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An Examination of Some Methods Employed in Determining the Atomic Weight of Cadmium

9781465681379
213 pages
Library of Alexandria
Overview
“Cadmium met. puriss. galv. reduc”, obtained from Schuchardt, was used for preparing pure cadmium. It was heated to redness in a current of hydrogen which had been purified by washing with both acid and alkaline solutions of potassium permanganate. This treatment converted the metallic powder into a bar which could be distilled in a vacuum. The metal was then distilled nine times in the same manner that Morse and Burton, Amer. Chem. Jour. 12, 219, had distilled zinc. All distillations were made slowly except the last one, which was made quite rapidly. Whenever pure nitric acid was required, it was purified by distilling against a platinum dish and collecting the distillate in a smaller one of the same metal. The nitric acid used was dilute and free from chlorine. The water used in this work was purified by distilling twice from an alkaline solution of potassium permanganate, always rejecting the first part of the distillate. Whenever water was needed in the preparation of a pure compound e.g. cadmium oxalate, oxalic acid, cadmium nitrate, etc., it was subjected to the additional process of being distilled against a large platinum dish which was kept cool by placing ice inside it.