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

Azure

• Copper halides (copper(II) chloride)
• Bismuth

Bluish-green

• Phosphates with sulfuric acid
• Phosphorus
• Zinc metal

Brick red

• Cadmium

Carmine

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

Crimson red

• Radium

Emerald

• Copper non-halides
• Ytterbium metal powder

Feeble green

• Ammonium
• Antimony

Gray

• Nitromethane

Light blue

• Arsenic
• Cesium
• Lead
• Selenium

Orange

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

Pale blue

• Germanium

Pale green

• Antimony

Pink

• Samarium metal

Pure green

• Boron
• Tellurium
• Thallium

Purple

• Potassium chloride

Red

• Mercury

Red-violet

• Rubidium

Scarlet

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

Silvery-white

• Aluminium
• Chromium
• Cobalt
• Nickel

Violet

• Potassium (masked easily)

White

• Beryllium
• Magnesium

Yellow

• Sodium (masks everything, invisible through blue glass)

Yellowish-green

• Barium
• Manganese
• Molybdenum
• Vanadium

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.