How to Prepare Gases

Chemistry Lab Instructions

You can use common chemistry lab chemicals and equipment to prepare several gases. A conical flask, thistle funnel, delivery tube, pneumatic trough, and beehive are useful items to have on hand. Please make sure you are familiar with the use and functioning of the laboratory equipment you use, are aware of the characteristics of the substances (toxicity, flammability, explosivity, etc.), and take proper safety precautions. Use a ventilation hood (fume cupboard) and keep flammable gases away from heat or flame. I've tried to be as accurate as possible in my instructions, but you use them at your own risk. For convenience, I've listed the gases in alphabetical order.

Gas Ammonia NH3

Reagents Ammonium chloride Calcium hydroxide

Method Gently heat a mixture of ammonium chloride and calcium hydroxide in water.

Collection Upward displacement of air in a hood. Upward displacement of air in a hood.

Reaction Ca(OH)2 + 2NH4Cl 2NH3 + CaCl2 + 2H2O 2HCl + CaCO3 CO2 + CaCl2 + H2O

Carbon Dioxide CO2

Calcium carbonate (marble chips) 5M Hydrochloric acid Potassium permanganate Conc. Hydrochloric acid Zinc (granulated) 5M Hydrochloric acid

Add 5 M hydrochloric acid to 5 - 10 g marble chips.

Chlorine Cl2

Add concentrated hydrochloric acid dropwise onto a small amount of potassium permanganate crystals (in flask). Add 5 M hydrochloric acid to 5 - 10 g granulated zinc pieces.

Upward displacement of air in a hood. Collect over water.

6HCl + 2KMnO4 + 2H+ 3Cl2 + 2MnO2 + 4H2O + 2K+ 2HCl + Zn H2 + ZnCl2

Hydrogen H2

Hydrogen Sodium chloride Chloride Conc. Sulfuric HCl acid Methane CH4 Nitrogen N2 Sodium acetate (anhydrous) Soda lime Ammonia Calcium hypochlorite (bleaching powder)

Slowly add concentrated sulfuric acid to solid sodium chloride. Mix 1 part sodium acetate with 3 parts soda lime. Heat in a dry pyrex test tube or flask. Shake 20 g calcium hypochlorite into 100 mL water for several minutes, then filter. Add 10 mL conc. ammonia and heat mixture. Use extreme caution!

Displacement of air in a hood. Collect over water. Displacement of air.

2NaCl + H2SO4 Na2SO4 + 2HCl CH3COONa + NaOH CH4 + Na2CO3 2NH3 + 3CaOCl2 N2 + 3H2O + 3CaCl2

Chloramine and explosive nitrogen trichloride may be produced. Nitrogen N2 Air Lighted Phosphorus (or heated Fe or Cu) Invert a bell jar over lighted phosphorus. Oxygen and phosphorus combine to form phosphorus pentoxide, which is absorbed by the water over which the bell jar stands (may be violent reaction), producing phosphoric acid and leaving the nitrogen behind. Add concentrated nitric acid to 5 - 10 g copper. Removal of oxygen. 5 O2 + 4 P P4O10

Nitrogen Dioxide NO2 Nitrogen Monoxide NO Nitrous Oxide N2O Oxygen O2

Copper (turnings) 10 M Nitric acid Copper (turnings) 5 M Nitric acid Sodium nitrate Ammonium sulfate 6% Hydrogen peroxide Manganese dioxide (catalyst) Potassium permanganate Sodium sulfite (or sodium bisulfite) 2M Hydrochloric acid

Upward displacement of air in a hood. Collect over water.

Cu + 4HNO3 2NO2 + Cu(NO3)2 + 2H2O 3Cu + 8HNO3 2NO + 3Cu(NO3)2 + 4H2O NH4NO3 N2O + 2H2O 2H2O2 2H2O + O2

Add 5 M nitric acid to 5 - 10 g copper.

Mix 10 g powdered sodium nitrate and 9 g ammonium sulfate. Heat well. Add hydrogen peroxide to about 5 g of MnO2.

Displacement of air. Collect over water.

Oxygen O2 Sulfur Dioxide SO2

Heat solid KMnO4.

Collect over water. Upward displacement of air in a hood.

2KMnO4 K2MnO4 + MnO2 + O2 Na2SO3 + 2HCl SO2 + H2O + 2NaCl

Add dilute hydrochloric acid to 5 - 10 g sodium sulfite (or bisulfite).

