Hydrogen sulphide tests

Test Kd. Hydrogen sulphide test for contacts and connections... 

Iodate. (i) Potassium iodide test (IV.21, 6). (ii) Sulphur dioxide or hydrogen sulphide test (IV.21, 5). 

Compressive strengths of cubes up to the age of 28 days were determined. Concrete specific compliance tests, including high pressure through-flow and hydrogen sulphide tests, were also carried out. The results of these tests are given in section 4. 

For a cobalt(ll) salt, the precipitation of the blue->pitik cobalt(II) hydroxide by alkali, or precipitation of black cobalt(II) sulphide by hydrogen sulphide provide useful tests the hydroxide is soluble in excess alkali and is oxidised by air to the brown CoO(OH) . 

Copper(II) ions in aqueous solution are readily obtained from any copper-containing material. The reactions with (a) alkali (p. 430), (b) concentrated ammonia (p 413) and (c) hydrogen sulphide (p. 413) provide satisfactory tests for aqueous copper(II) ions. A further test is to add a hexacyanoferrate(II) (usually as the potassium salt) when a chocolate-brown precipitate of copper(II) hexacyanoferrate(II) is obtained ... 

Upon fusion with caustic alkah (for experimental details, see Section IV,33,2) and acidification of the aqueous extract, hydrogen sulphide is evolved (detected by lead acetate paper). This test is given by aU organic compounds of divalent sulphur (RSH, R SR" and R SSR"). 

Nitrogen and sulphur present. Just acidify 2-3 ml. of the fusion solution with dilute nitric acid, and evaporate to half the original volume in order to expel hydrogen cyanide and/or hydrogen sulphide which may be present. Dilute with an equal volume of water. If only one halogen is present, proceed as in tests (i) or (iii). If one or more halogens may be present, use tests (ii), (iii) or (iv). 

Arsenic. The presence of arsenie in an organie eompound is generally revealed by the formation of a dull grey mirror of arsenic on the walls of the test-tube when the eompound is fused with sodium in the Lassaigne teat. Usually sufficient arsenic is found in the fusion solution to give a yellow precipitate of arsenic trisulphide when the solution is acidified with hydrochloric acid and treated with hydrogen sulphide. 

It is recommended that the eompound be fused with a mixture of sodium carbonate (2 parts) and sodium peroxide (1 part) as in the test for Plvoaphoms. Extract the fused mass with water, filter, and acidify with dilute hydrochloric acid. Pass hydrogen sulphide through the hot solution arsenic is precipitated as yellow arsenic sulphide. If antimony is present, it will be precipitated as orange antimony trisulphide. 

When an organic compound is heated with a mixture of zinc powder and sodium carbonate, the nitrogen and halogens are converted into sodium cyanide and sodium hahdes respectively, and the sulphur into zinc sulphide (insoluble in water). The sodium cyanide and sodium hahdes are extracted with water and detected as in Lassaigne s method, whilst the zinc sulphide in the residue is decomposed with dilute acid and the hydrogen sulphide is identified with sodium plumbite or lead acetate paper. The test for nitrogen is thus not affected by the presence of sulphur this constitutes an advantage of the method. 

Ultramodern techniques are being applied to the study of corrosion thus a very recent initiative at Sandia Laboratories in America studied the corrosion of copper in air spiked with hydrogen sulphide by a form of combinatorial test, in which a protective coat of copper oxide was varied in thickness, and in parallel, the density of defects in the copper provoked by irradiation was also varied. Defects proved to be more influential than the thickness of the protective layer. This conclusion is valuable in preventing corrosion of copper conductors in advanced microcircuits. This set of experiments is typical of modern materials science, in that quite diverse themes... combinatorial methods, corrosion kinetics and irradiation damage... are simultaneously exploited. 

In electrochemical cells sample oxidation produces an electric current proportional to the concentration of test substance. Sometimes interferences by other contaminants can be problematic and in general the method is poorer than IR. Portable and static instruments based on this method are available for specific chemicals, e.g. carbon monoxide, chlorine, hydrogen sulphide. 

Abbott studied the corrosion of contacts, and proposed quality tests in dilute mixtures of hydrogen sulphide, nitrogen dioxide and chlorine in air at controlled temperature and humidity . These gave good results in a project seeking improved procedures for British and lEC standards . 

Procedure To each of the cylinders containing the standard solution and test solution respectively, add 10 ml of freshly prepared hydrogen sulphide solution, mix, dilute with water (DW) to 50 ml, allow to stand for 5 minutes and view downwards over a white surface, the colour produced in the test solution is not darker than that produced in the standard solution. 

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