Liesegang Rings - Silver Nitrate Potassium Dichromate Reaction

Silver Nitrate Potassium Dichromate Reaction

The reactions are most usually carried out in test-tubes into which a gel is formed that contains a dilute solution of one of the reactants.

If a hot solution of agar gel, also containing a dilute solution of potassium dichromate is poured in a test-tube, and after the gel solidifies, a more concentrated solution of silver nitrate is poured on top of the gel, the silver nitrate will begin to diffuse into the gel. It will then encounter the potassium dichromate and will form a continuous region of precipitate at the top of the tube.

After some hours, the continuous region of precipitation is followed by a clear region with no sensible precipitate, followed by a short region of precipitate further down the tube. This process continues down the tube forming several, perhaps a couple of dozen regions of clearing, then precipitation rings.

Read more about this topic:  Liesegang Rings

Famous quotes containing the words silver and/or reaction:

    Walked forth to ease my pain
    Along the shore of silver streaming Thames,
    Whose rutty bank, the which his river hems,
    Was painted all with variable flowers,
    Edmund Spenser (1552?–1599)

    In contrast to revenge, which is the natural, automatic reaction to transgression and which, because of the irreversibility of the action process can be expected and even calculated, the act of forgiving can never be predicted; it is the only reaction that acts in an unexpected way and thus retains, though being a reaction, something of the original character of action.
    Hannah Arendt (1906–1975)