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Gas Oxygen Gas Cabinet Natural Gas Fuels Air Con Gas Hydrogen

It's easy to generate hydrogen gas at home or in a lab using common household materials. Here's how to make hydrogen safely. Make Hydrogen Gas - Method 1 One of the easiest ways to obtain hydrogen is to get it from water, H2O. This method employs electrolysis, which breaks water into hydrogen and oxygen gas.

water 9-volt battery 2 paperclips 1. Unbend the paperclips and connect one to each terminal of the battery. 2. Place the other ends, not touching, into a container of water. That's it! 3. You'll get bubbles off both wires. The one with more bubbles is giving off pure hydrogen. The other bubbles are impure oxygen. You can test which gas is hydrogen by lighting a match or lighter over the container. The hydrogen bubbles will burn; the oxygen bubbles will not burn. 4. Collect the hydrogen gas by inverting a water-filled tube or jar over the wire producing the hydrogen gas. The reason you want water in the container is so you can collect hydrogen without obtaining air. Air contains 20% oxygen, which you want to keep out of the container in order to keep it from becoming dangerously flammable. For the same reason, don't collect the gas coming off both wires into the same container, since the mixture could burn explosively upon ignition. If you wish, you can collect the oxygen in the same way as the hydrogen, but be aware this gas is not very pure. 5. Cap or seal the container before inverting it, to avoid exposure to air. Disconnect the battery.

Make Hydrogen Gas - Method 2 There are two simple improvements you can make to improve the efficiency of hydrogen gas production. You can use graphite (carbon) in the form of pencil "lead" as electrodes and you can add a pinch of salt to the water to act as an electrolyte. The graphite makes good electrodes because it is electrically neutral and won't dissolve during the electrolysis reaction. The salt is helpful because it dissociates into ions which increase the current flow.

2 pencils salt cardboard water battery (could go as low as 1.5 V with the electrolyte) 2 paperclips or (better yet) 2 pieces of electrical wire

1. Prepare the pencils by removing the erase and metal caps and sharpening both ends of the pencil. 2. You're going to use the cardboard to support the pencils in the water. Lay the cardboard over your container of water. Insert the pencils through the cardboard so that the lead is submerged in the liquid, but not touching the bottom or side of the container. 3. Set the cardboard with pencils aside for a moment and add a pinch of salt to the water. You could use table salt, Epsom salts, etc. 4. Replace the cardboard/pencil. Attach a wire to each pencil and connect it to the terminals of the battery. 5. Collect the gas as before, in a container that has been filled with water. Make Hydrogen Gas - Method 3 You can get hydrogen gas by reacting hydrochloric acid with zinc.

hydrochloric acid (muriatic acid) zinc granules

Hydrogen gas bubbles will be released as soon as the acid and zinc are mixed. Be very careful to avoid contact with the acid. Also, heat will be given off by this reaction.

You can prepare sodium silicate or water glass from gel beads (silica) and drain cleaner (sodium hydroxide). Sodium silicate can be used to make chemical gardens, like those that result from Magic Rocks (which you can make yourself). Sodium Silicate Materials All you need to make a sodium silicate solution are water, silica, and sodium hydroxide. Silica comes in those little packets labelled 'do not eat' with electronics, shoes, etc. Sodium hydroxide is readily available in its pure form or can be found as drain cleaner.

6 g silica gel beads (crushed) 4-8 g sodium hydroxide (4 g for water glass, used in the magic rock project, or 8 g for the stoichiometric ratio for sodium silicate) 10 ml water

Prepare Sodium Silicate 1. Wear proper safety gear, which includes gloves. 2. Heat 4-8 grams of sodium hydroxide in 10 ml of water. 3. Once the sodium hydroxide is dissolved, slowly add the 6 grams of crushed silica gel beads. Heat the solution between additions. If the crushed beads won't dissolve, add a little more water to the solution.

Sand that you find on a beach consists of several minerals and organic matter. If you could separate out the impurities, you would have pure sand, which is silica or silicon dioxide. Here is how to prepare pure sand yourself in the lab. It is an easy project that only requires a few chemicals. Ingredients for Sand

sodium silicate (make sodium silicate yourself) sodium bisulfate water

Make Pure Sand 1. Mix together 5 ml sodium silicate solution and 5 ml water. 2. In a separate container, use a glass stirrer to mix 3.5 grams sodium bisulfate into 10 mL of water. Keep stirring until the sodium bisulfate dissolves. 3. Mix the two solutions together. The resulting gel that forms at the bottom of the liquid is orthosilicic acid. 4. Place the orthosilicic acid into a heat-safe glass or porcelain dish and heat it over a burner flame for about 5 minutes. The orthosilicic acid dries to form silicon dioxide, SiO 2, which is your pure sand. Sand is non-toxic, but it presents an inhalation hazard since the small particles could become trapped in your lungs if inhaled. Therefore, enjoy your sand, but don't play with it like you might with natural sand.

These are easy instructions for making sodium carbonate, also known as washing soda or soda ash, from baking soda or sodium bicarbonate. Make Sodium Carbonate Sodium bicarbonate is CHNaO3 while sodium carbonate is Na2CO3. Simply heat baking soda or sodium bicarbonate in a 200F oven for about an hour. Carbon dioxide and water will be given off. Dry sodium carbonate will remain.