- #1
JeffEvarts
- 74
- 7
I wanted to do a demo of fractional crystallization that would have a nice visual result. I had intended to make a saturated solution of ferric chloride, nickel chloride, and sodium chloride, put the solution in a very broad shallow petri dish, and allow natural evap to produce concentric colored rings. Each chloride has at least a 2x difference in solubility from the next.
The yellow band (ferric, 60g/100ml) outide the green band (nickel, 300g/100ml) outside the white band (sodium, 650g/ml) - it seemed simple and elegant.
Unfortunately, nickel and ferric chloride are "dangerous", so chemical companies won't ship them to non-business, non-educational addresses. :( I am NOT trying to get around the law here, nor am I soliciting someone to do so.
I'm asking two questions:
1) Would this experiment have worked, or do I misunderstand fractional distillation?
2) Are there safer chemicals that would yield the same results?
Disclaimer: I am a chemistry noob. I used all chlorides because I didn't want cross reactions between the chemicals to spoil the fun, and the carbonates and hydroxides I found weren't sufficiently soluble to make the experiment practical.
The yellow band (ferric, 60g/100ml) outide the green band (nickel, 300g/100ml) outside the white band (sodium, 650g/ml) - it seemed simple and elegant.
Unfortunately, nickel and ferric chloride are "dangerous", so chemical companies won't ship them to non-business, non-educational addresses. :( I am NOT trying to get around the law here, nor am I soliciting someone to do so.
I'm asking two questions:
1) Would this experiment have worked, or do I misunderstand fractional distillation?
2) Are there safer chemicals that would yield the same results?
Disclaimer: I am a chemistry noob. I used all chlorides because I didn't want cross reactions between the chemicals to spoil the fun, and the carbonates and hydroxides I found weren't sufficiently soluble to make the experiment practical.