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Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

Virtual Lab

Identifying Elements
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PROBLEM
Chemistry is often used to identify likely sources of material for tools and products.
Whenever any such source is found, confirmation of the identity of the elements available
provides useful data for evaluating the trade-offs between its economic viability and
environmental sustainability.
Simple tests such as flame tests provide a rapid way to separate promising sources of an
element from those that aren’t likely to be feasible. More complex and expensive tests such
as those provided through atomic emission spectroscopy are often required as follow-ups,
because some flame test results for different elements have similar colors.
In this virtual lab simulation, you are challenged to use both approaches to confirm the
identity of the metal elements contained in samples of ores found in volcanic deposits.

Background
The high temperatures found under Earth’s surface are capable of melting a wide variety of
different minerals into magma. When this molten material reaches the surface as lava, it
begins to cool. Because different minerals harden at different temperatures, certain types of
eruptions have patterns of cooling that result in some minerals separating from others,
concentrating certain metals in some areas. Flame tests and spectroscopy are among the tests
used to identify and evaluate such promising mineral deposits.
The Bohr model of the atom, which describes electrons at specific energy levels and
sublevels outside of the nucleus, provides an explanation for how both flame tests and
emission spectroscopy work.
When an electron within an atom absorbs energy, the electron moves from one energy
level to a higher one. After some time, it will return to a lower energy level, releasing energy
in the form of electromagnetic radiation. Because each type of atom has only certain allowed
energy levels, only certain amounts of energy will be released, corresponding to certain
wavelengths and frequencies of electromagnetic radiation.
The emission spectrum is a pattern formed by all of the possible wavelengths and
frequencies. The color of the flame test results from the combination of those wavelengths
and frequencies that are in the visible light part of the electromagnetic spectrum.
When a flame test is performed, the most effective approach is to use a small amount of a
solution of a metal compound. For this reason, metal ores and other samples are typically
dissolved in an acidic solution. Such an approach usually provides a long-lasting and vivid
color change to the flame. While it is possible in some cases to perform flame tests using
powdered metal, the color, if visible, lasts only a very short time.
Flame-test results for some metals are shown in the table that follows.
Flame Colors for Some
Metals Found In
Volcanic Deposits
Arsenic, As blue Molybdenum, Mo yellowish green
Calcium, Ca yellowish red Potassium, K lilac to red
Copper, Cu blue or green Selenium, Se blue
Lead, Pb blue Sodium, Na yellow
Lithium, Li red or magenta Zinc, Zn bluish green or whitish
green

PLANNING
Goal
Identify an element based on its flame test and emission spectrum.

Objectives
Relate electron transitions within an atom to emission of specific frequencies of light.
Explain the color of a flame test based on the emission of light.
Demonstrate how to identify an unknown element by comparing its detailed emission
spectrum to a library of standard, known spectra.
Evaluate how well emission spectra could work in identifying a mixture of elements.

Materials
This virtual lab requires:
• A computer or tablet capable of running the simulation.
• A sound card with speakers or headphones to play the audio.

Electrical Safety
Exercise caution when working with electrical equipment such as computers. Do not use
electrical equipment with frayed or twisted wires. The area under and around electrical
equipment should be dry; cords should not lie in puddles of spilled liquid.

Reality Check
The processes of performing flame tests and checking atomic emission spectra have been
simplified for the purposes of this lab. An advantage of the virtual lab is that the process can
be redone over and over without running out of mineral samples.
The procedures shown in this lab are not suitable for a real-world experiment. Raw samples
of mineral ores are likely to contain enough trace impurities to make positive identification
through spectroscopy more complicated than depicted.
Your Plan
1. Adjust or replace the following sample procedure to suit your plan for performing the
virtual lab. Be sure to provide more detail about exactly how you plan to accomplish the
second step.

a. Choose sample.

b. Prepare sample for the flame test using the tools and reagents
available. First, use the hammer to collect some powder from the
sample. Place the powder in the beaker, and dissolve it in acid. Dip
the wire loop in the solution.

c. Insert the wire loop with solution into the flame and observe and
record its color.

d. Compare your results to other flame-test results to narrow the

possibilities for the metal.

e. Observe the full emission spectrum of the sample, recording the

color and wavelength of some of the key lines.

OBSERVATIONS (PERFORM)
Select one of these data table options and adjust it to suit your plan for performing this
activity. Alternatively, you can delete all of these tables and set up your own approach for
recording data. Once a table fits your plan, you can copy and paste it into this Lab Report as
many times as you will need it for your multiple trials.

Data Table Option A

Flame test color:
Other observations:

Data Table Option B

Sample Likely metal 1: Likely metal 2: Likely metal 3:
________ _________ _________
Flame test
color
Other
observations
ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATIONS
Emission Spectra Comparisons
Sample Match with Match with Match with
actual results likely metal 1: likely metal 2: likely metal 3:
_______? _______? _______?
(Y/N) (Y/N) (Y/N)
Spectral line
color 1
Spectral line
wavelength 1
(nm)
Spectral line
color 2
Spectral line
wavelength 2
(nm)
Spectral line
color 3
Spectral line
wavelength 3
(nm)
Spectral line
color 4
Spectral line
wavelength 4
(nm)
Spectral line
color 5
Spectral line
wavelength 5
(nm)
Spectral line
color 6
Spectral line
wavelength 6
(nm)
2. Interpreting Flame Tests Given the results of your flame test, were you able to narrow
the possibilities? List which metals are likeliest in your data table(s).

3. Evaluating Methods Explain why you usually can’t use just a single spectral line to
confirm the identity of an element.

4. Analyzing Spectrometry Results Using the table above, compare some of the spectral
lines from your unknown sample to the known samples of metals that were the most
likely candidates for your unknown.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

5. Results Were you able to identify the unknown? Explain why or why not.

6. Reflections Magnesium metal burns with a bright white flame. What conclusions can you
draw about the electron transitions that can take place for a magnesium atom?

7. Reflections Would you be able to use a similar approach to identify a mixture of two or
three elements with emission spectrum analysis? Why or why not?

8. Conclusions How did the conclusions you could draw from the flame-test results differ
from the conclusions you could draw from the emission spectrometry results?
EXTEND
If you will be performing additional trials, copy and paste the tables from above into this Lab
Report as many times as you will need them.

9. Relating Wavelength to Energy Level Differences During your work with the model
set of energy levels, if you were trying to get a line to move from the green part of the
spectrum toward the orange or red end of the spectrum, would you drag its energy level
to be closer to or farther from the lowest energy level? Explain your answer.

10. Evaluating Limitations of Models The model set of energy levels only included levels
for n = 2 through n = 6. If n = 7 had been included, in what part of the electromagnetic
spectrum would you expect its transition lines to have been found? Why?

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company