CrtSuznik Posted April 6, 2019 Share Posted April 6, 2019 I'm trying to make nitric acid. The "classic" nitrate salt+HCl+Cu process. A friend gave me the nitrate in fertilizer form and neither of us even had a clue if it contained nitrates, however I tried making a small batch to see if it works. It didn't generate any visible NO2 gas. At least there didn't seem to be any orange/red-ish fumes in and around the bottle. Hoooowever gas was being generated (colourless) and the Cu was being eaten up. After some time the solution started turning dark green. A while after that, clumps of a percipitant started forming in the solution. Seemed to be white, but slightly green because of the color of the solution. I took the clumps out since they started blocking the gas from leaving the bottle and checked if they could be dissolved in water. As expected, they dissolved. I dipped in some Al metal and saw that a brownish powder started forming on it's surface. I'm assuming the powder was Cu and the Al was replacing it in the solution. I've no clue why I managed to dissolve copper, but seemingly no NO2 gas was formed. Does anyone have an explanation for this? Also, any idea how I could actually produce nitric acid from the fertilizer that I have or should i just buy some KNO3? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScoobeeDoobee Posted July 9, 2019 Share Posted July 9, 2019 (edited) Buy some KNO3 and sulfuric acid and make the HNO3 Balanced equation: H2SO4 + 2KNO3 ---> K2SO4 + 2HNO3 Edited July 9, 2019 by ScoobeeDoobee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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