The solution should not be strongly ammoniacal when the bromine is added, as strong ammonia reacts with the bromine, with the evolution of nitrogen.]
[Note 2: The precipitate produced by ammonium hydroxide and bromine should be filtered off promptly, since the alkaline solution absorbs carbon dioxide from the air, with consequent partial precipitation of the calcium as carbonate. This is possible even under the most favorable conditions, and for this reason the iron precipitate is redissolved and again precipitated to free it from calcium. When the precipitate is small, this reprecipitation may be omitted.]
[Note 3: In the absence of significant amounts of manganese the iron and aluminium may be separately determined by fusion of the mixed ignited precipitate, after weighing, with about ten times its weight of acid potassium sulphate, solution of the cold fused mass in water, and volumetric determination of the iron, as described on page 66. The aluminium is then determined by difference, after subtracting the weight of ferric oxide corresponding to the amount of iron found.
If a separate determination of the iron, aluminium, and manganese is desired, the mixed precipitate may be dissolved in acid before ignition, and the separation effected by special methods (see, for example, Fay, !Quantitative Analyses!, First Edition, pp. 15-19 and 23-27).]
DETERMINATION OF CALCIUM
PROCEDURE.—To the combined filtrates from the double precipitation of the hydroxides just described, add 5 cc. of dilute ammonium hydroxide (sp. gr. 0.96), and transfer the liquid to a 500 cc. graduated flask, washing out the beaker carefully. Cool to laboratory temperature, and fill the flask with distilled water until the lowest point of the meniscus is exactly level with the mark on the neck of the flask. Carefully remove any drops of water which are on the inside of the neck of the flask above the graduation by means of a strip of filter paper, make the solution uniform by pouring it out into a dry beaker and back into the flask several times. Measure off one fifth of this solution as follows (Note 1): Pour into a 100 cc. graduated flask about 10 cc. of the solution, shake the liquid thoroughly over the inner surface of the small flask, and pour it out. Repeat the same operation. Fill the 100 cc. flask until the lowest point of the meniscus is exactly level with the mark on its neck, remove any drops of solution from the upper part of the neck with filter paper, and pour the solution into a beaker (400-500 cc.). Wash out the flask with small quantities of water until it is clean, adding these to the 100 cc. of solution. When the duplicate portion of 100 cc. is measured out from the solution, remember that the flask must be rinsed out twice with that solution, as prescribed above, before the measurement is made. (A 100 cc. pipette may be used to measure out the aliquot portions, if preferred.)
Dilute each of the measured portions to 250 cc. with distilled water, heat the whole to boiling, and add ammonium oxalate solution slowly in moderate excess, stirring well. Boil for two minutes; allow the precipitated calcium oxalate to settle for a half-hour, and decant through a filter. Test the filtrate for complete precipitation by adding a few cubic centimeters of the precipitant, allowing it to stand for fifteen minutes. If no precipitate forms, make the solution slightly acid with hydrochloric acid (Note 2); see that it is properly labeled and reserve it to be combined with the filtrate from the second calcium oxalate precipitation (Notes 3 and 4).
Redissolve the calcium oxalate in the beaker with warm hydrochloric acid, pouring the acid through the filter. Wash the filter five times with water, and finally pour through it aqueous ammonia. Dilute the solution to 250 cc., bring to boiling, and add 1 cc. ammonium oxalate solution (Note 5) and ammonia in slight excess; boil for two minutes, and set aside for a half-hour. Filter off the calcium oxalate upon the filter first used, and wash free from chlorides. The filtrate should be made barely acid with hydrochloric acid and combined with the filtrate from the first precipitation. Begin at once the evaporation of the solutions for the determination of magnesium as described below.
The precipitate of calcium oxalate may be converted into calcium oxide by ignition without previous drying. After burning the filter, it may be ignited for three quarters of an hour in a platinum crucible at the highest heat of the Bunsen or Tirrill burner, and finally for ten minutes at the blast lamp (Note 6). Repeat the heating over the blast lamp until the weight is constant. As the calcium oxide absorbs moisture from the air, it must (after cooling) be weighed as rapidly as possible.
The precipitate may, if preferred, be placed in a weighted porcelain crucible. After burning off the filter and heating for ten minutes the calcium precipitate may be converted into calcium sulphate by placing 2 cc. of dilute sulphuric acid in the crucible (cold), heating the covered crucible very cautiously over a low flame to drive off the excess of acid, and finally at redness to constant weight (Note 7).