Red Desert
Here for a short time. Здесь на короткое время.
- Apr 24, 2023
- 74
Hi! Yesterday, I attempted to verify the purity of my sodium nitrite (SN) using aquarium test strips.
I carefully followed all the steps outlined in @Vizzy's SN Bible.
Materials used:
Results:
1. Just distilled water. LOOKS OK!
2. Water with SN at 5 g/L. The nitrite stained the strip an obscure ivory color. WTH?!
3. Water with SN at 10 mg/L. LOOKS OK!
4. Water with a huge amount of SN at 40-50 g/L. I immersed 6 strips simultaneously, assuming the strip from case 2 was defective. The color remains unclear. WTH?!
MAIN QUESTION:
Why did I observe an ivory color rather than a deep pink-red in cases 2 and 4? Is my SN pure, given that the result in case 3 was successful?
I carefully followed all the steps outlined in @Vizzy's SN Bible.
Materials used:
- Technical sodium nitrite (NaNO₂, 99%)
- Two 0.5L plastic cups
- Industrial distilled water
- A 1 ml Pasteur pipette
- Aquarium test strips (25 pieces for $3.50)
Results:
1. Just distilled water. LOOKS OK!
2. Water with SN at 5 g/L. The nitrite stained the strip an obscure ivory color. WTH?!
3. Water with SN at 10 mg/L. LOOKS OK!
4. Water with a huge amount of SN at 40-50 g/L. I immersed 6 strips simultaneously, assuming the strip from case 2 was defective. The color remains unclear. WTH?!
MAIN QUESTION:
Why did I observe an ivory color rather than a deep pink-red in cases 2 and 4? Is my SN pure, given that the result in case 3 was successful?
An error that I made in my experiment has been found. I kept the strips in the water for 2 minutes instead of the specified two seconds.
