Lab Report Organic Chemistry Lab

AS Applied Science
Luke O’Reilly
Aim/background- Test soil from an area that previously had heavy industry on it to check for contaminants.
Procedure- I will first visit a site that has previously has heavy industry located on it. Using protective clothing, goggles and gloves I will extract several samples of the soil from the site and then take several other samples from different points on the site. This ensures variety of soil to ensure that all the site is safe, not just a small area where you would have taken your first sample from. I will return to the lab with the samples of soil I have extracted from the site. Here I will make a solution from the samples in order to carry out the identification tests. In order to turn my soil samples …show more content…
The chemical equation for this reaction is:
CuSO4(aq) + BaCl2(aq) → BaSO4(s) + CuCl2(aq)
Copper sulphate is harmful if swallowed and is also dangerous for the environment. It can be extremely toxic for aquatic organisms, so finding it in soil can be alarming, especially if it is in large quantities. I have found that unknown sample B iron(iii) sulphate. I have identified it to be iron as it gave a yellow colour during the flame test narrowing it down to be barium or iron(iii). It then produced a yellow precipitate during sodium hydroxide test showing that it was iron(iii) instead of barium. The chemical equation for this reaction is:
Fe2(SO4)3(aq) + NaOH(aq)  Fe(OH)3(s) + Na2SO4(aq) I identified it as being a sulphate as it produced a white precipitate during the barium chloride test, indicating that sulphate ions are present. The chemical equation for this reaction is:
Fe2(SO4)3(aq) + BaCl2(aq)  FeCl3(s) + …show more content…
I identified that unknown sample C is potassium iodide. I identified that potassium ions were present as a lilac flame was produced during the flame test and it did not produce a precipitate in the sodium hydroxide test, which shows that potassium ions are present. The chemical equation for this reaction is:
KI(aq) + NaOH(aq)  KOH(s) + NaI(aq) I identified it to be an iodide as a yellow precipitate was produced during the silver nitrate test, indicating iodide ions are present. The chemical equation for this is:
KI(aq) + AgNO3(aq)  KNO3(s) + AgI(aq) Potassium iodide has very low risks, so there is no worry that this was found in the soil sample. I identified that unknown sample D is calcium chloride. It produced a red flame during the flame test which narrowed it down to be either calcium or lithium. However, the sodium hydroxide test supported that it was actually calcium, as a white precipitate was formed during this test. The chemical equation for this test is:
CaCl2(aq) + NaOH(aq)  Ca(OH)2(s) + NaCl(aq) I identified it to have chloride ions present as during the silver nitrate test a white precipitate was formed. The chemical equation for this reaction