required praticals

• rate of reaction - measuring turbidity or colour

  1.measure a specific volume of sodium thiosulfate solution into a conical flask

  2. measure a specific volume of hydrochloric acid into a measuring cylinder

  3. place a piece of white paper with a black cross under the conical flask

  4. pour the acid into the flask and start the stopwatch

  5. as solid sulphur forms, a cloudy precipitate is observed

  6. stop the stopwatch when the black cross is no longer visible through the cloudy mixture

  7. repeat for different concentrations of sodium thiosulfate
• rate of reaction - measuring gas volume in reactions

  1.pour a volume of hydrochloric acid into a conical flask

  2. add a piece of magensium ribbon wiht a known mass to the flask

  3. quickly connect the flask to the gas syringe setup to capture the gas produced

  4. start the stopwatch and record the volume of gas produced every 10 seconds

  5. once the reaction is complete, repeat the steps with different concentrations
• chromatography

  1.draw a pencil line near the bottom of the chromatography paper

  2. place dots of known dye colours and a dot of the ink being investigated

  3. place bottom of the paper in the solvent making sure the pencil line is above the solvent

  4. the solvent will move up the paper taking the substance with it

  5. before the solvent reaches the top removes the paper and let it dry

  6. compare the positions of the dots of known dye to those in the ink
• Flame test for metal ions

  1. Pour 1 cm3 of each known chloride solution into 5 test tubes

  2. Clean the nichrome wire by dipping it in dilute hydrochloric acid

  3. Dip the nichrome wire into solution and hold the tip in a blue bunsen flame

  4. Record the colour of the flame

  5. Repeat for the following solutions and make sure to clean the wire after each test

  6. Pour 1 cm3 of the unknown salt solution into test tube

  7. Dip the nichrome wire into solution and hold the tip in a blue bunsen flame

  8. Record the colour of the flame, you should be able to compare results with the known chloride with the matching colour flame
• carbonate ions test 


  1.Place a 2 cm3 of limewater in a clean test tube.

  2. Add a little dilute hydrochloric acid to the unknown solution.

  3. If you see bubbles, transfer the gas produced to the limewater using a delivery tube.

  4. Repeat this process for the known sodium solutions to identify carbonates ions.
• sulphate ions test 


  1.Add a 10 drops of dilute hydrochloric acid to the unknown solution in a test tube.

  2. Add a 2 cm3 barium chloride solution.

  3. Pour 1 cm3 of the known sodium solutions into separate test tubes.

  4. Add 5 drops of dilute hydrochloric acid and then 2 cm3 of barium chloride.
• halide ions test 


  1.. Add a 10 drops of dilute nitric acid to the unknown solution in a test tube.

  2. Add a 1 cm3 silver nitrate solution to the test tube with the unknown solution.

  3. Pour 1cm3 of the know sodium solutions into separate test tubes.

  4. Repeat steps 1 and 2 for which of the solutions.

  5. Record colour of precipitate formed in each test tube.
• analysing a sample of water

  1.record the mass of a dry evaporating basin

  2. pour a known volume of the water sample into the evaporating basin

  3. heat the evaporating basin until its mass stays constant - all water has evaporated

  4. record the mass of the evaporating basin and its contents

  5. subtract mass at end from mass at start to get the mass of the dissolved solids
• purifying a sample of water by distillation

  1.add the water sample to the boiling tube

  2. heat the water vapour using the Bunsen burner until boiling occurs

  3. the water vapour will pass through the condenser and condense

  4. the distilled water will collect in the beaker
• you can analyse the water you have collected by

  checking pH - should be close to 7

  checking purity - checking boiling point should be 100 degrees