S3 Chemistry Notes Topic I Planet Earth

Tests for chemical substances

 Chemical test: A method that make use of a chemical reaction to __________ a particular substance in a
sample.
 A type of chemical analysis.

Test for oxygen

 Put a glowing splint in oxygen, the glowing splint relights.
 This is because oxygen __________ burning.

Test for carbon dioxide

 When carbon dioxide is passed through limewater, limewater turns milky.
 This is because white insoluble __________________ is formed.
 Chemical equation for the formation of milky suspension:
Equation :

 If excess carbon dioxide is continuously passed into the limewater, the milky solution will become
colourless.
Equation :

S3 Chemistry test for substances, page 1

Class Practice 1
Can we distinguish between carbon dioxide and nitrogen using a burning splint?

Test for presence of metal cations

 We can do the ______________ to test the presence of a cation.
 Procedure:
Cleaning a platinum wire
o Dip the end of the platinum wire with concentrated hydrochloric acid
o Heat the end of the platinum wire in a non-luminous flame.
o Repeat 1 & 2 until it shows non-characteristic flame colour.
Doing a flame test
o Moisten a clean platinum wire with _____________________________________ .
o Dip the wire into a crushed sample.
o Heat the end of the wire strongly in a _________________ flame.
 Results
Flame colour Inference
Potassium or potassium ion K+
Sodium or sodium ion Na+
Calcium or calcium ion Ca2+
Copper or copper(II) ion Cu2+
Barium or barium ion Ba2+

K+ Na+ Ca2+ Cu2+ Ba2+

S3 Chemistry test for substances, page 2

Test for halide ions (Cl-, Br-, I-)
To test the presence of a halide ions, we can do the _________________ test.
 Procedure:
o Dissolve the sample in _________________ (for solid sample only)
o Add excess dilute _______________ to the solution to be tested
o Add ___________________ of silver nitrate solution.
 Results
Compound containing Observable change
Chloride ion
Bromide ion
Iodide ion

Test for the presence of water in a sample

 Test by anhydrous copper(II) sulphate
 water turns anhydrous CuSO4 from _______ to _______
 Test by dry cobalt chloride paper
 water turns dry CoCl2 paper from _______ to _______

Test for the purity of water

 Boiling point test (physical test)
 Pure water has a sharp boiling point, 100oC at r.t.p..

Class Practice 2
A student identifies an unknown salt by performing flame test and silver nitrate test. The observations of the
tests are shown below.
Test Observations
Flame test Lilac flame is observed
Silver nitrate test Pale yellow precipitate forms
(a) Describe the procedure of the flame test.

S3 Chemistry test for substances, page 3

(b) What can be concluded form the observation of the flame test?

(c) What can be concluded from the observation of the silver nitrate test?

(d) Name the unknown salt.

Test for carbonate ions

 Add dilute acid (e.g. hydrochloric acid) to the sample
 Colourless gas (carbon dioxide) which _____________________________ released if it contains
carbonate ions
Equation :

Class Practice 3
A sample of white solid was tested and the results are shown below.
Test Observations
Flame test brick-red flame is observed
Addition of dilute hydrochloric acid Colourless gas bubbles of carbon dioxide evolve
(a) What can be concluded from the results of the tests?

(b) From the results of the tests, can you conclude that the sample of white solid was pure calcium
carbonate? Explain your answer.

S3 Chemistry test for substances, page 4