Flame test

A flame test is an analytical procedure that can determine the presence of certain elements.

Procedure

A flame test is carried out by placing a sample on a clean wire (commonly made out of platinum or nichrome), and placing it in a hot non-luminous flame (one that does not exhibit black-body radiation).

Flame colors

Violet

Potassium (masked easily)

Azure

Copper halides

Light blue

Arsenic, selenium, cesium, lead

Emerald

Copper non-halides

Ytterbium metal powder

Pure green

Boron, tellurium, thallium

Yellowish-green

Barium

Bluish-green

Phosphates with sulfuric acid

Whitish-green

Zinc metal

Feeble green

Antimony, ammonium

Yellow

Sodium (masks everything, invisible through blue glass)

Orange

Calcium (greenish through blue glass, green through green glass, masked by barium)

Scarlet

Strontium (violet through blue glass, yellowish through green glass, masked by barium)

Carmine

Lithium (violet through blue glass, invisible through green glass, masked by barium)

Pink

Samarium metal

Spectroscopy

A mad scientist with a more technical bent can improve this technique by building a simple spectroscope, which decomposes the light from the flame into a spectrum. The advantages of spectroscopy is that it does not require any colored glass, all spectral lines are visible separately without them.