turtonCHEM


Here I hope to share with you some of the excitement of Chemistry, and provide a resource that students of all ages can use as a way to complement their studies and fuel their interest in a fascinating subject.

Please feel free to leave feedback about any of the links or resources, and provide suggestions about how this site can be improved at smithm@tmac.uk.com.

Also, please let me know if for any reason any of the links stop working.

Saturday, 24 November 2007

flame tests

What happens when you take compounds of strontium, copper and calcium, dissolve them in ethanol and then spray the resulting solutions onto a bunsen flame? Well you get some distinctively coloured flames (crimson red, green and orange), then if you're not careful, you set fire to the desk.

Different metals and metal compounds often give uniquely coloured flames when burned, based on each element's characteristic emission spectrum. For this reason they are commonly used in fireworks to get a variety of different colours during displays.

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