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valeg96
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How do I recognize metallic Nickel?
I have 3 strips of metal from a NiCd battery. How can I check if it's Nickel?
According to wikipedia:
-It's magnetic (yes)
-Has a silvery-gold shine (yes)
-melts at 1440°C (cannot verify)
Are there other tests? I tried putting it in a CuSO4 solution, and it didn't turn green as iron does, but it's not enough.. I can't come up
with any test for metallic nickel. Any idea? Thanks!
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Artemus Gordon
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Quote: Originally posted by valeg96  |
Are there other tests? I tried putting it in a CuSO4 solution, and it didn't turn green as iron does, but it's not enough.. I can't come up
with any test for metallic nickel. Any idea? Thanks! |
Iron should turn copper-colored when it is placed in a CuSO4 solution, because it does a redox reaction with the copper ions and metallic
copper will plate its surface. Perhaps you meant the solution turns green? Nickel, like Iron is more reactive than copper, so it should get
copper-plated too.
Wikipedia says NiCl2.(H2O)6 is green, but the anhydrite is yellow, so that seems like a good test. Also, I don't think Ni is as
susceptible to oxidizing anywhere near as fast as iron does. Put a nail in one test tube and your metal in another and add just a little NaCl solution
and see if they react similarly or not.
[Edited on 25-4-2014 by Artemus Gordon]
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Oscilllator
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Add nitric acid or a HCl/H2O2 mixture. If nickel is present, this should form a green solution of Ni2+. The fact that the metal is magnetic though is
a very strong indicator that what you have is nickel.
[Edited on 25-4-2014 by Oscilllator]
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Zyklon-A
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You won't find any metallic nickel in Ni-Cd batteries anyhow. A charged battery will have metallic cadmium and nickel oxide hydroxide. A dead battery
will have nickel hydroxide and cadmium hydroxide - elemental nickel is never present. (Ref.)
[Edited on 26-4-2014 by Zyklonb]
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alexleyenda
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I guess you ask this because you look for nickel... If you have any chance, come visit Canada, our 5, 10 and 25 cents coins made from 1968 to 1999
are 99,9% nickel :p Or just try to find some, maybe at an international money exchanger ?
[Edited on 25-4-2014 by alexleyenda]
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Brain&Force
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Nickel is magnetic, but only to a very small extent. It's ferromagnetic, but only poorly.
At the end of the day, simulating atoms doesn't beat working with the real things...
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valeg96
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| Quote: Originally posted by Artemus Gordon |
Wikipedia says NiCl2.(H2O)6 is green, but the anhydrite is yellow, so that seems like a good test. Also, I don't think Ni is as
susceptible to oxidizing anywhere near as fast as iron does. Put a nail in one test tube and your metal in another and add just a little NaCl solution
and see if they react similarly or not.
[Edited on 25-4-2014 by Artemus Gordon] |
I tried with HCl and it gives off a yellow solution. I'll try with H2O2 too. If it's not Ni at least i got some NiO(OH) from the same electrode and
some powdered Cd from the other one... Anyway, the solution didn't turn green (that's what i meant), but i'll check it later.
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valeg96
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| Quote: Originally posted by alexleyenda | I guess you ask this because you look for nickel... If you have any chance, come visit Canada, our 5, 10 and 25 cents coins made from 1968 to 1999
are 99,9% nickel :p Or just try to find some, maybe at an international money exchanger ?
[Edited on 25-4-2014 by alexleyenda] |
Some european pre euro coins are made of nickel too, but they are harc to find and you can't be sure of its purity. Pre euro dutch are said to be
pure, and pre 1980 french also. I have a couple, but being old ones... The international exchanger may be a good idea, even though they mostly
(almost only) change notes.
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HgDinis25
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Zyklonb is absolutly right. Many Ni/Cd batteries have Steel plates and strips, to hold the chemicals toghether.
To test between Iron/Steel or Nickel, dissolve your unknown metal in Nitric Acid. If it's Nickel it will produce Nickel (II) Nitrate (Greenish Blue in
color). If it's Iron it will produce Iron (III) Nitrate (ligh pink in color).
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valeg96
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| Quote: Originally posted by HgDinis25 | Zyklonb is absolutly right. Many Ni/Cd batteries have Steel plates and strips, to hold the chemicals toghether.
To test between Iron/Steel or Nickel, dissolve your unknown metal in Nitric Acid. If it's Nickel it will produce Nickel (II) Nitrate (Greenish Blue in
color). If it's Iron it will produce Iron (III) Nitrate (ligh pink in color). |
I'll dissolve my metal and a franc nickel coin to compare them better. Thanks!
