How do I figure out the amount of water (mL) and amount of Aluminum (g)? We have a project where we have to extract copper from copper sulfate. But my group is given a powder version ($5~\mathrm{g}$), so we have to first dilute it with water and then combine it with aluminum to extract the copper. If this is the equation:

$$\ce{3Cu(SO4) + 2Al + H2O + salt -&gt; Al2 (SO4)3 + 3Cu}$$

Salt is acting as a catalyst for the experiment.
The first step you need to take is to determine the moles of your copper sulphate.

This is simple arithmetic. $$moles = \frac{mass}{molar.weight}$$
The mass of the substance is your measured 5 grams. The molar mass of your compound can be obtained from Wikipedia. In this case, anhydrous copper sulphate has a molar mass of $159.61\frac{g}{mol}$.

Plugging into the equation: 0.0031 $moles = \frac{5}{159.61}$

Now that you know the moles of your copper sulphate, you should be able to work out the the needed amounts of your other compounds using stoichometry.