The Marsh test, used to verify the presence of antimony or arsenic in a sample, uses zinc in acidic solution to reduce antimony salts to stibine,
which produces a mark on a tile when the produced gas (consisting mainly of hydrogen) is burned under it.
The reaction you did used the same reactants (more or less) as the Marsh test. Therefore, it is likely you did produce a small amount of stibine gas,
especially if there was a slight excess of acid.
Some useful info:
www.icdmetals.com/antimony-ingot.html
I suggest you do this next time under a fume hood or with a gas mask.
[Edited on 6-3-2012 by barley81] |