Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 43 — page 134: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Ammonium hydroxide reacts according to the following equations: Iron... .... 2NH,OH+FeR =Fe(OH), +(NH,).R. Chromium... 6NH,OH +Cr,(R),=2Cr(OH)s; +3(NH,)sR. Mix the ppt. from ammonium hydroxide with water and add a little sodium peroxide. Boil, dilute with water and filter. Keep the filtrate and label it B. Dissolve the remaining ppt. in boiling dilute hydrochloric acid and then add potassium ferricyanide. If iron is present, a deep blue ppt. forms. If the filtrate B is yellow, chromium is present. To test for aluminium add a large amount of ammonium chloride and stand for a few minutes. A white ppt. shows aluminium present. Ammonium sulphide reacts according to the equations: Zinc .... (NH,).S+ZnR=ZnS +(NH,).R Nickel ... (NH,).S +NiR =NiS +(NH,)2R. Stir the ppt. from ammonium sulphide with cold, very dilute hydrochloric acid and filter. Keep the filtrate and label it C. Heat the remaining ppt. with strong hydrochloric acid and add a piece of solid potassium chlorate. Evaporate to dryness. A yellow residue shows nickel present. Add a little sodium hydroxide to the filtrate C and filter if cloudy. A white ppt. on passing hydrogen sulphide through the filtrate shows the presence of zinc. Ammonium carbonate reacts according to the equations: Calcium ... (NH,),CO, +CaR,=CaCO,; +2NH,R. Barium... (NH,),CO,; +BaR,=BaCO,; +2NH,R. Dissolve the ppt. from ammonium carbonate in warm dilute acetic acid and add potassium chromate. A yellow ppt. shows the presence of barium. Filter, add ammonium hydroxide and ammonium oxalate to the filtrate. A white ppt. shows calcium is present. The filtrate remaining after the addition of ammonium car- bonate is tested for sodium and potassium by the flame test described in the previous article. To test for magnesium, add ammonium hydroxide and sodium phosphate. A white ppt. shows the presence of magnesium. The equation for this reaction is: Na,HPO, +NH,OH + MgR = MgNH,PO, + Na.R + H,0. Next month the article in this series will deal with how to identify the R’s! 133 comiclooks.conn