Australia's Science Forum

Hi all in labbie land,
I have a stack of carbon electrodes coated in copper. A casualty of 'that' experiment. Any hints on how to tidy up.
Thanks in advance for any help.
Regards, Ellice.

Hi Ellice,

I just use sandpaper not the cleanest of jobs.

hope that helps.

You can dissolve Cu in HNO3 but needs to be pretty strong. I give the kids sandpaper and tell them to clean it before use.
Good luck,
Lada

After ruining many $ worth of Carbon electrodes, I was able to convince my Chem teacher to use COPPER electrodes. The experiment seems to work just as well, and who cares if your Copper electrodes get coated with a layer of Copper?
We cut up our copper electrodes from a sheet of copper using the Guillotine in the Metal Work dept. Tin snips would work as well.

Ian

Thanks for the hints. Nitric acid works well Lada.
Wishing everyone a safe and happy Easter.
Ellice.

Also get the teacher to have kids reverse the polarity while doing the prac and the copper plates off back to coppor electrode
Its powdery and just wipes off the copper electrode