Element Flame Test


Certain elements may be volatilized when minerals containing them are heated intensely before the blowpipe and so impart characteristic colors to the flame. The flame color to be obtained from a mineral will often serve as an important means of its identification. A flame test may be made by heating a small fragment of the mineral held in the forceps, but a more decisive test is usually obtained when the fine powder of the mineral is introduced into the Bunsen burner flame on a piece of fine platinum wire. The following table gives a list of the important elements which yield flame colors. It is to be noted that a mineral may contain one of these elements, but because of the nonvolatile character of the chemical combination will fail to give a flame color.

 

Prospecting &  Mining Basics

large mining equipment