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LAB#5 - Getting To Know Some Elements Students Report

The document is a laboratory exercise for students to become acquainted with some common elements. It includes several parts: 1) Determining the energies associated with emission lines in the hydrogen spectrum. The largest energy increase is from the 410nm line. 2) Identifying common elements (lead, iodine, mercury, copper, sulfur) based on their physical properties. 3) Suggesting metal ions (sodium, lithium, potassium) that could produce flame colors (yellow, pinkish red, lilac). 4) Testing for and identifying common gases like hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide based on observed reactions. 5) Observing

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94 views5 pages

LAB#5 - Getting To Know Some Elements Students Report

The document is a laboratory exercise for students to become acquainted with some common elements. It includes several parts: 1) Determining the energies associated with emission lines in the hydrogen spectrum. The largest energy increase is from the 410nm line. 2) Identifying common elements (lead, iodine, mercury, copper, sulfur) based on their physical properties. 3) Suggesting metal ions (sodium, lithium, potassium) that could produce flame colors (yellow, pinkish red, lilac). 4) Testing for and identifying common gases like hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide based on observed reactions. 5) Observing

Uploaded by

mario joseph
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 5

UNIVERSITY OF GUYANA

FACULTY OF NATURAL SCIENCES


Department of Chemistry

Knowledge has power, it controls access to opportunity and advancement. – Peter Drucker

CHM 1103 Laboratory Exercise #5 – Getting to know some elements

Joseph, Mario
SURNAME, First Name(s) USI

To become acquainted with some elements

A. Hydrogen Emission Spectrum


When radiation is absorbed by an element, some electrons get excited and are kicked into a higher
energy state. This higher energy state is quite unstable and so the electrons return to their original state
by releasing the energy that was previously absorbed. Some of the energy released has wavelengths
that lie in the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum and can be observed as coloured light.
The amount of energy absorbed or released can be quantified from the magnitude of the wavelength
according to the relationship

where E is the energy of the radiation


λ is the wavelength
h is Planck’s constant (6.626x10-34 Js)
c is the speed of light in a vacuum (3.0x108 ms-1)

Determine the energy associated with the emission of the visible radiation shown in the diagram above.
Which line represents the largest increase in energy of an electron?
 Wavelength(nm) 410 with a value of 4.85*10^-19J

Wavelength (nm) Energy (J)


410 4.85*10^-19J
434 4.58*10^-19J
486 4.09*10^-19J
656 3.03*10^-19J

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B. Physical Characteristics of some elements
Research the physical characteristics of some common elements then identify the elements (by their
names and symbols) that fit the descriptions in the table below.

Description Symbol Name


Very dense, weak, ductile metallic element that is Pb Lead
dull grey in colour, solid at room temperature
Black, shiny non-metallic solid at room temperature I Iodine
which readily sublimes to give a purple vapour
Dense lustrous metallic element, liquid at room Hg Mercury
temperature and pressure
Malleable and ductile reddish-brown metallic Cu Copper
element, solid at room temperature.
Hard, brittle, grainy, yellow non-metallic element , S Sulphur
solid at room temperature

C. Flame test
Some elements when heated, absorb some of the heat energy then spontaneously emit it as visible light
when the excited electrons return to their original state. Metal ions of groups I and II are known for
producing brightly coloured visible light when heated. The image below shows the flame colours
produced by some metal cations.

Use this image to suggest the ions that may be present in a compound which yields the flame colours
stated in the table below.

Colour of flame Possible ion present


yellow Sodium
Pinkish red Lithium
lilac Potassium

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State one disadvantage of using the flame test to identify metal cations.

 Impurities or pollutants will inevitably influence test findings.

D. Test for gases


Every chemistry student should be able to test for the presence of the most popular gases. Complete the
table below by stating the observations that led to a positive test for the gases at 1 and 2 and by naming
the gas identified by the positive test at 3 (include name and molecular formula).

Gas Method Observation


1 Hydrogen A lit splint was placed at the mouth A pop sound can be heard
(H2) of a test-tube containing a sample
of hydrogen

2 Oxygen A glowing splint was placed at the Glowing splint sparks up/re-lights
(O2) mouth of a test-tube containing a
sample of hydrogen

3 Carbon A sample of the gas is bubbled A white precipitate is formed


dioxide through aqueous calcium
(CO2) hydroxide

E. Reaction of Group 1 metals with water

View the video that shows the reaction of group 1 metals with water then answer the questions below.
1. The metals floated on the surface of the water until they all dissolved, what can be concluded
about the relative densities of water and the group 1 metals?
 Group 1 metals are less dense than water so they float on the surface. They do not have the
energy/weight to break water surface tension so they will float until fully dissolved
2. Some fizzing (more correctly termed effervescence) was observed during the reaction. What is
the name of the gas responsible for this?
 Carbon Dioxide gas
3. Give a reason for the change in colour of the resulting solution?
 It's primarily due to the formation of a base. When a Group 1 metal combines with water, it
produces hydroxide and hydrogen gas. Phenolphthalein is a pH indicator and in acidic
solution, it is colorless; in a basic solution, it turns pink.
4. Based on the observations in the video, write the elements Li, K, and Na in order of increasing
reactivity (most reactive is written last).

 Li Na K

5. Write an equation to represent the reaction of any ONE of the metals with water.

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Lithium
2 Li + 2 H₂O → 2 LiOH + H₂

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