Monday, March 5, 2012

Calcium is a go!

So, I've been working, on and off, on trying to get calcium separated from strontium for a few weeks. As mentioned previously, the article from which I've been getting my method from was, aside from giving me a general outline and a feeler for the reagents required, next to useless. So I've had to do things the old fashioned way: trial and error.

It was great! I felt like a proper pioneer of science; throwing chemicals into a test tube (well, a centrifuge tube) and seeing what happens. Turns out; I was using far, far, far too much hydroxide to get my metal ions to precipitate, with the conclusion some cations who quite like to abandon solution with their new OH partner then dissolve right back up again (I'm looking at YOU cobalt!) when there's enough hydroxide available.

Used less this time, but Mike the mass-spec man isn't in until Wednesday so I'm going to have to wait to see if calcium made it through the process, leaving his chums behind.

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