
made a 90# CuSO4 crystal in her bathtub. She was frequently scraping dislocations off of it as it grew.
"When you let the dumbasses vote you end up with populism followed by autocracy and getting back is a bitch." Plato (sort of)
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YT2095
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here`s the "Strange" round crystal(s):
and from the side:
I think NOW I know why all the large crystals grown in the lab at high school when I was a kid were all done in 2l ice cream tubs!
much easier to get out.
although beyond the breakage of my gas jar, I`m not unhappy with the result, it`s now Much more pure copper sulphate than the 1250g tub of the
Technical grade that I bought, with all it`s strange impurities and such.
[Edited on 31-1-2008 by YT2095]
\"In a world full of wonders mankind has managed to invent boredom\" - Death
Twinkies don\'t have a shelf life. They have a half-life! -Caine (a friend of mine)
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not_important
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| Quote: | Originally posted by YT2095
...
although beyond the breakage of my gas jar, I`m not unhappy with the result, it`s now Much more pure copper sulphate than the 1250g tub of the
Technical grade that I bought, with all it`s strange impurities and such. |
This is only true if the impurities are not other 2+ D-block metals or similar, FeSO4 forms solid solutions with CuSO4 for example.
A common way of eliminating iron and manganese was to and nitric acid or a bit of sulfuric acid and H2O2 to the sulfate solution, bring the solution
to near boiling, then add enough Cu(OH)2 or "copper carbonate" to swing the pH slightly alkaline. This resulted in the precipitation of Fe(III) and
manganese hydrated oxides onto the excess of the basic copper compound. After stirring for awhile the solution is allowed to stand and then filtered
off from the precipitate.
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YT2095
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absolutely, and that`s more or less exactly what I did (I used the Sulphuric acid route rather than the nitric in case of group 2 contamination).
there was even little black bits in it like Rocks or something!
but I reckon I`v taken it from the 99.5% purity to something Much higher now, and for that I`m pleased, my Daughter certainly likes looking at it
\"In a world full of wonders mankind has managed to invent boredom\" - Death
Twinkies don\'t have a shelf life. They have a half-life! -Caine (a friend of mine)
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crazyboy
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That is a very beautiful crystal, it would appear as if all your hard work has paid off. Would you mind sharing the procedure and ratios you used? I
tried the H2SO4/CuO route and just got hot black sludge could you please give a detailed description of your process and steps taken, if its not too
much to ask that is.
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chemoleo
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Have a look here for a lot more info
https://sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=5529&...
Never Stop to Begin, and Never Begin to Stop...
Tolerance is good. But not with the intolerant! (Wilhelm Busch)
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YT2095
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you`ll find that H2SO4 and CuO won`t readily form CuSO4 unless you heat it for a while and stir well.
if it`s cold it will take ages to do anything remotely noticable.
as for My particular crystal it really pretty straight forward, as I started with 99.5% copper sulphate in the first place, it really was just a
matter of filtering initially.
then I used a little excess sulphuric and H2O2, then after heating I neutralised it with copper carbonate and stir well.
then it`s filtered again and poured into a gas jar (I don`t advise doing that now), a layer of vaseline is spread around the rim (it prevents crystal
creep) cover with cheese cloth and leave it alone and undisturbed in the corner of a room for about 6 months.
when the liquid level is about to drop below the crystal then a good stir is needed (there will be light blue carbonate bits in it) and the quickly
pour that liquid off to leave your crystal.
If you`re luckier than myself you`ll be able to get your crystal out, then give a Very quick rinse in ice water and leave it to dry on a sheet of
glass.
there are other ways to do it also, some better than mine, I would seriously consider using a large plastic container to grow them in, Ice cream tub
or a large margarine tub or the likes...
there`s quite a few crystal growing tutorials all over the net as well, Google images will help.
\"In a world full of wonders mankind has managed to invent boredom\" - Death
Twinkies don\'t have a shelf life. They have a half-life! -Caine (a friend of mine)
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crazyboy
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Wll I just gave it another go and it worked marvelously, I added 50ml conc. sulfuric acid to 50ml of water and got it hot almost boiling. Then I added
small portions of CuO until most of the bubbling stoped. Then I filtered it, within 10 min it was crystalizing, within 12 hours there were large
bright blue crystals at the botttom but now I have fell victim to the same problem as you, the crystals are firmly stuck to the bottom of my beaker.
What should I do? The crystals aren't my focus i just want some copper sulphate pentahydrate without buying so I can make some copper benzoate. How
can I get all the crystals out of solution and out of my beaker without breaking my beaker?
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UnintentionalChaos
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Just jab at them with a wooden rod (large skewer, less likely to break the beaker) or stainless/copper rod The crystals are rather brittle and you
should be able to break them up rather easily.
Department of Redundancy Department - Now with paperwork!
'In organic synthesis, we call decomposition products "crap", however this is not a IUPAC approved nomenclature.' -Nicodem
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YT2095
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| Quote: | Originally posted by crazyboy
The crystals aren't my focus i just want some copper sulphate pentahydrate without buying so I can make some copper benzoate. How can I get all the
crystals out of solution and out of my beaker without breaking my beaker? |
in that case it`s easy, redissolve them again in plain water, you`re going to Have to do that at some point Anyway to make your copper benzoate 
\"In a world full of wonders mankind has managed to invent boredom\" - Death
Twinkies don\'t have a shelf life. They have a half-life! -Caine (a friend of mine)
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crazyboy
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Thanks a lot I have my crystals but I believe they are slightly acidic from the sulfuric acid will this affect my copper benzoate? if so how can I fix
this I don't want to use sodium bicarbonate because the sodium will contaminate the blue color.
Here are my crystals they are drying right now
[Edited on 3-2-2008 by crazyboy]
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YT2095
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I would a portion of them dissolved and then add a K2CO3 soln to them making copper carbonate (easily filtered out and dried), then re add that to the
rest of your copper sulphate in soln.
don`t worry, you don`t lose ANY copper sulphate doing this, only the acid
then follow your copper benzoate procedure from there, I gather you`re using Ammonium or Potassium benzoate to react it with yes?
\"In a world full of wonders mankind has managed to invent boredom\" - Death
Twinkies don\'t have a shelf life. They have a half-life! -Caine (a friend of mine)
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