Cambridge O Level Chemistry · Syllabus 5070 · Experimental Techniques and Chemical Analysis
Aqueous Ammonia Test
What is Aqueous Ammonia Test?
The second of the two reagents used to identify aqueous cations. Aqueous ammonia is added dropwise and then to excess, exactly as aqueous sodium hydroxide is, and the two observations recorded. Its value is that it does not give the same pattern as sodium hydroxide: it separates aluminium from zinc, which sodium hydroxide cannot, and it gives copper(II) a distinctive dark blue solution in excess. For ammonium there is no required result, and for calcium the required result is no precipitate or a very slight white precipitate.
This definition is part of the Experimental Techniques and Chemical Analysis chapter in Cambridge O Level Chemistry.
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