Rubidium does not have any household sources. Purchasing it can be extremely expensive, and it is similar to caesium, which has some household sources, making purchase sort of repetitious. Of course, if you are buying it for an element collection, you...
What is the best way to store lithium? I tried extra virgin cold-pressed heart-healthy olive oil. The lithium appears to react initially, producing a few bubbles. However, the lithium was covered with its foamy electrolyte and so it was not clear whether...
I have compiled a list of sources for the elements that are available to the amateur chemist. Selenium will be discussed here. Selenium, like most nonmetals, is quite a unique and interesting element. Selenium is necessary in small quantities in the human...
I have compiled a list of sources for the elements that are available to the amateur chemist. Gadolinium will be discussed here. Gadolinium is one of the more corrosion-resistant rare earth metals. In other words, it does not need to be kept in an ampoule...
Warning: Copper(II) salts are toxic. Do not eat or drink. You will need: Copper sulfate Sodium chloride Aluminium foil Copper forms a chloro complex with sodium chloride as well. This chloro complex, as we saw before, is reactive toward aluminium. Dissolve...
I have compiled a list of sources for the elements that are available to the amateur chemist. Thulium, ytterbium, and lutetium will be discussed here. Thulium is a typical rare earth metal. Its compounds are pale green to yellow. No sources of it are...
I have compiled a list of sources for the elements that are available to the amateur chemist. Osmium will be discussed here. Osmium is an interesting element. It is named after osme, which means stink. This refers to the tendency of powdered osmium to...
3-8 - Use Control + F to find what you want Copper-sulfate ascorbic acid reaction: When sodium bicarbonate is added to the above solution, a dark red precipitate forms, which soon turns a dirty yellow-green. When ammonia is added, a dark green solution...
2-2 - Use Control + F to find what you want in here Antimony oxidation: Antimony powder is placed in hydrochloric acid. No reaction occurs since antimony is not reactive enough to dissolve in hydrochloric acid. When hydrogen peroxide is added, however,...
Magnesium powder or shavings are useful in many experiments in amateur chemistry as a reducing agent. It is also interesting to burn, although repeated burning is discouraged due to the production of harmful UV rays. There are several ways to obtain magnesium...
Today in my chemistry class I performed a lab which involved reaction of iron(III) nitrate with potassium thiocyanate solution to form a colored complex which is measured spectroscopically. Earlier, the formation of this complex was used as a qualitative...
I have finished my second semester of general chemistry labs. I have had a generally positive experience with them academically, although there is some to be desired scientifically. Here is my opinion on ways to improve the chemistry labs in general chemistry....
Note: Unfortunately, there are no photographs in this document. I have, can produce, or can obtain the pictures of a large number of compounds, but posting hundreds of pictures in one post is difficult because of size restrictions on the hosting site....
I have compiled a list of sources for the elements that are available to the amateur chemist. Erbium will be discussed here. Erbium is a typical not-so-reactive rare earth metal. Erbium forms pink compounds that fluoresce in UV light. It is solely trivalent....
Promethium, being an extremely radioactive and unstable element, is impossible to obtain in pure form. However, some old glow-in-the-dark watches that are radioactive have used promethium as the radioactive element. This is after the radium watches were...
The flammability of magnesium is well-known. Magnesium ignites around 500 degrees Celsius, burning with a temperature of 3100 degrees Celsius. It is highly reactive, burning in oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide. It also reacts with water and can burn...
This will be my last elements post. I may be posting less often in the future due to work. I have compiled a list of sources for the elements that are available to the amateur chemist. Bismuth will be discussed here. Bismuth is the left-most metal on...
I have compiled a list of sources for the elements that are available to the amateur chemist. Holmium will be discussed here. Holmium is one of the less reactive rare earth metals. It forms a yellow trivalent solution when dissolved in acids. Holmium(III)...
Thallium is a highly toxic element which had its primary household source (thallium sulfate in rat poison) banned in the 1970s due to its extreme toxicity. Thallium minerals can be obtained, as well as thallium metal, but both are rare and highly expensive....
Chlorine is a light yellow gas, second from the top in the halogen group (Group 17) on the periodic table. Although it is highly toxic (it was the first poison gas used in World War I), its extremely pungent smell is fair warning. Breathing in small amounts...
There are several super-strong acids that exist, with highly interesting properties. Sulfuric acid: The most common of the strong acids, it is the acid that all other strong acids are compared to. Sulfuric acid does not have an extreme ability to protonate...
Right now on the shelf in my laboratory I have the following substances: CuCl2(s), KBrO3(s), NiCl2(aq), SnCl2(aq), MnCO3(s), PbCO3(s), Zn(Ac)2(s), Na2HPO4(s), Li2CO3(s), Na2CO3(s), SrCO3(s), CaCO3(s). Below are the methods I used to make each chemical....
Yesterday, I went to see some fireworks that my town was having. As always, I thought of the chemical compositions of the fireworks while watching the display. Fireworks are colored using several elements. A green coloration is obtained using barium or...
The batteries in common use today have a small variety of chemicals that are used to create power. The electricity is created by separating one chemical reaction into two parts and harnessing the flow of electrons between those two parts. Many chemical...
I tried to extract pure chromium metal from a stainless steel spoon. It turned out to be much more difficult than I expected. I had two extraction theories. One was to oxidize the electrolyzed chromium to chromate(VI), reduce it to chromium(III) in aqueous...
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