Flame test

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A flame test is an analytical procedure that can determine the presence of certain elements.

Procedure

A flame test is carried out by placing a sample on a clean wire (commonly made out of platinum or nichrome), and placing it in a hot non-luminous flame (one that does not exhibit black-body radiation).

Flame colors

Azure

  • Copper halides (copper(II) chloride)
  • Bismuth

Bluish-green

Brick red

Carmine

  • Lithium (violet through blue glass, invisible through green glass, masked by barium)

Crimson red

  • Radium

Emerald

Feeble green

Gray

Light blue

Orange

  • Calcium (greenish through blue glass, green through green glass, masked by barium)
  • Scandium

Pale blue

Pale green

  • Antimony

Pink

Pure green

Purple

Red

Red-violet

Scarlet

  • Strontium (violet through blue glass, yellowish through green glass, masked by barium)

Silvery-white

Violet

  • Potassium (masked easily)

White

Yellow

  • Sodium (masks everything, invisible through blue glass)

Yellowish-green

Spectroscopy

A mad scientist with a more technical bent can improve this technique by building a simple spectroscope, which decomposes the light from the flame into a spectrum. The advantages of spectroscopy is that it does not require any colored glass, all spectral lines are visible separately without them.

References

Relevant Sciencemadness threads