ABSTRACT
An overview of the chemistry of copper has been given in Chapter 2. The manufacture of copper compounds of industrial importance, their properties, and uses will be outlined in this section. Copper metal does not displace hydrogen from acid solutions, but it does dissolve in acids under oxidizing conditions. In other words, the potential for the equilibrium Cu 2+ + 2e +:! Cu0 is more positive than that for hydrogen evolution, but it is more negative than the potential for oxygen evolution. The Pourbaix or potential-pH diagram for the copper-water system is given in Fig. 1. In the presence of complexing agents such as ammonia, the dissolution of copper can be effected over a much broader pH range (Fig. 2), but, again, it is spontaneous only under oxidizing conditions. The great majority of copper compounds of commercial interest are derived from the oxidation dissolution of copper metal in aqueous acidic or ammoniacal solutions. Only the copper oxides and copper(!) halides are produced by pyrometallurgical methods to any significant extent.
