Jdurg
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Basic Chemistry Fun?
First off, this forum is AMAZING for those who want to do home chemistry. The downfall is how many experiments here are pretty darned complex. I was
just wondering how many of us here do simple, "elementary" chemistry?
I have a complete element collection. That is, VERY pure samples of nearly ever element on the periodic table. Two of them are Sodium and Iodine
which can create so much fun.
Tonight, I decided to make some "basic" substances from their primary elements. The first one was NaI. I took a chunk of sodium metal and pressed
some I2 pellets into it. A small drop of water later, and I have some NaI at my disposal. I let it dry and passed some CO2 over it. (By exhaling
quite a bit onto the drying powder to help convert some of the NaOH that undoubtedly formed into NaHCO3.) Obviously, not all of it converted into
NaHCO3, but I've got a good amount of NaI in there. (The pyrex vessel the reaction was carried out in got a good amount of white "crust" on it).
The amount I used was very little. A piece of sodium maybe .10 grams in weight and just a few I2 pellets squeezed into it. Once it was done, I took
this dry powder, scraped it off, and made a tiny pile. I then added a little bit of NH3 solution onto it. I added some more I2 pellets to it and it
IMMEDIATELY dissolved giving me confirmation that there is plenty of I- ions in there to help form I3- ions once the I2 was added. Of course, the
other product is some nitrogen triiodide complex which will be fun to get rid of. Of course, it's not a large amount but will still be fun to set
off. (It's still reacting).
With all the complex reactions going on here, I have to say that making a very simple binary compound is fun. I just made a substance from its PURE
elements! How many other people here do this for fun every now and then? It's a really nice trip back into basic chemistry.
\"A real fart is beefy, has a density greater than or equal to the air surrounding it, consists of the unmistakable scent of broccoli, and usually
requires wiping afterwards.\"
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Magpie
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Jdurg I agree with you on the fun of basic, simple chemistry. By this I mostly mean simple inorganic preparations. In a 1926 high school lab manual
this is a major part of the curriculum. When I took freshman college chemistry in the '60s it mostly had a physical chemistry emphasis with very
little on basic preparations. In the analytical chemistry area, again, I was required to take quantitative analysis but not qualitative analysis, so
missed learning a lot of basic chemistry there.
Now as a home chemist I am finding that many organic syntheses require inorganic reagents and catalysts, which are not readily available. So I am
doing a lot of inorganic preparations out of necessity, but thoroughly enjoying them. My recent preparation of the copper chromite catalyst for the
synthesis of pyridine is a good example. First I had to convert cupric carbonate basic into cupric nitrate. Then I converted barium carbonate into
barium nitrate. But to do those I had to first make nitric acid from NaNO3. Then finally the nitrates are combined with ammonia and ammonium
dichromate and ignited. There's a lot of basic chemistry there and it was all fun.
This basic chemistry is an aspect of isolating metals from ores that I enjoy. Doing stuff I never saw in school. I would even like to concentrate
some copper ore using a flotation oil just to see if I could do it.
[Edited on 7-11-2008 by Magpie]
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Jdurg
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Exactly. This is the type of chemistry that's fun, but often overlooked. Of course, the side effect of some basic chemistry is that you spill some
solution on your floor and not realize it, so when you go back down a few hours later and walk across the floor you get an unexpected "snap" of a
surprise. hehe. Once again it's another example of why you do things in small batches. 
\"A real fart is beefy, has a density greater than or equal to the air surrounding it, consists of the unmistakable scent of broccoli, and usually
requires wiping afterwards.\"
http://maddox.xmission.com. |
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Formatik
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I made some CrO2Cl2 a while back. The stuff is hypergolic with alcohols at the drop level. You have to use chromates or dichromates to get it. But,
since I don't have any Cr(VI) compounds I had to start from more basic materials, NaHCO3 and Cr2O3 (pigment) heating them over a bunsen burner for few
hours, to partially get Na2CrO4.
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Jor
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Iodine and sodium will react without water as well, at least when i did the experiment they did, and I just needed to heat to get things going. I did
a very nice observation, there were dark purple/black drops condensed on the test tube, and I had a feeling this was liquid iodine. Maybe I could
observe it because all the iodine in gas form reacted, leaving the air not so purple as it usually is.
I really prefer inorganic preparations. They are my favorite. Preparing complex salts, I love doing it. Simple ones like Ni(NH3)6SO4, and complex ones
like K3CrO8, tetrapyridinesilver(II) peroxidisulfate, and so on.
Recently I did the 2 step synthesis to NaIO4. First prepare NaIO3 by reacting iodine (or NaI) with sodium chlorate, followed by oxidation of the NaIO3
by chlorine (in alkaline solution at 80-90C) or reacting with sodium peroxidisulfate, filtering the precitipate (it's the para or ortho-periodate, I
forgot), and then dissolving it in nitric acid, evaporate a part of the volume and crystillise the soluble metaperiodate out (NaIO4). This is a very
nice synthesis.
Organic synthesis can be really fun, but also much more dangerous. I do this as well, but I do not enjoy it as much as I do inorganic chemistry.
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ssdd
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CrO2Cl2 gas can also be fun (though highly toxic). I once did an experiment where fumes from a reaction between Na2CrO4, NaCl, and a bit of Sulfuric
Acid were "poured" onto a beaker half full of 3% Hydrogen Peroxide. (The fumes from this reaction are very dense) This forms remarkable blue streaks
falling through the liquid from the +3 (I think?) oxidation state of the chromium. A neat color change from the deep red orange of the gas.
A neat experiment but just be highly aware of the CrO2Cl2, as I'm sure everyone knows Chromium VI compounds are not very friendly on DNA.
-ssdd
[Edited on 8-11-2008 by ssdd]
All that glitters may not be gold, but at least it contains free electrons.
-- John Desmond Baernal
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UnintentionalChaos
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ssdd. Woelen has an experiment just like that on his site. The intense blue is a peroxy-chromium(VI) complex. Chromyl chloride I have noticed has at
least one good synthetic use, and that is the etard reaction for converting substituted toluenes to benzaldehydes, although it is very picky about
what other substituents are on the ring. There's an easily located paper about it if you google etard reaction.
Department of Redundancy Department - Now with paperwork!
'In organic synthesis, we call decomposition products "crap", however this is not a IUPAC approved nomenclature.' -Nicodem
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Jor
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Gaseous Cr(VI). Brrrr... Now that's something where I rather stay a mile away from. The non-volatile K2CrO7 is already a bitch...
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