Practical work 7

Properties of nontransition metals and their compounds

Experimental part
Experiment 1. The interaction of sodium with water (the experiment is carried
out in a fume hood in the presence of a teacher! Be sure to wear a mask!)
Sodium is stored in a laboratory in cans under a layer of kerosene. Remove a
piece of sodium from the can with tweezers and place it on a sheet of dry filter
paper. Make sure in advance that there are no traces of water on the table! Cut a
small piece of sodium (half a pea) with a knife on a piece of filter paper, put the
remaining metal back in the can and close it. Blot sodium with a piece of filter
paper from kerosene residues. Consider sodium coloration on a fresh cut. Using a
spatula, press on a piece of sodium. What is happening to him? What conclusion
can be made about the hardness of the metal? Place a piece of sodium in a
crystallizer filled with water, into which 1 - 2 drops of phenolphthalein solution
are added. Immediately lower the fume hood. What is observed? Write down the
reaction equation.
Experiment 2. The interaction of calcium with water (the experiment is carried
out in the presence of a teacher. Be sure to wear a mask!)
Prepare a device consisting of a laboratory tripod and a crystallizer filled with
water located on the base of the tripod. In the tripod foot, fasten the test tube
vertically with the opening down. Start the experiment. Remove the test tube
from the tripod and fill it with water to the top, cover its opening with a rubber
stopper and immerse it in the crystallizer. Then lift it upside down from the water
so that the test tube opening remains submerged in the water, but is more than 1
cm from the bottom. Fix the test tube in the tripod foot in its original position.
Remove the stopper from the test tube.
Now take one or two calcium chips from the can with tweezers and place them on
a sheet of dry filter paper. Use a piece of filter paper to remove any kerosene
residues from calcium. Wrap the calcium chips in a piece of gauze, take it with
tweezers and place it in the crystallizer with water, placing the calcium directly
under the opening of the test tube. What is happening? Make sure that the
evolved gas is collected in a test tube, displacing water from it. What are the
white flakes formed in the crystallizer? As soon as all the calcium has reacted,
close the test tube without removing it from the water with a stopper.
Then disconnect the test tube from the tripod, wrap it with a towel and holding it
slanted upside down, bring it to the flame of the alcoholic lamp and remove the
stopper. What is happening? What gas is collected in the test tube? Write the
reaction equations. The solution obtained in the crystallizer, use for experiments.
Experiment 3. Properties of calcium hydroxide solution
For the experiment, use the solution obtained in experiment 2, or the solution
given to you. What is the name of the calcium hydroxide solution? Pour 1 ml of
solution into four test tubes. Add sodium chloride solution to the first test tube,
ammonium chloride to the second, phenolphthalein to the third, and sodium
sulfate to the fourth. Explain the observed phenomena. Pour a few milliliters of
calcium hydroxide into a Petri dish and leave in the open air. After some time,
commit the changes and describe them. Write down the equations of all
reactions.
Experiment 4. Coloring the flame with salts of alkali and alkaline earth metals.
Twist an eyelet loop at the end of the steel wire, rinse it in hydrochloric acid and
ignite it in a portable gas burner or alcoholic lamp (in a fume hood). Take the
glasses from the laboratory assistant with the salts of alkali and alkaline earth
metals poured into them. By turns put the loop into the glass. If the salt does not
adhere to the loop and is not trapped by it, it is allowed to moisten the loop with
distilled water. Then the loop must be taken into the flame of a burner or
alcoholic lamp. What color is the flame painted in? After one experiment, the
loop must be washed under running water, then rinsed in hydrochloric acid, in
distilled water and calcined. Then proceed with the analysis of another salt.
According to the results of the experiment, fill out table 8.6:

Table 8.6.

Flame coloring with metal salts of groups I and II

Excitation energy, Radiation

Metal eV wavelength, nm Test salt Flame coloring

Lithium 1,9 670,8

Sodium 2,1 589,0

Potassium 1,6 766,5

 Calcium 2,9-3,2 422,7

Strontium 2,7-3,0 460,7

Barium 2,2-3,8 553,5

Compare your results with reference data on the radiation wavelength of atoms
of alkali and alkaline earth metals, knowing the physical characteristics of light
(see table 8.7.)
Table. 8.7.

