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The Flame Test

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• Flame Jetting

The Flame Test is a safer version of the traditional Rainbow Demonstration , an exercise popularly conducted in chemistry classrooms. The purpose of The Flame Test is to demonstrate to students the variety of colors produced when different metals or salts meet a flame. It contributes to their understanding of:

• Electromagnetic Spectrum
• Atomic structure
• Atomic spectra
• Visible light spectrum

Back-to-School Safety

• Joint Statement from the CSB and ACS: The Importance of Laboratory Safety in the Classroom  [PDF]
• Guidelines for Chemical Laboratoy Safety in Secondary Schools [PDF]

A Safer "Rainbow Flame" Demo for the Classroom

Developed by the American Association of Chemistry Teachers (AACT)

By the end of this demonstration, students should be able to:

• Use flame tests to identify a metal or metallic salt by the color that it produces when it is put into a flame.
• Calculate the frequency of light given its wavelength.
• Calculate the wavelength of light given its frequency.
• Identify an unknown metal by the color it emits when passed through a flame.

Instructions for Conducting the Flame Test

Exercise extreme caution around large containers of flammable liquids in the presence of an ignition source. Flame jetting can occur, causing flames to shoot out 15 feet or more.

More about Flame Jetting

Companion Resources for the Flame Test

• Playing with Fire: Chemical Safety Expertise Required ( Journal of Chemical Education - free access through 2018)
• Safety Data Sheets: Information That Could Save Your Life ( ChemMatters )
• Teacher's Guide [DOCX] ( ChemMatters )
• Key Lessons for Preventing Incidents from Flammable Chemicals in Educational Demonstrations (Chemical Safety Board)

More about the Traditional Rainbow Demonstration

Notice: ACS's Committee on Chemical Safety recommends that the “Rainbow” demonstration on open benches involving the use of flammable solvents such as methanol be discontinued immediately due to extreme risk of flash fires and flame jetting.  

• Safety Alert: The Rainbow Demonstration [PDF] (ACS, Committee on Chemical Safety)
• How To Make Chemistry Classroom Demonstrations And Experiments Safer ( C&EN )

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You are here: Home > Activities > Flame tests

What's it all about?

You can be an analytical chemist or forensic scientist in this activity. You can discover the different coloured flames made by metal ions, and use these to work out the identity of the metal ions in some ‘unknown’ salt solutions.

Download the pdf file (sheets and notes)

Student notes

• cleaning the wire
• observing flame colours
• identifying the metal ions in “unknown” solutions

Cleaning the wire

First make sure that you have a clean flame test wire. Do this by holding the metal loop in the hottest part of the Bunsen burner flame. If it is clean, there should be no change in the colour of the flame when the metal loop is put in it.

If it is not clean, clean it by dipping it into the concentrated acid provided, then holding the loop in the Bunsen burner flame. Repeat this cleaning until there is no more change in the colour of the flame.

Observing flame colours

The next job is to do your flame tests. Dip the flame test loop into one of the known test solutions, then hold the metal loop in the edge of the Bunsen burner flame. Make a note of the  colour  of the flame on your  Flame Test Chart  (a simple version is shown below).

Clean the flame test wire, then test another known test solution. Keep going until you have recorded the colour of all of the known solutions. Get your results checked.

Søren Wedel Nielsen , CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Identifying metal ions

Compare the flame test colours so you can work out which metal ions are present in each unknown solution.

Søren Wedel Nielsen , CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Teacher Guide

Activity notes.

The activity is most easily carried out using different stations, one for each solution and with labelled flame test loops. This avoids the need to clean the flame test loops, and is desirable if adequate supervision of the students cannot be obtained. If required, the flame test wires can be cleaned between each test by dipping in hydrochloric acid and heating. Sodium ions in particular are difficult to remove, and students will end up thinking everything contains sodium or makes a yellow flame! The expected colours are shown in the table below.

When considering carrying out a practical activity with a class, you must check your local health and safety rules. Make an appropriate risk assessment and try the activity yourself first.

Technician notes

In the lab:

Flame test charts (1 per student)

In test tubes, approximately 0.5 M solutions of:

lithium chloride (labelled Li + ) sodium chloride (labelled Na + ) potassium chloride (labelled K + ) calcium chloride (labelled Ca 2+ ) copper(II) chloride (labelled Cu 2+ )

Four of these five solutions as unknowns (labelled 1, 2, 3 and 4)

Maintain stocks of these solutions for replenishment.

