Aim: To show that Ammonia is liberated when a base reacts with Ammonium Chloride
Procedure
- Take 5 ml water in 2 test tubes
- Dissolve 5 ml of Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH) in one
- Dissolve 5 ml of Ammonium Chloride in another
- Pour NaOH into the test tube containing the Ammonium Chloride solution fixed to a stand
- Gently smell the fumes liberated from the test tube. What do you smell?
- Bring a glass rod dipped in concentrated hydrochloric acid near the mouth of the test tube. What do you observe?
Inference
Sodium Hydroxide and ammonium chloride solutions react with one another to produce the colourless pungent gas, Ammonia.
This combines with hydrochloric acid, to produce dense white fumes of ammonium chloride.