0
Potassium gives off a lilac purple color due to the energy level configuration of the potassium atom. When heated the electrons become excited to higher levels of energy. When they "move" to a lower energy state, they give off energy in the form of light (photons). The color seen by your eye is a combination of certain specific colors (frequencies) of photons. It is the same as when you hear a musical chord. It is actually a combination of several different musical notes (frequencies).
Wiki User
∙ 13y ago
Wiki User
∙ 14y agoThe energy from the heat of the fire makes one of the electrons in potassium jump up to a higher energy level. When it drops back down, the energy difference between the higher level and the one it emits the energy in the form of a photon. Since the energy of each level is fixed, only photons with certain energies (and hence certain colors) can be emitted. For potassium, one of those permitted energies happens to correspond to a photon of a particular shade of violet. The energy levels (and therefore the differences between energy levels) are different for every element. For sodium, there are two permitted energies close together in the orange-yellow part of the spectrum, so sodium turns fire orangeish-yellow; rubidium has a strong line in the red, and caesium has two bright lines in the blue (the names rubidium and caesium come from the Latin words for deep red and sky blue respectively).
Wiki User
∙ 14y agoPotassium gives off a lilac purple color due to the energy level configuration of the potassium atom. When heated the electrons become excited to higher levels of energy. When they "move" to a lower energy state, they give off energy in the form of light (photons). The color seen by your eye is a combination of certain specific colors (frequencies) of photons. It is the same as when you hear a musical chord. It is actually a combination of several different musical notes (frequencies). A web search for "flame test spectrum", or something similar, will show the colors involved.
Wiki User
∙ 9y agoA characteristic line in the emission spectrum of potassium has this color.
Wiki User
∙ 13y agoImportant is the metal - potassium - and his spectral lines.
Add your answer:
Earn +20 pts
How do you test for sodium ions and potassium ions when both are present?
Get a wire. Bend it into a ring and put a few crystals of your solid on it. Do a flame test using a Bunsen burner. Potassium will give a violet flame and Sodium ions will give a Yellow flame.
What color do you get when you burn potassium chloride?
A lila color, from potassium spectral lines.
What color flame test does the iodide solution give in flame test?
It is not the anions (e.g. iodide) that are responsible for the flame test color, rather the cations such as sodium ion, potassium ion and calcium ion give you different colors.
What color flame test does Potassium give with a cobalt glass?
The color given off from the potassium through the blue cobalt glass is somewhat if a lavender, lilac color.
Why is it difficult to identify potassium ions and sodium ions in low sodium salt using a flame test?
When sodium is subjected to a flame test, it burns a bright yellow. This yellow flame can be brighter than the lilac flame color of the potassium, which makes it more difficult to distinguish between the sodium and potassium.
What chemical is burning when you see a violet purple flame?
potassium permanganate is purple in colour and is used for cleaning.
What color flame test does autumn potassium give?
nitrogen
What color flame test does potassium chloride?
When flame tested, Sodium ions range from a yellow to a bright orange flame and Potassium ions give a lilac or light purple flame. Neither the Sulphate nor the Chloride ions should have emission spectra in the visible range.
Why do potassium oxide and potassium chloride give off the same colour of light in a flame test?
The color is from the potassium !
How do you test for sodium ions and potassium ions when both are present?
Get a wire. Bend it into a ring and put a few crystals of your solid on it. Do a flame test using a Bunsen burner. Potassium will give a violet flame and Sodium ions will give a Yellow flame.
A test that can be used to determine whether a solution has potassium sulfate?
Potassium by flame-ionisation color test: redish purple Sulfate: by Barium chloride suspension test ( BaSO4)solid
What are the components in cream of tartar that make it produce a purple flame when heated on a Bunsen burner?
A flame test can indicate the presence of particular elements. The purple colour of cream of tartar is caused by the potassium. Cream of tartar is a potassium salt, potassium bitartrate, sometimes called potassium hydrogen tartrate.
What color it emitted by potassium?
In a flame test, the color released by potassium is lilac, which is a light purple. K is the symbol for the chemical element potassium, and its atomic number is 19.
Which metal reacts with water and burns with a lilac flame?
Potassium has a violet color in the flame test.
What color do you get when you burn potassium chloride?
A lila color, from potassium spectral lines.
What color flame test does the iodide solution give in flame test?
It is not the anions (e.g. iodide) that are responsible for the flame test color, rather the cations such as sodium ion, potassium ion and calcium ion give you different colors.
How do you test for potassium ions?
Flame test