Copyright © 2000-2024   Nigel Saunders

Commercial copying, hiring, lending is prohibited. Permission granted to reproduce for personal and educational use only.

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Flame Test – Colorful Elements

Burning metals reveal themselves from unexpected, awesome colors in a simple flame test.

Print this Experiment

Blue, orange, and yellow flames are pretty common. What about green or purple flames? When you’re used to the everyday colors of flames, colorful changes like these can be pretty cool. These surprising colors are the result of the presence of specific metals in the burning material. Here are a couple of household materials that contain metals that are easily seen and identifiable in a Flame Test.

Experiment Videos

Here's What You'll Need

2 popsicle sticks, cream of tartar, small glass dish for each powder tested, flame source, small cup of water, container of water to douse the flame, adult supervision, let's try it.

Pour a little powder to test into each small dish. Dip one end of a popsicle stick into the water to moisten it.

Dip the wetted popsicle stick into the boric acid. Coat the tip of the stick completely.

It helps to dim the lights in your lab so the colors are easier to see. Light the flame and place the boric acid-covered popsicle stick into the flame. Move the flame under the stick to find the best color. Look for an unexpected color in portions of the flame. An assistant could take a picture of it. Douse the flame in the large container of water.

Dip the end of another popsicle stick in water. Coat the tip with the cream of tartar.

Follow the procedure in Step 3 for this test. You may see some surprising flashes. This color is harder to see but it’s there.

How Does It Work

This activity is called a flame test and it’s a real procedure used in labs. Its purpose is to identify specific elements in a material. When the boric acid was in the flame, you probably notice a bright green portion of the flame. You may have seen it only briefly but it was there. The green color denotes the presence of the element boron (B) which you’d expect in boric acid. The cream of tartar yielded a purple-colored flame. Purple is associated with the presence of potassium (K). That’s because cream of tartar is a potassium salt.

These element-specific colors are catalogued in an emission spectrum. The emission spectral color of an element occurs when certain electrons in an atom are excited to a higher energy level and then make a transition from that level to their normal energy state. In that downward transition, energy is released as a photon of light at a specific wavelength of color. The hiding element is revealed by color!

Colors of Other Elements

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Chemistry Experiment: Flame Tests (Li, Na, K, Ba, Sr & Cu)

Shane O'Brien

To carry out flame tests with salts of lithium, sodium, potassium, barium, strontium and copper.

• Light a bunsen burner and adjust it to obtain a blue flame.
• Dip the wooden splint in water and add one of the salt to it so it sticks on.
• Place the wooden splint over the flame to observe the colour of the flame.
• After the salt has finished burning put the flame out and take note of the colour.
• Repeat this for all the different salts.
• Lithium – Deep red
• Sodium – Yellow
• Potassium – Lilac
• Barium – Green
• Strontium – Red
• Copper – Blue-Green
• As the excited electrons fall to the ground state, they release energy in the form of light which gives each metal salts their characteristic colour.
• To determine the metal salt of an unknown substance compare the colour of the flame with a known salt.
• To prevent cross contamination use separate wooden splints.
• Uses: These salts are used in fireworks to release flares of different colours.

Video demonstration

Aaron Keller, Chemistry Teacher, demonstrates the different colours that can be produced in a flame by the use of different metallic salts. When ions of the metallic elements in each salt are heated their electrons become excited. Excited electrons drop back down to lower energy levels and release light of very specific colours in the process. This makes for a beautiful demonstration and colourful fireworks.

Thanks a million!

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Introduction

The flame test is one of the most commonly used analytical processes in chemistry. It is widely used to detect and analyze the presence of certain elements in the given salt or compound. Primarily, the flame test detects the presence of metal ions in a compound, and as ions of each element have a specific characteristic based in their emission spectrum, the flame test for every element is different and distinctive.

This distinction is shown by the color of flames given out when the salt containing certain metal ions is burnt.

It is important to note here that the emission spectrum of each element that determines the flame color involves atoms instead of ions. The transition of electrons in the atoms tends to produce the visible color lines which are seen in the flame test.

Chemistry Behind Flame Test

The chemistry behind the flame test is simple. As we know that when an atom or ion is excited by heating to high temperatures, the electrons are promoted from their normal unexcited state into other orbitals, known as higher orbitals, as they have higher energy as compared to the normal or ground state orbitals.

When these excited electron falls back down to lower levels which can happen simultaneously or in several steps, the energy they have absorbed is released. This energy is released in the form of light.

Each jump involves the release of a specific amount of energy in the form of light. And each transition from higher to lower orbital corresponds to a frequency or wavelength.

