Inorganic Chemistry

Why is it that radium emits heat and so the sample is always a few degrees warmer than its surroundings? Any explanation? Also, what other elements or compounds exhibit this behavior? Are there any others besides radium? Thanks a lot for any answers.

my inorganic chem lecturer informed us today that while no neutral compounds containing helium and neon have been discovered there are a few ionic compunds containing these elements. anybody know any of their chemistry? i assume that they are prety unstable

I've tried to create 100% hydrochloric acid a few times, but I don't seem to have succeeded. I boiled muriatic acid (~30% HCl) and put it through a home-made condenser, but the liquid I ended up with wasn't pure acid (at least I don't think so). I read somewhere that HCl is a gas at room temperature, so it must be dissolved in the water. Does this make creating pure acid impossible (without using extensive amounts of pressure)?

Not shure if this is better here or in the physics section but I guess it kind of fits into both of them! Why is it a certain ratio of neutrons to protons is stable and another one is unstable? What makes it unstable because the Neutrons contribute no charge so why would they be unstable in that way? Cheers, Ryan Jones

Is there any way to make the crystals at home, or do they need extreme pressure and heat? Also, what exactly is piezoelectricity?

One of my science teachers wanted me to synthesize a lot of copper compounds to show the color variety form one element and I went to synthesize Copper Carbonate via electrolysis. I looked for the msds for Copper Carbonate and for the formula it gives me CuCO3 Cu(OH)2 . So why is Hydroxide mixed in there? Is it impossible to synthesize pure CuCO3? More importantly, Did I synthesize this Copper Carbonate basic or jsut Cu(OH)2? Specs. Copper anode/cathode. 2 beakers with salt bridge NaHCO3 solution. 12 Votls... I have a bright blue precipitate.

I recently made some Iron (III) Chloride by placing an iron nail in a solution of hydrochloric acid. The resulting solution was yellow, which is odd because I read somewhere that the iron chloride solutions were usually brown. So I decided to boil the solution in hopes of obtaining iron chloride as a solid. This solid came out a much darker brown. Did I do something wrong? Did another reaction occur as I heated the solution? Or do I really have a solid sample of FeCl3?

hey, why do the colours of the halogens change from Fluorine to Iodine?

Last week I made some KBrO3 by means of electrolysis of NaBr and crystallizing this with KCl. See this thread on SFN: http://www.scienceforums.net/forums/showthread.php?t=16254 This stuff is too violent for pyro-experiments, so I searched for another use of this. I converted this stuff to pure bromine by adding NaBr and hydrochloric acid and the resulting bromine I collected in a small vial: http://woelen.scheikunde.net/science/chem/compounds/bromine.html Unfortunately I see no good way to store it for any length of time, so I used it for experiments. One of the experiments is so nice, that I want to share it with others: http://woelen.scheikunde.net/s…

this is the third re-electrolysis or my barium chlorate, eventualy it becomes Perchlorate. if we have a group 1 metal, like Sodium for example, typicaly it goes; mCl, mOCl, mClO3, mClO4. but what happens if electrolysis of a perchlorate is allowed to continue? does the water then just split as H and O? does that Chlorine get ripped off entirely leaving the m-hyroxide? anyone know or tried this?

Is Ozone polarized?

I recently got this bottle of granulated magnesium nitrate. I was just wondering if it behaves similarly to ammonium nitrate or potassium nitrate, ie. mixing it with sugar or aluminum and releasing immense volumes of gas?

Why is there a chemical reaction when baking soda and vinegar are mixed together? I've always thought that the acid in vinegar breaks down each compound into individual atoms. the oxygen in the water from vinegar joins with the carbon from baking soda making carbon dioxide. Other oxygen atoms remain with hydrogen keeping some water. The salt from from the baking soda is dissolved into the water making acidic salt water. Am i right? If I'm not please tell me what really happens. Thanks.

I've always liked radioactive elements, and I've read a lot on the different radioisotopes of various elements. Lately I've been reading about Tritium. Supposedly Tritium is made with Hydrogen-1 by means of neutron capture. This, I believe would make Triton gas. I've read about the safety of Tritium in gaseous form (I've even seen some mathematical formulas that show how quickly air flushes it out) and it seems pretty safe as long as you're careful. My question is, if it is practical to make Triton gas via neutron capture, do the neutrons have to be slowed? Since Hydrogen itself is a moderator of neutrons I'd imagine it would not have to be slowed down. My basi…

I just have to say that this is the neatest thing I've seen. I recently purchased a one ounce palladium Maple Leaf coin to go with my one ounce ingot of Pd that I already own. Knowing that palladium absorbs hydrogen gas, I decided to see if this was true. I set up a balance using a flat piece of wood and a metal 'triangle' for the wood to balance on. I then put a one ounce sample of silver on one end and my palladium one ounce bar on the other end. The piece of wood balanced perfectly on the metal stand for it. I then went and marked where the balance point was and tried to balance other things to make sure the balance apparatus worked. It did. So I then went a…

How do you get Iron(III) chloride from a solution of acidified Iron(II) sulphate. Please ensure there's no sulphate ion left. What does "Oxidizing flame" mean?

Whilst purifying some charcoal (acid/base/acid) to get rid of any metal ions and other impurities, I got to wondering about Activated Charcoal and perhaps using it for Gas or Liquid purification instead of my usual Pyro uses for it. I`ve done a alot of searching about it and haven`t really come up with anything conclusive, apparently my method (ABA) is fine for activating charcoal, but it mentions heating it also. some say 110c some 300c some say 700c etc... for an hour. so which is it? is my method good enough that only good drying is needed, or do I need to do the steam or CO2 thing etc... as well?

Question: In copper sulfate, there are clearly two modes of binding of hydrated water. What are they? What is the structure of CuSo4.5H2O? Who first determined this structure and how? It is a difficult question for me.

When an Alkyne reacts with H2 gas over a Lindlar catalyst, the reaction stops (according to what I have read, and what my professor has said) at the alkene - it does not proceed to the alkane, whereas with a catalyist like PtO2, it will reduce the element all the way down to an alkane (at least, in some cases, as I understand it). Is the difference in the mechanism the electophilic nature of the catalyst? Is a Lindlar catalyst electrophilic enough to attract a triple bond, but not enough to lock onto a double bond? The sources I have read talk about "poisoning" the catalyst, and this confuses me. Is it a different catalyst (a "weakened" palladium?) that nevertheless a…

I did a practical in school 2day about electrochemical cells, using a variety of metals and salt solution. I decided to open a thread on how they can be made more efficient, different designs, anamolous finds, etc. I come to understand that the larger the difference between the electrodes, the larger the potential difference/ voltage. So we used a Magnesium strip and a graphite rod, giving a voltmeter reading of 1.4 V. I was surprised, as I didn't know it was this easy... But when I subbed the voltmeter with a filament bulb, there was hardly any effect, except for a very,very, dim glow... I think the reason for this was a very low current. So how to increase…

i have one question.. actually, all electrochemical reactions on electrode are related to metal.. Not oxide. oxide is resistance. it is NOT electrode. Although oxide is not electrocatalyst, in the case of oxide coated electrode, cell performance was increased. Why? in my opinion.. oxide can not participate in electrochemical reaction. But it can modify metal energy level. Right? what is the effect of oxide for electrode reaction?

What is the easiest way to store and transport dry ice.

I have done quite some electrolysis experiments of halogenide solutions (NaCl, NaBr, NaI) with graphite anodes and i have observed the following things: 1) At low voltage, the halogen is mainly formed at the anode. With bromide and iodide, the electrolysis can be totally free of bubbling oxygen from the anode. 2) At higher voltage, a side reaction occurs, in which oxygen is formed. When this occurs, there also is considerable pulverization of the anode. 3) After a long time of electrolysis and mixing, also more oxygen is formed at the anode, also with bromide and iodide. This formation of oxygen is associated with pulverization of the anode. 4) The current depends on …

I've got some Barium carbonate. (got it about a year ago, thinking I could do something with it) Well I've been reading (a little). It seems I can make hydrogen peroixde from it. by heating the Barium carbonate -----> Barium peroxide. Then add this to sulphuric acid. But I've not got anymore informationnon that, but thats just something I've read, I've got h202 anyway. But is there a way to change this into barium chlorate? PS I'v now read it 2x that sulphuric acid isnt needed, hummmm....

I'm wondering why all those people want to make KClO3 as oxidizer for pyrotechnic compositions. NaClO3 can be made in electrolysis cells from NaCl and then be precipitated out as KClO3. I have done some experiments now with NaBr, instead of NaCl and I was really nicely surprised to see how easily one can make KBrO3 from this! Electrolysis of NaBr has quite some advantages over electrolysis of NaCl. 1) No trouble with gaseous chlorine gas, which corrodes all things like hell in the neighborhood of the cell and also inside the cell. Any bromine formed remains in solution, it sinks to the bottom and does not bubble. Sometimes the cell contents need to be mixed well …