observer1 Posted January 27 Share Posted January 27 So i searched some fireworks and found one which contains only sulfur and some silvery metal pieces. I added NaOH into it and the metal pieces started bubbling and turned black and the gas that came was not that smelly but was chocking the thing i wanted to do was to take a mix of solid NaOH and the powder and add water to it so that the heat from NaOH dissolving could help react NaOH and sulfur to make Na2S and Na2S2O3 so my doubt is what could the metal be? properties:- silvery reacts with NaOH and becomes black releases some gas when reacted with NaOH Brittle used in fireworks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheVat Posted January 27 Share Posted January 27 Probably aluminum. Aluminum is amphoteric. It interacts with acids and bases to form a salt and hydrogen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer1 Posted January 28 Author Share Posted January 28 do they really keep it in fireworks? any way to see if it really is aluminium? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chenbeier Posted January 28 Share Posted January 28 Do an Analyse of it. Dissolve in acid and use alizarin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sensei Posted January 28 Share Posted January 28 On 1/27/2024 at 3:53 PM, TheVat said: Probably aluminum. Aluminum is amphoteric. It interacts with acids and bases to form a salt and hydrogen. ..all good, except Aluminum compounds are generally white.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_aluminate He said: On 1/27/2024 at 1:14 PM, observer1 said: I added NaOH into it and the metal pieces started bubbling and turned black.. Check whether hydrogen was released by the flame.. On 1/27/2024 at 1:14 PM, observer1 said: and the gas that came was not that smelly but was chocking Hydrogen gas does not smell, and is not chocking.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Cuthber Posted January 28 Share Posted January 28 If you dissolve "aluminium" in alkali it turns black because other elements present in the alloy (notably copper) don't dissolve and very finely powdered metals are black. Hydrogen gas is not "choking" but a spray of sodium hydroxide solution is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarvianRoid Posted February 20 Share Posted February 20 (edited) Hi, currently I also do some experiments with NaOH, just looking for info here and found this topic. About a year ago, I also disassembled fireworks, so that silvery stuff in your fireworks that reacts with NaOH is probably an alkali metal, like strontium or lithium or more likely aluminum. These guys are famous for their shiny look, how they react with bases like NaOH, and for making fireworks light up in different colors. The black stuff left behind? That could be an oxide. As for the gas, it might be hydrogen or something with sulfur in it. If you're still not sure, I'd say hit the books or read some online materials like https://edubirdie.com/docs/harvard-university/chem-40-inorganic-chemistry you're never too old to learn, trust me! Just remember to be careful when messing around with chemicals and stick to the safety rules. It is better to be more careful with flammable substances (unfortunately, I know this from my own experience) But I think in general it's a problem to find information about it on the Internet, because fireworks are easily accessible and therefore become a great material for research Edited February 20 by HarvianRoid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exchemist Posted February 20 Share Posted February 20 42 minutes ago, HarvianRoid said: Hi, currently I also do some experiments with NaOH, just looking for info here and found this topic. About a year ago, I also disassembled fireworks, so that silvery stuff in your fireworks that reacts with NaOH is probably an alkali metal, like strontium or lithium or more likely aluminum. These guys are famous for their shiny look, how they react with bases like NaOH, and for making fireworks light up in different colors. The black stuff left behind? That could be an oxide. As for the gas, it might be hydrogen or something with sulfur in it. If you're still not sure, I'd say hit the books or read some online materials like https://edubirdie.com/docs/harvard-university/chem-40-inorganic-chemistry you're never too old to learn, trust me! Just remember to be careful when messing around with chemicals and stick to the safety rules. It is better to be more careful with flammable substances (unfortunately, I know this from my own experience) But I think in general it's a problem to find information about it on the Internet, because fireworks are easily accessible and therefore become a great material for research Not an alkali metal, as all of these react pretty violently with oxygen in the air. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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