An examination of some methods employed in determining the atomic weight of CadmiumBucher, John Emery
History
An examination of some methods employed in determining the atomic weight of Cadmium
Bucher, John Emery
Cadmium; Thesis (Ph. D.)
of the pure metal becomes exceedingly difficult, unless a very large
excess of acid is used. No objection can be raised to the use of
platinum foil for in making fifty grammes of cadmium chloride it cost
less than a tenth of a milligramme and even this could probably have
been avoided by using a somewhat larger amount of hydrochloric acid. The
foil was always kept submerged in the acid liquid. The moist crystals of
cadmium chloride were transferred to a combustion tube passing through
an asbestus covered air-bath, and dried in a current of hydrochloric
acid gas for several hours at 300°C. The hydrochloric acid gas had been
passed through a long calcium chloride tube to dry it, although calcium
chloride probably does not do this very thoroughly. The hydrochloric
acid gas was then replaced by a current of nitrogen prepared as has
already been described under the sulphide method. After the current of
nitrogen had been passing for about half an hour, the tube was allowed
to cool, and the chloride transferred to another combustion tube, one
end of which had been sealed in the flame of a blast lamp. The other end
was drawn out and attached to a Sprengel mercury pump. After exhausting,
the chloride was sublimed in the vacuum. This takes place at a moderate
temperature and the sublimate has a beautiful crystalline structure and
is perfectly white. The crystalline mass exposes so much surface that
water is taken up very rapidly when exposed to the air. This action is
so rapid that the crystals cannot be transferred to a weighing-glass
without introducing an appreciable error. The whole sample was
accordingly transferred to a stoppered glass bottle which was kept under
a bell jar with sticks of caustic potash. Three samples were prepared in
this manner, the first being used in determination one, the second in
determinations two to seven inclusive, and the third in determinations
eight to nineteen inclusive. The samples used in determinations twenty
and twenty-one were prepared in the following manner: About three
grammes of cadmium were placed in a combustion tube in which three
bridges (as in the distillation of pure cadmium) had been made. A
section may be represented thus
[Illustration]
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