Production and Reactivity
Zinc sulfate is produced by treating zinc with aqueous sulfuric acid:
- Zn + H2SO4 + 7 H2O → ZnSO4(H2O)7 + H2
Pharmaceutical grade zinc sulfate is produced from high purity zinc oxide:
- ZnO + H2SO4 + 6 H2O → ZnSO4(H2O)7
In the laboratory, it can also be prepared by adding solid zinc to a copper(II) sulfate solution:
- Zn + CuSO4 → ZnSO4 + Cu
In aqueous solution, all forms of zinc sulfate behave identically. These aqueous solutions consist of the metal aquo complex 2+ and SO42- ions. Barium sulfate forms when these solutions are treated with solutions of barium ions:
- ZnSO4 + BaCl2 → BaSO4 + ZnCl2
With a reduction potential of -0.76, zinc(II) reduces only with difficulty.
When heated over 680 C, zinc sulfate decomposes into sulfur dioxide gas and zinc oxide fume, both of which are hazardous.
Read more about this topic: Zinc Sulfate
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