Experiments with Potassium ferrocyanide
Reaction of potassium ferrocyanide with zinc chloride Potassium hexacyanoferrate (II) is a lemon yellow coloured inorganic complex, also called potassium ferrocyanide. The ferrocyanide ion consists of iron in the +2 state coordinately bonded to six cyano ligands. It is a versatile chemical, and is widely used in qualitative chemical analyses. However, it should not be confused with potassium ferricyanide, which consists of iron in the +3 state coordinately bonded to six cyano ligands, and has reddish crystals. For this experiment, four solutions were prepared in test tubes. The first was of copper nitrate, the second was of zinc chloride, and the third was of ferrous chloride. The fourth solution was of potassium ferrocyanide in distilled water. The potassium ferrocyanide solution was added to all the other three test tubes, with visible results. The three test tubes contain the products of the reaction with potassium ferrocyanide. The brown one is of the reaction wit