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blogfast25
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Nickel won't dissolve in HCl alone, you need an oxidiser like H2O2 or HNO3 present.
But Iron would dissolve in HCl to green FeCl2, not yellow. In HCl + H2O2 to yellow FeCl3.
[Edited on 26-4-2014 by blogfast25]
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unionised
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Oh yes it does.
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Texium
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Here is a thread in which I was trying to identify a metal that ended up being nickel:
http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=29408
Maybe it could be of some help?
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HgDinis25
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| Quote: Originally posted by blogfast25 |
Nickel won't dissolve in HCl alone, you need an oxidiser like H2O2 or HNO3 present.
But Iron would dissolve in HCl to green FeCl2, not yellow. In HCl + H2O2 to yellow FeCl3.
[Edited on 26-4-2014 by blogfast25] |
"Nickel(II) chloride is produced by dissolving nickel or its oxide in hydrochloric acid." - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel
"The largest scale production of nickel chloride involves the extraction with hydrochloric acid of nickel matte and residues obtained from
roasting refining nickel-containing ores." - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel%28II%29_chloride
"Iron, cadmium, cobalt, nickel, tin and lead are not reactive with water, but can be dissolved with hydrochloric acid, displacing the hydrogen
from the HCl." - http://www.ehow.com/info_8106469_elements-react-hydrochloric...
Standar Reduction Potential Table:
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/tables/electpot.h...
Ni(s) --> Ni(+) + 2 e(-) 0,23 V
H(+) + 2 e(-) --> H2(g)
You get a positive voltage outcome, so the reaction occurs.
It appears you're wrong.
[Edited on 27-4-2014 by HgDinis25]
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elementcollector1
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Heh. Alright, HgDinis25, you got us. Now find the reaction rate. 
Elements Collected:52/87
Latest Acquired: Cl
Next in Line: Nd
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HgDinis25
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Always remember that the only one who doesn't make mistakes is the one who doesn't say anything.
Even when you know most of your reaction variables, finding an acurate reaction rate is hard. Now try to findo it without even knoing the nature of
your reagents...
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BromicAcid
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Amusingly when I go to scrap yards to ask for metals their go-to test is the spark test. They just hold the metal against an angle grinder and watch
the sparks, nickel if I recall gives no sparks.
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elementcollector1
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| Quote: Originally posted by HgDinis25 |
Always remember that the only one who doesn't make mistakes is the one who doesn't say anything.
Even when you know most of your reaction variables, finding an acurate reaction rate is hard. Now try to findo it without even knoing the nature of
your reagents... |
True enough.
To give you a hint, the rate of reaction is experimentally slow: I still have the leftover nickel foil scraps from when I dissolved
neodymium-iron-boron magnets in HCl - the dissolution taking a few days!
Elements Collected:52/87
Latest Acquired: Cl
Next in Line: Nd
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blogfast25
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My practical experience with nickel and non-oxidising acids is that it's very slow.
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HgDinis25
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Slow, yet existing.
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cyanureeves
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this topic has come up before and i believe thin stainless steel was found to be used in nickel cadmium batteries.i did manage one time to plate a
film of a mirror like skin using hydrochloric acid as dissolving solution. i never knew if the nickel salt was on the gray matter or darker matter in
the battery though. i thought the greenish gray stuff in the battery was the cadmium but i dont know.nickel is hell to dissolve with hydrochloric acid
and so is stainless steel,it might tint it green but dissolve it without heat,electricity or an oxidizer,i dont know.
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valeg96
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If that applies also to NiOOH that may explain why 2 tiny crumbles of it took hours to dissolve in 32% HCl...
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valeg96
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The darker crumbly and magnetic part is NiOOH and the greyish harder part is some Cd compound. The Cd compound is harder to remove, and after a lot of
scratching I lost my temper and safely burnt it all, getting crumbly brown CdO. I still can't find a use for NiOOH, though.
[Edited on 27-4-2014 by valeg96]
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Zyklon-A
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Cadmium is why I take apart these batteries, nickel is easy to get. Cadmium isn't as easy, so I think Cd is a better find anyway.
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blogfast25
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So slow it's impractical.
Example: I've dissolved loads of Nd magnet scrap in conc. hot HCl in the past. The magnets have a considerable gauge of Ni coating. I crush up the
magnets (after demagnetising them) slightly, then let the acid do the work. I find the nickel coatings back, almost unaltered and in their original
shapes.
Nitric acid is by far the best solvent for nickel. I've tried blends too: sulphuric/nitric for instance. Well, it's quite simple: once the nitric has
been depleted the dissolution stalls.
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