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Posted by: mich660griz
i cant find an answer to school work in chemistry, and am in need of advice.
how do i determine the difference between potassium carbonate and sodium carbonate? a way to do it by color??? what to add to get the difference?
needing this soon, thanks guys
Posted by: mich660griz
For this answer I will need to do an experiment of mixing chemicals or titrating or things like that. No identification papers like litmus.
Thanks for the sudjestions though, i should of been more to the point on what i am being told to do from my prof.
Posted by: mich660griz
i cant thank you guys enough. i am an ol fart, but this is from my 17 year old son. i told him to post this question on atv connection, couse i knew of all the vary smart people here. he is in the 12th grade, but is also taking collage coarses and this is for collage credit stuff. he makes me proud!!!
thanks again guys!!!
Posted by: RacinJason
WOW...Ridley...pretty impressive...They are dead right
I had to do a Final in Chemestry and ID as many substances as possible...I set the schools curve ID'd 20 substances through the two day lab...That was three more than anyone else...boosted my grade frome a D to a B-
I miss Cjemistry...but not spelling
Posted by: LOWBOWTIE
Mich you are right there are some very smart people on this forum!And we are Glad to have them.
Posted by: reconranger
I'm a research immunologist, so I usually don't didle in inorganic chemistry. But, a flame photometer is what you need! I payed my way through college working in a clinical lab, and we did serum and urine sodium and potassium (electrolytes) that way. As a substitute for a photometer, try Ridleys suggestion on the colors when burned. Put a small amount of each on the end of spatulas (dry it first if it is a liquid), and burn it in a bunson burner. (Don't fry it on top, actually stick it into the middle of the flame). You should be able to see the difference in color (sodium yellow and potassium red-violet--that is really all the flame photometer does anyway). I have sodium and potassium bicarbonate in my lab (should give the same results), so now I am itching to try this tomorrow!
You know, you should have asked this question in the Honda forum!!!
Posted by: PUSHINTHELIMIT
I don't know if this will help but.... Your chemistry teacher should have tubes of testing strips(look like small strips of paper) I can't remember what they are exactly called but if the substance is a a solution (liquid) you dip them in and the "paper strips" change a certain color that indicates exactly what it will be. I did a lab like this and we used these chemical paper strips to figure out what the solution was. I don't know if this will help and I'm sorry if it don't but I tryed...... We also used a chemical indicating liquid that you can drip in the solution and the solution itself changed a certain color to indicate what it exactly was. Sorry if this doesn't help. Also, potasium and sodium on the element chart will obviously have a different atomic # (atomic mass) and be either classified at a metal, nonmetal, or metaloid.
If you can be a little more specific I might beable to help you more otherwise I can keep rambling on LOL!!
Posted by: BigScary
litmus paper maybe?
Posted by: vampirerider
Well, this might seem a bit underhanded but if there is a litmus paper that identifies it, what chemicals does it use? Use that in some type of mixture to do it perhaps....
