Preview

Laboratory Report : Flame Colors of Metals

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
608 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Laboratory Report : Flame Colors of Metals
Laboratory Report: Flame Colors of Metals
Abstract
The experiment about flame color of metals demonstrates how electrons jump into their excitedstate from their ground state as it came in contact with heat. As it return to its lower energy state,it emits the absorbed energy in the form of light. A platinum or nichrome wire was dipped into aconcentrated HCL and was heated to clean it. The wire was dipped into different salt solutionsand heated in order to determine the metallic ion’s color and wavelength. Metal ions emitting aviolet-colored flame has the largest amount of energy while those that emit red-colored flamehave the least amount of energy.

Introduction
An atom is the smallest particle of an element, which can exist and still have theproperties of the elementElectrons determine the chemical properties of atoms.
The electrons in an atom exist inlayers called shells or energy levels. The negatively charged particles of an electron are kept inorbit in the energy levels. Normally, atoms do not emit radiation but there are ways of causingradiation to be emitted. The simplest of these is to heat the atoms. When an atom is heated, itabsorbs energy causing its electrons to get excited to positions of higher potential energy farther away from the nucleus. At this state, the atom becomes unstable. When an electron goes back toits ground state, it radiates the absorbed energy in the form of light, which has a characteristicwavelength. This is the basis of the flame test used to identify the element. The quantity of energyabsorbed will account for the presence of a spectral line. The emission spectrum may be used todetect the presence of an element in both qualitative and quantitative way. Elements may oftenbe recognized by the color they impart to a flame.

Materials And Methods

A platinum or nichrome wire was dipped into a concentrated HCL. The wire was heatedinto the flames hottest region until there was no visible color. The cleaning procedure

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Flame Test

    • 865 Words
    • 4 Pages

    For the coloured light to be emitted, the electrons have to get enough energy to jump higher away from the nucleus and then fall back closer to it. When chemicals are heated, the flame provides energy for the electrons.…

    • 865 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Purpose: The purpose of this lab exercise was to perform and observe the flame tests of some alkali and alkaline earth metal ions. When electrons in metallic ions are grounded, their configuration is stable. In other words, the loosely bound electrons in the valence shell of the atom are satisfied at their “low” energy state. They do not require to be balanced by emitting any type of radiation or receiving any additional electrons. However, these stable, grounded electrons in the metallic ions become excited to higher energy levels due to the presence of heat, thus losing their stability. They absorb heat energy, but counteract by releasing the absorbed energy to become grounded once again. This released energy comes in the form of electromagnetic energy. Some of the released heat energy is in the visible light region. The metallic ions being heated disperse unique colors which are characteristic ranging from a lower energy (red) to a high energy (violet) and some colors in between. We can learn much about the element we’re working with by simply observing the color flame that is produced. Flame tests are a common confirmation test to identify specific elements.…

    • 518 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As the substance heats up, the electrons gain energy from the flame to move to a higher level of energy. At this higher energy level, the electrons become unstable and start to come back down to the “ground state” (lower energy levels). As this happens, the electrons in the substance release a certain amount of energy, which we see as a color…

    • 738 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Light and Element

    • 445 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Explain, in your own words, why different elements produce different colors of light when heated. Each element has a unique electron configuration. When heated, the electrons are energized and this leads to a higher quantum state. The color depends on the distance you have and the original electron configuration.…

    • 445 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    3. What is flame test? Why do different metals produce different colors when you heat their solution?…

    • 380 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    1. Explain, in your own words, why different elements produce different colors of light when heated.…

    • 319 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Purpose: To perform and observe the flame tests of some alkali and alkaline earth metal ions.…

    • 939 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Emission Spectrum

    • 1044 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The purpose of this lab was to see that when elements are heated, they may enter and excited state. We proved this by doing a flame test. During Part A, we used a spectroscope where all of the colors are arranged for you; whereas in Part B, we could see and make the colors ourselves and get a more accurate reading of the flames. We had specific elements we were told to put on the wire loop, and when we did that we saw different color flames come out of the Bunsen burner. That enabled out group to see the element in an excited state. The unknown element was lithium. This is known because if the color of the flame produced. The group I was in got mainly all the correct colored flames, but the few that were incorrect happened because the wire loop wasn’t completely clean and there was still residue from the other elements. Overall, our group learned what it meant for an element to enter an excited state.…

