Making Copper Sulphate Crystals

[Andrew]

These used to be available at garden suppliers, but no longer.

My school chemistry knowledge is a bit faded, but somewhere I recollect a method involving a car battery trickle charger, a glass 'bath', bits of scrap copper pipe and an acid, presumably sulphuric. Is this available as brick acid, or would that be the HCL variety ?.

Apart from the usual precuations involving acid and hydrogen, has anyone done this ?.

This year the moss is utterly rampant. The junk that Bayer and other people sell, just has no effect. I need something to nuke the bloody stuff on paths and rough concrete surfaces. Power jetting is not an option. Copper is a very good fungicide.

[Martin Brown]

Available on Amazon & eBay - not worth the effort to make your own.

TBH looking at the title I thought you were asking how to grow a nice large specimen crystal from gradning grade copper sulphate. The answer is make a hot saturated solution of the stuff, insulate it very well then leave to cool overnight.

Some artist got an award for doing this to an entire house -

You won't easily get sulphuric acid to dissolve copper even with electrochemical assistance. FeCl3 or a mix of HCl/H2O2 will dissolve copper more readily but neither will give you copper sulphate.

Sorting out your drainage problems would be a better option. Jeyes fluid will work at least as well in this application.

[meow2222]

Sulphuric acid is sold as drain unblocker - so is sodium hydroxide.

A little copper powder also works, and isnt washed away very fast like copper sulphate. Or finely chopped electrical flex.

NT

[Chris Hogg]

Plenty on Ebay

Alternatively, Bordeaux Mixture is copper based (copper sulphate and lime, IIRC)

[Andy Burns]

Plenty on eBay for those into home dying or electroplating, even if it is spelled with an "f" these days ...

Yes, you can electrolyse sulphuric acid by passing DC between copper electrodes.

You may have bits of copper lurking around, but if you've got to buy the acid, I'd just skip to buying the finished product.

I've noticed a lot of moss falling from the roof the past few months, which I've not noticed in the past 20 years, similarly I've noticed a lot of it growing on open ground, presumably as it's been pretty damp a lot of the time?

[Gordon Henderson]

Sure its falling?

We get moss "rain" from time to time - it's the local jackdaw population picking it off, looking for insects, etc. lurking inside it! They seem quite good at throwing it over the guttering too.

Gordon

[Tim Streater]

Pure affectation.

[Andy Burns]

Could be, I do notice plenty of dropped peanuts and holly berries in the same places at the front of the house, which doesn't get there of its own accord, but it's certainly happening more than before ...

[Chris Hogg]

As is most 'modern art'. It's mostly faux-art, or fart for short.

[Huge]

A mixture of detergent, caustic soda & bleach works well enough.

And copper sulphate is readily available on eBay.

[Jim S]

[Mr Pounder]

I used a strong mix of caustic soda and water on my garden wall, it worked very well.

[Chris Hogg]

UHOB?

[Jim S]

Up His O B

[Tim Streater]

O B ?

[Chris Hogg]

LOL. Very possibly!

[Jim S]

Oh FFS Up His Own B

[Chris French]

In message , Chris Hogg writes

We saw that earlier in the year, and all thought it was very good. It was quite surreal really.

However, some of the stuff in the Saatchi Gallery that we visited a couple of months ago.......

And yes to ebay for the copper sulphate

[polygonum]

Bordeaux mixture is readily available in garden centres. Variable proportions but could be 50% copper sulphur by weight.

[F Murtz]

Bellybutton.