Flame Test Lab Report

Introduction: The moment the salt makes contact with water, it seems to disappear. Although it may seem like magic, the salt is just dissolving. This is due to the bonds between the molecules being broken down. The most well known type of salt, NaCl, is just a combination of sodium and chlorine ions, which have a relatively weak bond strength. Conversely, the hydrogen and oxygen in water are bound together by covalent bonds. The positively charged end of the water molecule is attracted to the negative salt ion as well as the negatively charred side is attracted to the positive. This means that when salt is placed in water, the water molecules can easily break these bonds. Once the compounds are broken down into their individual ions, they spread through the liquid very quickly and become indistinguishable from the remaining water. Using the known dissolved salts and their reactions to different substances and tests, the group was able to correctly determine the chemical formula of the unknown salt. The aim of this lab was to correctly identify an ionic compound through a qualitative assessment through its solubility.

THis was found through a combination of the tests, in whic the ammonia and sulfuric parts of the compound reacted to the different variables. In the flame test, it reacted with an orange flame, with little difference from the uninterrupted flame created by the bunsen burner normally. This meant that it was unlikely for the final compound to have either sodium or potassium, due to their reactions including yellow and purple flames. These results were confirmed when after the KOH Test, the unknown salt also reacted with a similar smell, and the Ba(NO3)2 test in which the salt also reacted closely to Ammonium sulfate. These variables together meant that the final, unknown, compound was a combination of ammonium cation and sulfate anion, or Ammonium