What happens when copper oxide is treated with concentrated hydrochloric acid?
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Copper does not react with HCl acid, but copper oxide does react. A metal-acid reaction is always a redox reaction. Since copper has a higher reduction potential than hydrogen, it does not react with non-oxidising acids like HCl or dil.H2SO4.
But metal oxides are basic substances and so they generally react with acids forming respective salts and water. Such acid-base type reactions (neutralisation) are non-redox in nature.
Copper oxide is a weak base, and it easily reacts with HCl forming soluble copper(II) chloride and water.
CuO(s) + 2HCl(aq) = CuCl2(aq) + H2O(l)
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