Question

While boiling potatoes for dinner in salted water, the pot boils over and you notice that the flame on your gas burner turns to bright yellow-orange. How would you explain the appearance of a color in the previously blue flame?

Answer 1

Answer:

This observation can be explained under the following reasons:

1. High sodium content
2. Lowered heat temperature
3. Organic burn

Explanation:

High sodium content from the potato fluid causes the flame to turn yellow, as indicative of the presence of sodium (flame test).

The colour change could also be attributed to the drastic lowering of the burner heat. Finally, pure organics like wood and fats burn red, a would be the case with fluids from the boiled potatoes.

I hope this explanation was helpful.

Answer 2

The appearance of a yellow-orange color in the previously blue flame is due to the presence of sodium ions in the salted water.

The salted water in which the potato is being boiled contains sodium ions according to the equation:

$NaCl ---> Na^+ + Cl^-$

Sodium ions generally give off yellowish color when burned in flames. Thus, when the pot boiled over, ions of sodium got into the flame on the gas burner and give off their characteristic flame color.

More on the flame test can be found here: https://brainly.com/question/6357832