All these jumps or transitions result in the formation of a spectrum of lines. Some of these lines are part of the visible part of the spectrum.

And the final color we see is a combination of all these individual colors. This color is the distinctive color of the element we observe in the flame test.

For instance, in the case of potassium or sodium ions or many other metal ions, the transition of electrons involves very high energies. This result in lines that fall in the UV part of the spectrum which is invisible to the naked eye.

This explains the role of atoms rather than ions to be the basis of flame test.

And the jumps we can see in flame tests are due to falling of electrons from a higher to a lower level in the metal atoms.

When we put sodium chloride, containing sodium ions, into a flame, the sodium atoms are formed as a result of certain sodium ions that regain their electrons and produce neutral sodium atoms again.

The orbitals and their configuration are very important features in each element with respect to a flame test.   

The structure of the unexcited state of sodium atom 1s 2 2s 2 2p 6 3s 1 and within the flame, there are different sorts of excited states of the electrons.

Sodium gives a bright orange-yellow flame color. This results from promoted electrons falling back from the 3p 1 level to their normal 3s 1 level.

The exact size of the potential energy jumps varies from one metal to another.

This means that each metal will have a different pattern of spectral lines, and so have a distinct flame color.

The elements of the Group1 are the easiest metals that can be accurately identified using the flame test.

For other metals, flame test does not provide a definitive identification, however, it gives a general idea of the probable compound.

Practical Process Detail

The procedure of this test is simple as it involves introducing sample of the compound or element to a non-luminous, hot flame, and examining the color of the resulting flame.

The flame test is an easy experiment to set up and is often conducted in science classes.

The principle of the test is that the atoms of the sample evaporate and as they are hot, they give off light when present in the flame.

A mixture of samples of a large amount of sample can also emit light. But such light is not good for identification analysis.

As described earlier, the individual atoms of a sample that are present in the flame emit light due to the transitions of electron between different atomic energy levels. Such transitions emit light that has very specific frequencies, and which is the characteristic of the chemical element.

Hence, the flame gets the color. And it is determined by the characteristics and properties of the chemical element of the material that is introduced into the flame.

There are certain points that need to be followed to obtain precise results in a flame test.

For instance, the samples are carried on a platinum wire, which is repeatedly cleaned with hydrochloric acid (HCl) to remove traces of any elements.

The compound to be assessed is usually made into a paste with concentrated hydrochloric acid, as it is volatile, and give good quality results.

It is also recommended to use different flames to avoid errors in the results due to contaminated flames, and to confirm the precision of the color.

The presence of sodium is considered as a common component in many compounds. And its spectrum is likely to dominate the light spectrum of other elements. To avoid this, the test flame is often viewed using a cobalt blue glass that filters out the yellow of sodium and allows the accurate presentation of color of other metal.

Flame Test Results of Common Elements

Here is the list of most common elements that are detected through the flame test. They have a distinct emission spectrum that allows them to show specific colored flame in a flame test. However, the colors given in the table are only a guide as colors are perceived differently by different people.

Certain precious metals, including platinum, titanium, palladium, gold, and silver do not produce a distinctive flame color. However, some can produce sparks when exposed to hot flame.

Safety Notes

The flame test can be dangerous if proper protocol and safety measures are not taken. It is advised to use good safety techniques.  We should wear a chemical apron and good quality chemical splash resistant goggles. It is also important that we practice the flame test under the supervision of a teacher.  

https://www.soinc.org/sites/default/files/uploaded_files/flametest.pdf

Please rate these notes

Step-by-step in­struc­tions

Sprin­kle 10 g of salts into the alu­minum cups (for ex­am­ple the kind used as can­dle hold­ers). Then add 5-10 g of 96% ethyl al­co­hol, light it. Af­ter a while the flame of the al­co­hol will turn dif­fer­ent col­ors.

Pro­cess­es de­scrip­tion

Many ions of met­als and non-met­als turn flame dif­fer­ent col­ors. This is be­cause when heat­ed, atoms move to an ex­cit­ed (or un­sta­ble) state. When they re­turn to their orig­i­nal (sta­ble) state, the ex­cess of ac­cu­mu­lat­ed en­er­gy is re­leased in the form of light of a cer­tain wave­length, which is char­ac­ter­ized by the col­or we ob­serve. This amaz­ing prop­er­ty is used to make col­ored fire­works, in qual­i­ta­tive anal­y­sis of min­er­als, as a cer­tain ion cor­re­sponds to a cer­tain wave­length of col­or emit­ted. For ex­am­ple, sodi­um ions give a yel­low col­or, which we can ob­serve when heat­ing soup on a gas stove. Potas­si­um ions give a dark pink col­or, which we can ob­serve when pre­par­ing a recipe which uses wine – wine con­tains potas­si­um tar­trate, potas­si­um salt and tar­tar­ic acid. Boric acid gives a green col­or be­cause of the pres­ence of boron. Bar­i­um salt gives a yel­lowy-green col­or, cop­per salts — green, cal­ci­um salts — brick-red, stron­tium — a crim­son col­or, etc.

