Year 9 MYP Science Metals Experiment Task Method: 1. Record the number or letter on the container of the unknown metal 2. Use the flame test to find out the metal that is present 3. Note the flame colour 4. If there is no change of colour from the flame, make the substance into a solution by adding deionized water to the unknown metal to make a solution 5. Note the solution colour 6. If the solution is colourless perform the hydroxide test 7. Record your results 8. Now use carbonate test to find out if it is a carbonate 9. If bubbles are not produced, perform the sulfate test 10. Record if there is a precipitant, if not use the halide test to find out if it’s a chloride, bromide or iodide 11. If the precipitant is white it’s chloride, if its off white/cream its bromide, if its yellow its iodide Results Unknown Chemical Letter: 1 Test Observations Flame test Orange Sodium Solution colour No reaction Precipitant No Carbonate test No reaction …show more content…
This is proven by the tests provided. The flame test was a test where you put the unknown compound into a flame and this gave a result of an orange/yellow flame. This colour identified the compound to be sodium. Therefore, there was no colour given for the solution colour and no precipitant in the hydroxide test. The carbonate test and the sulfate test gave no reaction to the unknown metal. Whereas, the halide test gave an off-white/cream colour. This proved that the non-metal part of the compound was Bromide. Evaluate: One error in this test was the observation of the colour of the flame. This is human error because the colour of the flame depends on the persons point of view (subjective). The disadvantages are that the experimenter may see the colour wrong and choose the wrong metal. An improvement/solution to this is to use technology to detect the colour of the flame that represents the