in our chem experiment we combined sulfur and iron in a test tube... it stained and we were suppose to replace the test tube... what chemical would take away this stain?

Iron sulfide, tough to clean

 

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6887840.html

 

But if this is a homework question, you could heat it to its melting point and pour it out

 

and if you're up for a bit of lite reading... http://www.wipo.int/pctdb/en/wo.jsp?wo=2007038403&IA=WO2007038403&DISPLAY=DESC

 

I remember we did this expiriment in my introductory year of chemistry and my teacher said that there was nothing we could do to clean it, but that might have just been because she was a bitter hateful mean stupid dumb teacher that would never do anything interesting for us.....

 

</evil past thoughts>

would a long soak in a base bath followed by physical scrubbing do the job?

You know, that's what I origionally thought..... I just couldn't find any support for it online

You know, that's what I origionally thought..... I just couldn't find any support for it online

 

Nor could I. That's why I worded my post as a question rather than a statement of advice. I had a quick skim round and one of the pages I found had a sentance connecting ammonia and disolving Iron Sulphide/ates so that got me thinking that my origional thought about the base bath might be OK.

 

I'd leave it in there for a couple of days to soak and then scrub it up to see what happens.

What soluble form could a base bath convert the iron into?

It's quite possible that the heat of the Fe +S reaction will have partly melted the glass in which case cleaning it won't help.

On the other hand, if it's just got FeS stuck to it, then you need something that will dissolve FeS.

What is the classic way of making H2S in a lab?

Oxalic acid is usually pretty good at shifting iron stains and even potassium permanganate stains!