1. Creating copper the reduction of copper(II) oxide by zinc
January 2017
rsc.li/EiC118ec

2. copper: a vital metal
Millions of tons of copper are extracted every year – it’s valued for its relatively high conductivity and low reactivity, making ideal for use in amongst other things, electrical wiring and piping for heating and drinking water.
Copper cable. Picture by Giovanni Dall'Orto
Fireman Nicolas Sorrell uses a torch to heat a copper pipe in the hull technician workshop of the amphibious dock landing ship USS Tortuga (LSD 46) on Sept N-XZ jpg
By DoD photo by Seaman Chelsea Mandello, U.S. Navy. (Released) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Cu-Scheibe.JPG By Alchemist-hp (pse-mendelejew.de) (eigene Arbeit (own work)) [FAL or CC BY-SA 3.0 de ( via Wikimedia Commons

3. copper ores: contain enough copper to make it worthwhile extracting
We can’t rely on just finding lumps of copper lying around though. Copper occurs naturally in the Earth’s crust as a range of compounds of copper with sulfur, oxygen and other elements. If there is enough copper to make it worthwhile extracting, the rock is known as an ore. We get to the copper in a type of reaction called reduction – today we’ll be demonstrating this process with zinc.
Min chalcopyrite.jpg By Daniel Schwen (Own work) [CC BY-SA 2.5 ( via Wikimedia Commons
Covellite-USA.jpg By Didier Descouens (Own work) [CC BY 3.0 ( via Wikimedia Commons
File:Malachite Macro 43.jpg I, Jonathan Zander [GFDL ( CC-BY-SA-3.0 ( or CC BY-SA 2.5 ( via Wikimedia Commons
File:Cuprite.jpg By Didier Descouens (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 ( via Wikimedia Commons
copper ores: contain enough copper to make it worthwhile extracting

4. copper oxide + zinc  zinc oxide + copperCu O Zn O Zn Cu
In terms of what’s happened in the reaction, the copper started in a compound with the oxygen – copper oxide. The zinc, a more reactive element, sometimes said to have a higher activity steals the oxygen away from the copper. The zinc is oxidised to zinc oxide and the copper in the copper oxide is reduced to the metal.
CuO + Zn  ZnO + Cu

5. metal oxide + acid  salt + waterH Cl H Zn O Cl Zn
When acids react with metal oxides, they form a metal compound, known as a salt, and water .. You could think about it as the zinc and the hydrogen swapping places, or the oxygen and the chlorine swapping places.
ZnO + 2HCl  ZnCl2 + H2O

6. Creating copper the reduction of copper(II) oxide by zinc
January 2017
rsc.li/EiC118ec