Copper(II) nitrate is an inorganic chemical compound that is frequently encountered in high school chemistry labs due to its striking color and interesting chemical reactions upon heating.
Because Nitrogen dioxide ($NO_2$) gas is highly toxic and choking, heating copper nitrate should always be done inside a laboratory fume hood.
It is used in agriculture as a fungicide and herbicide.
It is also used in fireworks to create blue-colored sparks.
Copper nitrate is typically prepared in the lab by reacting metallic copper with concentrated nitric acid. This reaction is quite violent and releases toxic brown gas.
A very common exam question in Class 10 asks what happens when copper nitrate is strongly heated.
Since the nitrate ion ($NO_3$) has a charge of -1, and there are two of them, the copper atom must balance it with a charge of +2. Therefore, copper is in the +2 oxidation state (Cupric).
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