A student uses 6 M HCl solution contaminated with Al(NO3)3 to wash the nichrome wire in between recordings of emission spectra for the different known and unknown metal ion solutions. The emission energies for the aluminum are 3.90x10^-19 J/atom, 3.58x10^-19 J/atom, and 2.97x10^-19 J/atom. How might this experimental error affect the identification of the metal ions present in the unknown sample? Justify your answer with an explanation.

Question

aaronq · Answer

well it's possible that the colours you observe aren't correspondent to the unknown metals in solution and thus you incorrectly characterize the metals present

anonymous · Answer

Yea that makes sense, but how can I explain this?

aaronq · Answer

say that the emission spectra are different and calculate the wavelengths observed by the emission of the Al by using the energy values given, knowing the wavelengths you can approximate the colour observed

E=hc/lamda

anonymous · Answer

Thank you!!

aaronq · Answer

no prob !