Second Practical- Elements, Compounds and Mixtures

We had our second practical in the Laboratory and this time it was about Elements, Compounds and Mixtures.

We had 2 elements, sulfur powder and iron fillings.

Firstly we had to mix them together on a filter paper. It was on a filter paper basically because the paper is white and Mr Foo said that to get a clear observation, it is normally done on a white surface. Our question was:

Does the bottom of the filter paper paper feel warm after mixing? (i.e, there is heat produced in the mixture of sulfur and iron?)

This is a picture of the mixture of sulfur (Yellowish powder) and Iron fillings (Grey powder) on a filter paper. It has been thoroughly mixed using the glass rod shown.

At first all of us were expecting warmth to be felt under the paper so we desperately mixed it as we thought something was wrong.

Turns out,

No reaction was supposed to occur. OUR LIFE IS A LIE.
Okay, so basically because this is just a mixture, the elements are NOT chemically bonded, thus there would not be any chemical reactions occurring.

The next step we did was kind of like a head-start to the next chapter- Separation Techniques. We used a magnet and place it at the bottom to the filter paper to see if we would attract the iron fillings so as to separate the iron fillings from the sulfur powder. All of us had fun looking at the iron powder move haha.

So we can conclude that when a non-magnetic element is put together with a magnetic element, a magnet can be used to separate them!

Photo credits to Eleanor :) ---->

The next activity was to see if we could separate the elements when they are put in water.

As you can see, most of the sulfur is actually floating on the water and the iron fillings have sinked to the bottom. This shows that iron is denser than water and that sulfur is less dense than water and iron.

Although it seems like water is a technique to separate these two elements, it is not the best method since some of the sulfur is actually at the bottom together with the iron.
Plus, both elements are not soluble in water so it is not very convenient if we use this way to separate them. Using water to separate requires an insoluble element and a soluble element.


The most exciting part of the practical was when we actually chemically combined sulfur and iron through heating and we got Iron Sulfide. (Mr Foo please correct me if I'm wrong).

This is when we were heating the Iron + Sulfer.

There was this STINKY gas released and it was called sulpher dioxide and the worksheet claimed it was POISONOUS.

OMG.

And then everyone was like running around to escape the gas but since everyone was heating the Compound I don't think it really helped.

Then Mr Foo was so helpful he said the effect would take place over the years. ARE YOU JOKING MR FOO I HOPE YOU ARE.

And this

is the legendary

Iron Sulfide

Done by ME
(and my partner Divyya)

Oh yeah.

It is so cool

Like me ;)

Cool people heat up cool stuff.


This new compound has been chemically bonded. The physical properties of a compounds is different from its constituent elements, which in this case is Sulfur and Iron. There is also a change in appearance. Chemical reaction takes place when a compound is found when is a change in energy.
The new compound still cannot dissolve in water though.