I used sulfuric acid and commercial bleach (basically sodium hypochlorite with undesirables in it) to generate a gas stream that was neutralized by
sodium hydroxide (2.5M). The mass of this solution was recorded and it is quite consistent with conversion of hydroxide to hypochlorite.
The bottle contains small thin crystals now, though. What could this be?
[Edited on 18-10-2012 by Cloner]99chemicals - 18-10-2012 at 13:23
Which bottle had the crystals? The bottle with the impure bleach or the bottle that you converted NaOH to NaClO.Ephesian - 18-10-2012 at 13:25
what bottle are we talking about here...
[Edited on 18-10-2012 by Ephesian]tetrahedron - 18-10-2012 at 13:49
sodium chloride was also generated in the conversion.hyfalcon - 18-10-2012 at 14:01
The mass of this solution was recorded and it is quite consistent with conversion of hydroxide to hypochlorite.[Edited on 18-10-2012 by Cloner]
how did you measure this?
how about the purity of your NaOH? maybe it was tainted with carbonate or acetate. if only gas was passed it's unlikely that the crystals are due to
impurities in the H2SO4 or bleach.12AX7 - 18-10-2012 at 15:35
I used sulfuric acid and commercial bleach (basically sodium hypochlorite with undesirables in it)
I suspect sodium sulfate decahydrate. Remove some crystals, do they turn white and powdery on drying in air?
TimCloner - 18-10-2012 at 23:41
The impure bleach and sulfuric acid were used to generate a gas stream, the gas was led through hydroxide solution. The resulting solution of
hypochlorite contained the crystals.
Mass was measured of the hydroxide solution and the sodium hydroxide itself. The mass of the sodium hydroxide was 10,04 g, the mass increase was 8,7 g
after the reaction.
edit: the crystals are very insoluble in water. They also produce a rainbow effect. Prismatic form then?
[Edited on 19-10-2012 by Cloner]phlogiston - 19-10-2012 at 06:33
It almost sounds like you took KOH instead of NaOH.
Then the crystals would be KClO3, which fit your description well. prismatic, thin and only moderately soluble. KClO3 is well known to form when Cl2
is bubbled through a KOH solution, especially when warm.
crush a few up, mix with sugar 50:50 and try to see if it will burn.Cloner - 1-11-2012 at 04:37
You are correct.
To test it out, I added a little KOH. A few more crystals were formed. The NaOH I used will undoubtedly contain minute amounts of potassium impurity.
