October 18th, 2012
Identifying Metallic Components
Introduction: Spectroscopy is the study of the electromagnetic radiation emitted or absorbed by the atoms and molecules. A photon in short is light. Atoms produce light by putting energy in, the electron then becomes excited and goes up an energy level, the electron then falls back down to its ground state, and out comes a photon (light). The electromagnetic spectrum contains color that we can and cannot see. The color blue has the highest energy with shorter wavelengths and a higher frequency while the color red has the lowest amount of energy with long wavelengths and a shorter frequency.
Hypothesis: If you observe the characteristic emission spectra of several gases and …show more content…
Place the end of one of the popsicle sticks soaked in a solution into the flame. Note color(s) of the flame and the duration of each color. Immerse the wooden splint in the distilled water to fully extinguish it, and then discard it in the trash. Record your results. 2. Repeat step 4 for each of the remaining salts. 3. Repeat step 4 for each of the unknown metals and predict the identity of the unknown metals. Repeat any of the known metals to help with this prediction.
**Wash hands thoroughly before leaving the lab. **
Some of the salts used are poisonous or irritating to the skin. Keep your hands away from your mouth until after you have washed them and have let the …show more content…
For some reason CuCl and NaCl both burned orange, coming in with the second lowest energy. Iron chloride had a “sparky” appearance that lasted for approximately six seconds and it was concluded that it had a high energy. Lithium chloride burned a pinkish color. Potassium chloride had a high energy and produced a purple flame. Strontium chloride had the lowest energy which was determined by red color of its flame. Unknown 1 was strontium chloride and unknown 2 was calcium chloride. The unknowns were found by comparing their flame colors to the known substances. Formula | Metal | Color Observed | Duration(sec) | CaCl2 | Calcium Chloride | Green | N/A | CuCl | Copper Chloride | Orange | N/A | FeCl3 | Iron Chloride | Sparkle | 6 sec | LiCl | Lithium Chloride | Pink | N/A | KCl | Potassium Chloride | Purple | N/A | NaCl | Sodium Chloride | Orange | 30 sec | SrCl2 | Strontium Chloride | Red | N/A | Unknown 1 | Strontium Chloride | Red | 8 sec | Unknown 2 | Calcium Chloride | Green | N/A |
Questions:
1. What was (were) the identity of the metal ion(s) in the unknown solutions? Give evidence. -Unknown 1 proved to be strontium chloride because they shared the same flame color. Unknown 2 turned out to have a green flame which matched it up with calcium chloride.
2. Predict the flame color if metallic ions of copper and strontium were