Safe­ty pre­cau­tions

Wear pro­tec­tive gloves and glass­es and work in a well-ven­ti­lat­ed room. Ob­serve safe­ty rules when work­ing with fire and flammable liq­uids.

Warn­ing! Don’t try to re­peat this ex­per­i­ment with­out a pro­fes­sion­al su­per­vi­sion!

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What Is The Flame Test?

A flame test is a qualitative analysis used by the chemist to identify the metal and metalloid ion in the sample. Not all metal ions emit colour when heated in the gas burner. A flame test is the simplest way of identifying the presence of group 1 metal ions in the compound. For other metals, there are plenty of reliable techniques, but a flame test will give a better hint on where to look.

There are some safety techniques to follow while performing the flame test in the laboratory.

• Use chemical splash/impact goggles
• Perform the flame test under the direction or supervision of chemistry teachers.

When the sample is heated, metal ions gain energy and shift from a lower energy level to a higher energy level. Ions are not stable at a high energy level, and they return to the ground with energy-release. The energy is released in the form of light and it varies from one metal ion to another. Thus, each metal ion gives a characteristic change of colour when it is heated.

Practical details to carry out the flame test

Platinum or nickel-chromium alloy (nichrome) wire.

• Cleaning the wire is achieved by dipping it in the concentrated solution of HCl (hydrochloric acid) and burning it in the hot bunsen burner flame until the wire shows no colour in the flame.
• The clean wire is either dipped into the powder or in the ionic metal salt solution, then the wire is heated in the bunsen burner flame.
• Observe and record the flaming colour.

Flame Colours for Common Ions

• A wooden splint or cotton swab method can also be used for the flame test.
• Several elements like gold, silver, platinum and palladium do not produce characteristic colour during the flame test.

Limitations of the Flame Test

1. If the ion concentration is very low, then the ions are not detected by the flame test.

2. The light intensity varies from one sample to another. Think of the same amount of sodium and lithium, for example. Yellow sodium emissions during the flame test are much more intense than the red lithium emissions.

3. The test results will be influenced by the presence of impurities, especially sodium. It is present in most of the compounds and gives the yellow colour flame. To prevent that, cobalt blue glass is used. The yellow colour is removed and the flame colour associated with the other substance is visible.

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Flame Test Colors: Photo Gallery

Distinctions Can Be Tricky

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The flame test is a fun and useful analytical technique to help you identify the chemical composition of a sample based on the way it changes the color of a flame. However, interpreting flame test color results can be tricky if you don't have a reference. There are many shades of green, red, and blue, usually described with names you wouldn't find on even a large crayon box.

Remember, the flame test color will depend on the fuel you are using for your test and whether you're viewing the result with the naked eye or through a filter. Describe your flame test color in as much detail as you can. You might want to take pictures with your phone to compare results from other samples. Keep in mind that your results may vary depending on your technique and the purity of your sample. This photo reference of flame test colors is a good place to start, though.

Sodium, Iron: Yellow

Most fuels contain sodium (e.g., candles and wood), so you're familiar with the yellow color this metal adds to a flame. The color is muted when sodium salts are placed in a blue flame, such as a Bunsen burner or alcohol lamp. Be aware, sodium yellow overwhelms other flame test colors . If your sample has any sodium contamination, the color you observe may include an unexpected contribution from yellow. Iron can also produce a golden flame (although sometimes orange).

Calcium: Orange

Calcium salts produce an orange flame test color. However, the hue may be muted, so it can be hard to distinguish between the yellow of sodium or gold of iron. The usual lab sample is calcium carbonate. If the specimen is not contaminated with sodium, you should get a nice orange color.

Potassium: Purple

Dorling Kindersley / Getty Images

Potassium salts produce a characteristic purple or violet color in a flame. Assuming your burner flame is blue, it may be difficult to see a big color change. Also, the hue may be paler than you expect (more lilac).

