Question

I was trying to make some ferric chloride by the reaction of steel wool and chlorine gas so I heated the steel wool until red hot and added bleaching powder to hydrochloric acid in a flask. As soon as I did so the colour of the burner's flame changed from blue to deep red as the chlorine gas escaped through the flask.I removed the steel wool from the flame and the flame is still red.What's happening here?

Answer 1

The change in the color of the burner's flame from blue to deep red is due to the presence of ferric chloride in the gas mixture.

Step-by-step explanation:

The color change of the burner's flame from blue to deep red indicates that there is a change in the composition of the gases being burned.

When you added the bleaching powder to hydrochloric acid, the chlorine gas that escaped through the flask reacted with the steel wool to form a compound called ferric chloride.

The presence of ferric chloride in the flame is responsible for the red color.

Even after removing the steel wool from the flame, the red color persists because the ferric chloride is still present in the gas mixture.