Ion Tests

Question 1

What are ‘Flame’ tests carried out on?

Answer 1

• Iconic Substances

Question 2

Where are the most intense colours obtained from?

Answer 2

• From solids, but flame tests also work when the solids are dissolved in water

Question 3

What have flame tests done to chemistry?

Answer 3

• Led to the discovery of new elements

Question 4

What did Bunsen and Kirchoff do?

Answer 4

• In 1860, they used simple spectroscopy to study the light given off in flame tests by some samples of mineral waters

Question 5

How did Bunsen and Kirchoff use their equipment?

Answer 5

• They used a prism to separate light into spectrum

Question 6

What did they see from the prism?

Answer 6

• A grey-blue colour that had not been seen before

Question 7

So what did this colour discovery show?

Answer 7

• That Bunsen and Kirchoff had discovered a new element called caesium after the latin word for sky blue

Question 8

What did Bunsen and Kirchoff do a year later?

Answer 8

• They repeated their experiment and discovered another new element, this time called rudibum after the latin word for dark red