Flame Test- Potassium Chloride #1

This is the '08-'09 school year's flame test demonstration. It went better than last year's demonstration (I have 3 videos of those on YouTube), but not as good as my first year's still (I have 7 of those videos [e.g. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJvS4uc4TbU]. The flame test is preformed by burning a metal salt using a flammable liquid. Each chemical (in this case metal ion) gives off a characteristic color (seen here as changes in colors of the flames) when the electrons fall back down from their excited state and emit light at certain wavelengths (colors). This year I decided to do something different and filmed each salt individually.
An alcohol is used to burn all of these salts, this one is potassium chloride (KCl) and has a very faint lilac (purple) flame usually washed out by the alcohol flame.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• sully
• russia
• chem
• chemistry
• lab
• demo
• demonstration
• sci
• science
• flame
• test
• flaming
• burning
• salt
• salts
• 0809
• alcohol
• color
• colored
• fire
• burn
• wavelength
• light
• excited
• electron
• electrons
• potassium
• chloride
• KCl
• faint
• purple
• lilac
• Cl

[gman570p]

@mrericsully kool man. awsome i didnt know about kinetic energy having to do anything with an object state of matter or so what that helped me on test thanks.

[mrericsully]

@gman570p I teach junior high and high school physical sciences (8-12).

I was referring to plasmas being the most common of the other exceptions, but actually yes, plasmas are probably one of the most common state of matter since it is the stuff of stars.

Of course, on Earth plasmas are rare. As for the most common on Earth it depends on the state of the mantle and inner core [fluid or solid] and whether we are going by volume or mass or number of particles.

[gman570p]

@mrericsully Hmm what grade do you teach then? Are u serious that plasmas are the most common. Im not tlking about in the univer im talking about earth.

[mrericsully]

@mrericsully Ionized means that they have become ions (so excited that they have lost some or all of their electrons). I am a teacher by the way, not a student.

[mrericsully]

@gman570p Yes, changes of state occur when atoms begin to move faster and vibrate more, but of course those changes occur at different temperatures for different substances.

As far as the states of matter there are the three traditional states, there are several other theorized states or maybe better would be to call them exceptions at temperature extremes. Of those others, plasmas are the most common- found in stars, fluorescent and "neon" tubes, and lightening. Plasmas are ionized gases.

[gman570p]

@mrericsully Hmm then if the particles move faster in a object it turns into a diffrent state of matter and the same for the low moving particles and theres four states of matter solid,gas,liquid,plasma. Which plasma i think is just super heated air so it might not be a state of mattter. Amirite? Oh and wat grade r u in. im in 8th

[mrericsully]

@gman570p No, they are related, but temperature is really a measure of the average kinetic energy of a group of particles or of their vibrations whereas heat energy depends on the type of material, quantity of that material, and that material's [specific] heat capacity [or the type of material].

[gman570p]

@mrericsully Hmm I always thought temp and heat energy were the same thing. The faster the particles move the more heat the slower the more cold

[mrericsully]

@gman570p No it would not be oxygen and nitrous (nitrous could also refer to several things, but is different than nitrate).

As far as temperature goes I'm sure there is probably a maximum value and it will be quantity and heating method dependent, but generally in chemistry we don't focus on temperature, but instead on heat energy. The reaction would give off some quantity of kilojoules/mole.

[gman570p]

@mrericsully So it would be oxygen and nitrous. How hot would potassium nitrate burn?