Physical characteristics of light

Color Wavelength, nm Frequency, THz Energy, eV

Red 625-740 400-480 1,68-1,98

Orange 590-625 480-510 1,98-2,10

Yellow 565-590 510-530 2,10-2,19

Green 500-565 530-600 2,19-2,48

Pale-Blue 485-500 600-620 2,48-2,56

Blue 440-485 620-680 2,56-2,82

Violet 380-440 680-790 2,82-3,26

Experiment 5. The interaction of magnesium with water

Place magnesium chips in a test tube with water. What is observed? Fix a test
tube in the holder and heat it on an alcoholic lamp. What is happening? After a
few minutes, cool the test tube with magnesium chips and add a few drops of
phenolphthalein solution to it. What is observed? Write down the reaction
equation. Compare the reducing activity of magnesium and calcium (experiment
2). Repeat the experiment with magnesium chips. This time, use a solution of
ammonium chloride instead of water. Explain the difference.
Experiment 6. The interaction of aluminum with dilute solutions of acids
Place one aluminum granule in three test tubes and pour: in the first test tube - a
solution of hydrochloric acid, in the second - a solution of sulfuric acid, in the third
- a solution of nitric acid. What is observed? If gas release does not occur, gently
heat the tube by placing it in a glass of boiling water. Write down the reaction
equations.
Experiment 7. The interaction of aluminum with a solution of alkali
Place one aluminum granule in a test tube and add 1-2 ml of sodium hydroxide
solution. If gas release is slow, heat the test tube slightly by putting it in a glass of
boiling water. Write a reaction equation. Explain why at the first moment the
reaction is extremely slow.
Experiment 8. Passivation of aluminum. (Neatly!)
Put one aluminum granule into a test tube with concentrated nitric acid. What is
observed? After a few minutes, carefully remove the aluminum from the solution,
rinse it with distilled water and put it into a test tube with hydrochloric acid. Will
the reaction go? Compare the result with experiment 6. Give an explanation.
Experiment 9. Activation of aluminum
Pour in a test tube 2 ml of a solution of copper sulfate (II) and put the aluminum
granule into it. What is observed? How is copper released - in the form of
separate points on the surface or on the entire surface at once? Place another
aluminum granule for several minutes in a test tube with dilute hydrochloric acid
solution.
Remove the granule from the solution, rinse it with distilled water and put it in a
solution of copper sulfate (II). In what places is copper released on its surface?
How can the observed phenomenon be explained? Write the equations of the
corresponding reactions.
Experiment 10. The interaction of aluminum with salt solutions
Place one aluminum granule in two test tubes. Pour 2 ml of copper sulfate
solution into both test tubes. Pour solid sodium chloride onto a spatula in one
test tube and mix, making it dissolve.
In which test tube does copper release faster on aluminum? Write the reaction
equations. Give an explanation.
Experiment 11. Obtaining aluminum hydroxide and the study of its properties
Pour 2 ml of an aluminum salt solution into a test tube and carefully add dropwise
an aqueous solution of ammonia until the precipitation is completely separated.
Shake the solution with the precipitation and divide into two parts, pouring half
of it into the second test tube. Pour a solution of hydrochloric acid into the first
tube, and sodium hydroxide solution into the second. What is observed? Write
the equations of the corresponding reactions in molecular and ion-molecular
form. What are the acid-base properties of aluminum hydroxide?
Experiment 12. The hydrolysis of aluminum salts
Add a few crystals of aluminum salt and 1-2 ml of water to the test tube. When
the crystals dissolve, test the aluminum salt solution with an indicator. Write the
equations of hydrolysis reactions in molecular and ionic form. Add sodium
carbonate solution to the prepared solution. What is observed? Explain why
aluminum carbonate does not exist.
Experiment 13. Growing crystals of aluminum potassium sulfate
Prepare a saturated solution of aluminum potassium sulfate. To do this, carefully
study the crystals obtained in the previous experiment and separate from the rest
of the mass 1 - 2 larger crystals that have the correct shape. Place the remaining
crystals in 5 ml of water and mix for a long time. Then pass the solution through
the filter. Place the mother liquor in a glass, put the selected crystals to its
bottom, cover the solution with paper, sign the glass and leave it until the next
lesson. In the next lesson, continue to grow the crystal. What form does it have?

Questions and Tasks

1) Suggest a chemical way to separate a mixture of magnesium, barium and
aluminum sulfates.
2) Suggest a way to distinguish sodium sulfate from sodium hydrogen sulfate.
3) The product of the combustion of sodium in air causes a brown color when
added to a solution of sodium iodide, acidified with sulfuric acid. Give an
explanation and write the corresponding reaction equations.
4) Explain why especially pure aluminum is poorly soluble in acids, and metal of
technical purity is good.
5) What is the structure of aluminum potassium sulfate? What class of
compounds do they belong to?
6) Explain why magnesium hydroxide, unlike aluminum hydroxide, dissolves in a
strong solution of ammonium chloride.
7) Why does a less active metal sodium displace more active potassium from
molten potassium hydroxide at temperatures above 400°C? What practical use
does this reaction have?
8) Write down the products of redox reactions involving sodium peroxide and
indicate what is Na2O2 (is it reducing agent or oxidizing agent) in each of these
reactions:

Na2O2 + KI + H2SO4 =
Na2O2 + Fe(OH)2 + H2O =
Na2O2 + KMnO4 + H2SO4 =

9) Why can not solutions of sodium and potassium hydroxides, especially

concentrated ones, be stored in glassware for a long time? What metal should be
made of crucibles designed to work with molten alkalis? Is it possible to use
crucibles of platinum, iron, nickel, quartz, porcelain, corundum for this purpose?
10) Write the reaction equation for the production of soda from sodium sulfate
by sintering it with coal and limestone. What are the functions of coal and
limestone? What is the theoretical consumption of Na2SO4, CaCO3 and coal for
one ton of soda?
11) With the help of what reactions and under what conditions of their
implementation, the following transformations can be carried out:
а) NaCl → Na → NaOH → Na2CO3 → NaНCO3 → NaCl б) NaCl → NaOH
→ Na2CO3 → NaNO3 → NaNO2
б) NaCl → NaOH → Na2CO3 → NaNO3 → NaNO2

12) What are the similarities and differences between alkali and alkaline earth
metals? Illustrate the answer with reaction equations.
13) Why does beryllium form complex compounds, while complexing is not
characteristic of its analogues? Give examples of complex compounds of
beryllium. Write the equation of reaction for potassium tetrafluoroberyllate.
14) Why is a person given an aqueous suspension of burnt magnesia (MgO) if he
accidentally drank an acid solution? Is it possible in such cases to replace MgO
with beryllium oxide or barium oxide?
15) A solution of soda is added dropwise to a solution containing the cations Са2+,
Sr2+, Ва2+ in the same concentration. In what sequence do carbonates precipitate?
16) Write the equations and indicate the reaction conditions for the
implementation of the following transformations:
MgCO3 → MgCl2 → Mg → Mg3N2 → MgSO4 → Mg(OH)2 → Mg(NO3)2→ MgCO3 → MgO