Home › Miscellaneous Chemicals › Tests for the Salts of Mercury

Tests for the Salts of Mercury

The salts of mercury are all volatilized at a dull red heat-give a white precipitate with prussiate of potash, a black one with sulone with sulphuretted hydrogen and hydrosulphurets, an orange-yellow one with gallic acid, and with metallic mercury. bead under the hammer distinguishes it from a plate of polished copper, a white coat of lead. The salts of bismuth are mostly devoid of color; some are soluble, others insoluble.

The soluble salts redden litmus paper; and, paper; and , when the solution contains but little free acid, and is largely diluted with water, a subsalt, more or less soluble, is deposited. This prodeposited. This property of forming subsalts is very characteristic. (Makins.) Solutions of the protosalts of mercury yield a grey or black precipitate with alkalies, a yellowish or greenish-yellow one with iodide of potassium, a white one with muriate of soda.

Solutions of the persalts of mercury yield with caustic alkalies, yellowish or red precior red preci-