Qualitative analysis is used to identify compounds. Those compounds are made of
cations and anions. These compounds can be in a single mixture. Therefore we have to follow a specified
procedure to identify these compounds
one by one. There are many different experiments to identify different compounds. In qualitative analysis, we observe
a physical change, when a reaction is being occurred or after completed the reaction.
In this tutorial, we will learn followings.
Simply, we can tell, qualitative analysis is identifying compounds, anions and cations by doing some experiments (reactions).
Following changes are used when we identify a reaction. We compare differences of followings in two or more compounds when they react another compound.
In the qualitative analysis of inorganic chemistry in grade 12, we have some cations (positively charged ions) to identify such as Cu2+, Fe2+ and more.
As cations, there are more anions we have to learn in qualitative analysis of inorganic chemistry section.
Now we are going to see few example which explains what is qualitative analysis and how it is done to identify cations and anions.
Question
There are two brown colour solutions in two bottles. You have to identify these two solutions by doing some experiments. But you have informed that, these solutions contain ferric chloride (FeCl3) and ferric sulfate (Fe2(SO4)3). So you have to decide which bottle contains which compound.
Answer
In this example we use forming a precipitate in one solution while other solution one remains as a solution.
To identify aqueous HCl and H2SO4 solutions, we use Ba(OH)2 strong base.
Add dilute HCl to solutions and heat the mixtures. One solution emits a gas. When metal sulfides are heated with dilute HCl, hydrogen sulfide gas is emitted. But metal sulfates do not emit gases with dilute acids.
Therefore we can identify sodium sulfide because it emitts hydrogen sulfide gas with dilute HCl.
Solubility of compound is very important factor in qualitative analysis. We compare solubility of two compounds and see which has the best solubility in water to decide the unknown compound.
Solubility of inorganic Compounds, s,p,d block elements - TutorialAbove tutorial discuss how solubility changes with anions and cations.
We can identify solid sodium carbonate and solid magnesium carbonate from checking their solubility in water. Sodium carbonate is soluble in water. But magnesium carbonate is not soluble in water and forms white precipitate.