Testing Nickel (II) Sulphate, Iron (III) Chloride, Potassium Sulphate

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  1. Nickel (II) Sulphate (NiSO4)

Iron (III) Chloride (FeCl3)

Potassium Sulphate (K2SO4)

  1. Describe the bonding present in the molecule.  

The bonding present in all three molecules is ‘Ionic bonding’. This type of bonding occurs when a positively charged (cation) and a negatively charged (anion) ion are attracted. It typically occurs between a metal and a non-metal. The bond’s structure is strong and rigid.

Nickel (II) Sulphate: Nickel (II) (Ni+2) is the cation, whereas Sulphate (SO4-2) is the polyatomic anion.

Iron (III) Chloride: Iron (III) (Fe+3) is the cation, whereas Chloride (Cl-1) is the anion.

Potassium Sulphate: Potassium (K+), whereas Sulphate (SO4-2) is the polyatomic anion.

  1. Explain how the cation tests work, use equations.

-Appearance: The elements of group 1, 2 and 3 appear to be white whereas, transition metals appear coloured. Potassium is a group 1 element; therefore, its colour is white. This is because group 1 elements do not possess a d orbital that the electrons can move between by absorbing light and allowing various colours to be observed. Transition metals have at least one stable ion that contain d orbitals which are incompletely filled with electrons. Their colours vary on the metal ion charge and the number of ligands (groups of atoms) which are attached to them. For example, Nickel appears to be green with a charge of +2. Iron appears to be brown with a charge of +3.

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-Flame Test:

Potassium gave the flame colour lilac. Its electron configuration is:

1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 4s1; for example, an electron in the s sublevel on the energy level 4, could leap into a sublevel in the energy level 5, and could directly jump back into the 4s level which could give out the certain amount of energy that will enable us to observe the flame colour lilac.

Iron (III) gave the flame colour bright yellow; this could be due to contamination, normally no specific colour is observed when a flame test is done for Iron (III). Its electron configuration ...

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