    • 1044 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    AES, or atomic emission spectroscopy, is a method which chemically analyzes the particular wavelength of a sample element to identify and determine the abundance of this certain element. The wavelength of the atomic spectral line unveils the identity of the element while the emitted light intensity is proportional to the number of atoms in the element. The flame test is also a very effective way to identify an individual element. The color of the flame can be described in terms of its wavelength and can be used to identify the element. Energy can be added to atoms in a variety of ways. When heat energy is added, the excited electrons in the atoms emit light while falling back to lower electron energy levels. The light given off has wavelengths and colors that are unique to the element and depend on the amount of energy originally absorbed. Usually, each excited atom will only emit one type, or color, of light. There is a normal tendency for the electrons to make a transition or drop back down to the ground state from these excited energy levels. The energy levels in atoms and ions are crucial to the production and the detection of light. These electrons move throughout the energy levels in atoms and molecules. The colors of the emitted light from these particles are dependent on these electron jumps between the shells. When an electron makes a transition from a higher energy level to a lower one, a photon, or particle of light, is produced and emitted. This process can happen in a single step emitting one photon…

    • 739 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Metallic Ions Lab Report

    • 1159 Words
    • 5 Pages

    From reading the discussion and review, we understand that the normal configuration of the electrons is called “the ground state”. We understand that they are in stable condition, while at their lowest possible energy level. In this experiment we will be using heat to excite the electrons, they become excited by absorbing the energy from the heat and in this excited state they are quite unstable, these electrons are known to return to their grounded state. As these electrons process back down to a grounded state (lower energy level) they release the absorbed heat energy in a new form, “electromagnetic energy”, some of this light is in the visible light region and we hope to see a variety of colors ranging from Red (low energy) to Violet (high energy). In this experiment we will be heating metallic ions, and by doing this experiment we hope to be able to confirm the identity of an element by the color of light observed.…

    • 1159 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The bright line spectrum is the range of colorful lights that are emitted from an atom in its excited state. A “normal” atom, or an atom in its ground state, is when all of the atom’s electrons are in their proper energy level. When an atom is in its excited state, electrons jump to different energy levels making them unstable. As the electron tries to get back to its respective energy level, energy is emitted in the form of light (photons). Every element emits a different color that can be categorized into the bright line spectrum. Different elements give off different colors when heated because they all have different chemical properties, therefore, they will react differently under high temperatures. For example, [1] strontium, lithium carbonate, and strontium carbonate are often used in fireworks to create a red color. Calcium may be used to create orange, sodium for yellow, aluminum for white, barium chloride for green, copper for blue, strontium and copper for purple, and titanium for silver. Even though all elements give off unique colors when heated, it is impossible to identify all elements with the naked eye by doing this test because you have to know what color the element burns and sometimes the elements emit very similar colors. In this experiment, five known elements will be put under extreme heat to observe the color of the light emitted. Then, three unknown elements will be determined based upon the results of the known elements.…

    • 659 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    In this activity, you will investigate the colors of flame produced by solutions of metal salts.…

    • 982 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Spectroscopy Lab Report

    • 2168 Words
    • 9 Pages

    An emission spectrum measures the amount of photons emitted at particular wavelengths with particularly bright lines. Photons are emitted when excited electrons move to higher energy levels and then releases energy to return to the ground state. Since there are different wavelengths of photons depending on the energy released, one can utilize information on the emission spectrum to predict what shells the electrons were at before returning to their ground state.…

    • 2168 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Every atom consists of a nucleus with tiny electrons whizzing around it. The further away from the nucleus they are, the more energy the electrons have. If a metal atom is heated, the electrons get enough energy to jump higher away from the nucleus, they become “excited”. When they fall back closer to the nucleus (back to their ground state), they give off this extra energy as light.…

    • 638 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Line Spectra Lab

    • 916 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Objective The objective of this lab is broken into two parts. The first is to recognize the principles of flame ionization and atomic spectra. The second is to observe and thus further understand the line spectra for multiple elements or molecules as well as determine the correlation between emission spectra and atomic structure. Experimental Procedure Procedure 1: Observation of Line Spectra by Discharge Tubes…

    • 916 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays