Bender Posted April 28, 2017 Share Posted April 28, 2017 I galvanised a nail by putting it in a zinc sulfate solution with a piece of zinc and putting a voltage over them. For the sake of experimentation, I reversed the polarity to see what happens, but now the solution is brown. My best guess is that now I also have iron ions in it. I was wondering whether there was a quick and easy way to get the iron out again, while leaving the zinc in. It is not terribly important, but would satisfy my curiosity. One thing I found was waiting for the oxygen in the air to oxidise the iron to form an iron oxide precipitation that can be filtered out. Would that work in a zinc sulfate solution? Does that take a long time? Is there something else I could throw in the solution to form a precipitation with the iron, but not with the zinc? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Cuthber Posted April 29, 2017 Share Posted April 29, 2017 A simple answer would be to add some more galvanised nails. Zn + FeSO4 --> Fe + ZnSO4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bender Posted April 29, 2017 Author Share Posted April 29, 2017 That is indeed very simple Thanks. Wouldn't it take a long time? Would it help to heat up the solution? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bender Posted May 5, 2017 Author Share Posted May 5, 2017 To conclude this: leaving it rest for a week resulted in a rusty brown precipitation that I could filter out, leaving a pretty clear solution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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