How to Reduce Vanadium
Vanadium is a transition metal used in the production of specialized steels. Vanadium occurs in nature as the mineral vanadinite. Reducing vanadium, or increasing its number of electrons, occurs by a chemical reaction. Vanadium starts out with a positive five charge, which can be reduced to a positive two charge by the addition of three electrons. A reduction reaction is the opposite and counterpart to an oxidation reaction, where electrons are taken away from the atom.
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Things You'll Need
- Latex gloves
- Safety glasses
- Face mask
- Erlenmeyer flask
- 2 g mercuric chloride
- Water
- 2 ml nitric acid
- 250 g zinc
- Flask stopper
- Beaker
- 8 g sodium hydroxide
- 10 g ammonium vanadate
- Beaker stand
- Bunsen burner
- Glass stirrer
- 50 ml sulfuric acid
- Florence flask
Instructions
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1
Put on your latex gloves, safety glasses and face mask.
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2
In an Erlenmeyer flask, dissolve 2 g of mercuric chloride in 300 ml of water. Add 2 ml of nitric acid to the solution.
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3
Add 250 g of zinc to the solution in the Erlenmeyer flask. Place the stopper on the flask. Shake the flask for three minutes. Remove the stopper and pour off the liquid. Wash the zinc amalgam at the bottom of the flask with water and then dispose of the water. Repeat the amalgam washing twice.
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4
Dissolve 6 to 8 g of sodium hydroxide in 200 ml of water in a separate beaker. Mix in 10 g of ammonium vanadate. Place the beaker on a beaker stand. Heat the beaker with a Bunsen burner. Stir constantly with a glass stirrer until the solid dissolves.
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5
Mix 50 ml sulfuric acid with 450 ml of water. Add the sulfuric acid solution to to the beaker. Dilute the solution in the beaker with water until the total volume reaches 1 L. This is your vanadium solution.
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Put 50 g of zinc amalgam in a Florence flask. Add 200 ml of vanadium solution to the flask. Place the stopper on the flask. The solution will be yellow. Gently swirl the solution. The solution will transition from yellow, to blue, to green and finally violet. Each color represents an addition of an electron, or reduction, to the vanadium. At the violet stage, you have reduced vanadium with three electrons.
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Tips & Warnings
Mercuric chloride is extremely toxic and can cause death. Make sure to wear your protective gear.
Zinc powder is dangerous to your mucous membranes. Do not breathe in zinc powder.