Cesium: Purple-Blue

Philip Evans / Getty Images

The flame test color you're most likely to confuse with potassium is cesium. Its salts color a flame violet or blue-purple. The good news here is most school labs don't have cesium compounds. Side-by-side, potassium tends to be paler and have a slight pink tint. It may not be possible to tell the two metals apart using only this test.

Lithium, Rubidium: Hot Pink

stay hungry for more / Getty Images

Lithium yields a flame test color somewhere between red and purple. It's possible to get a vivid hot pink, although more muted tones are also possible. It's less red than strontium (below). It's possible to confuse the result with potassium.

Another element that may produce a similar color is rubidium. For that matter, so can radium, but it's not commonly encountered.

Strontium: Red

The flame test color for strontium is the red of emergency flares and red fireworks. It's a deep crimson to brick red.

Barium, Manganese(II), and Molybdenum: Green

Barium salts produce a green flame in the flame test. It's usually described as a yellow-green, apple-green, or lime-green color. The identity of the anion and the concentration of the chemical matter. Sometimes barium produces a yellow flame without noticeable green. Manganese(II) and molybdenum may also yield yellow-green flames.

Copper(II): Green

Copper colors a flame green, blue, or both depending on its oxidation state. Copper(II) produces a green flame. The compound it's most likely to be confused with is boron, which produces a similar green. (See below.)

Boron: Green

ThoughtCo / Anne Helmenstine

Boron colors a flame bright green . It's a common sample for a school lab because borax is readily available.

Copper(I): Blue

Copper(I) salts produce a blue flame test color result. If there is some copper(II) present, you'll get blue-green.

Exclusion Flame Test: Blue

Blue is tricky because it's the usual color of a methanol or burner flame. Other elements that can impart a blue color to a flame test are zinc, selenium, antimony, arsenic, lead, and indium. Plus, there are a host of elements that don't change the color of a flame. If the flame test result is blue, you won't get much information, except you can exclude some elements.

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Overview and recent developments of the frascati laser for acceleration and multidisciplinary experiments laser facility at sparc_lab.

1. Introduction

2. laser layout and features, 2.1. front end, 2.2. main beamline, 2.3. auxiliary beamline, 2.4. probe beamline, 3. experimental campaigns at flame, 3.1. auxiliary beamline target area at flame, 3.1.1. laser-guiding experimental campaign, 3.1.2. target production, 3.1.3. experimental gem area diagnostics, laser diagnostics, stark broadening plasma density measurements, 3.2. main beamline target area at flame.

• Electron acceleration through LWFA in a gaseous target, which can be configured as a gas jet or a gas cell/capillary.
• Generation of fast electron and light ion bunches from interactions with solid targets using the TNSA technique.

3.2.1. Experimental TET Area Diagnostics

Magnetic spectrometer, eos detector, interferometry, bcm diagnostics, x-ccd diagnostics, thomson diagnostics, scintillator screen diagnostics, 3.2.2. laser–gas jet interaction experimental campaign, 3.2.3. laser–solid target interaction experimental campaign, fast electron beams detection, electromagnetic pulses detection, electron–proton beams detection and correlation, 4. conclusions, author contributions, institutional review board statement, informed consent statement, data availability statement, acknowledgments, conflicts of interest.

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Galletti, M.; Stocchi, F.; Costa, G.; Curcio, A.; Del Giorno, M.; Pompili, R.; Cacciotti, L.; Di Pirro, G.; Dompè, V.; Verra, L.; et al. Overview and Recent Developments of the Frascati Laser for Acceleration and Multidisciplinary Experiments Laser Facility at SPARC_LAB. Appl. Sci. 2024 , 14 , 8619. https://doi.org/10.3390/app14198619

Galletti M, Stocchi F, Costa G, Curcio A, Del Giorno M, Pompili R, Cacciotti L, Di Pirro G, Dompè V, Verra L, et al. Overview and Recent Developments of the Frascati Laser for Acceleration and Multidisciplinary Experiments Laser Facility at SPARC_LAB. Applied Sciences . 2024; 14(19):8619. https://doi.org/10.3390/app14198619

Galletti, Mario, Federica Stocchi, Gemma Costa, Alessandro Curcio, Martina Del Giorno, Riccardo Pompili, Luciano Cacciotti, Giampiero Di Pirro, Valentina Dompè, Livio Verra, and et al. 2024. "Overview and Recent Developments of the Frascati Laser for Acceleration and Multidisciplinary Experiments Laser Facility at SPARC_LAB" Applied Sciences 14, no. 19: 8619. https://doi.org/10.3390/app14198619

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