drakecai - 18-10-2010 at 21:06
How can I change Graphite (carbon) to CO2?
I think it has something to deal with heat?
metalresearcher - 19-10-2010 at 00:07
Just burn it.
hissingnoise - 19-10-2010 at 05:43
Strong HNO3 will oxidise your graphite (slowly) without the application of heat . . .
drakecai - 19-10-2010 at 14:28
How slow?
And also is there anyway I can separate graphite from sand?
Also the heat, how much F would it need to be?
[Edited on 19-10-2010 by drakecai]
12AX7 - 19-10-2010 at 18:01
Flotation seperation will do a wonderful job. Or you can roast the sand along with it.
You're looking at orange-hot temperatures (~1600F / 900C).
Tim
Sedit - 19-10-2010 at 18:28
I have to ask, is this a homework question?
drakecai - 19-10-2010 at 19:15
yup
My teacher told me today that its not with heat. So how else can i separate them?
He told me that i should be using something to separate the two.
For Ex: If i had tiny particles of tin and sand I would use a magnet to separate the two.
[Edited on 20-10-2010 by drakecai]
[Edited on 20-10-2010 by drakecai]
Justin - 19-10-2010 at 19:25
i don't think tin is ferromagnetic, IIRC iron, cobalt and nickel are ferromagnetic.
madscientist - 19-10-2010 at 19:27
Start by looking at a list of physical properties for the two. Where do graphite and sand differ? That will give you a starting point.
Mr. Wizard - 20-10-2010 at 09:14
The particles of tin could be separated by panning, as you pan for gold. The velocity of moving water preferentially moves the less dense silica. I'm
assuming they are really tin, not plated steel we often erroneously call tin. Conducting metal can be removed from non conducting metal by putting it
in a strong AC field. This causes current to flow in the metal, which push it away from the original AC field. The shape of the metal has a lot to do
with how well the eddy current is induced. Graphite may even work in this kind of set up.
Sand graphite and most metals have a different density, possibly a liquid could be used to 'float' one on them and not the other? Air bubbles stick
to some materials better than others causing them to float. This is used to separate many metal ores. Silica has a density of 2.634 while graphite has
less at about 2.09 to 2.23 Perhaps some sort of chlorinated liquid would be dense enough to float the graphite?
If the grains are sifted to a uniform size, a flow of air would separate them, with the less dense graphite being carried away and collected in a
filter or screen.
Depending on the type of graphite it may even levitate above a tilted very strong magnet platform, interspersed with gaps to allow the sand to fall
through.
The original question can be solved just by heating the sand in a tin can in a BBQ full of burning charcoal, and pumping a small amount of air into
the red hot sand with an aquarium pump through a steel tube in the bottom of the sand. Any kind of pressure source could be used, from a balloon to
an old car tire with a loosened Schrader valve.
[Edited on 20-10-2010 by Mr. Wizard]