Flame Test Lab

K-Potassium

Purple

Li-Lithium

Red

Sr-Strontium

Red

Ca-Calcium

Red-orange

which pairs of ions produce similar colors in the flame tests

The pairs with similar colours were Ba2+ and Cu2+, and Sr2+ and Li+. Ba and Cu had light green-ish yellow-ish colours, and Sr and Li had red colours.

what particles are found in the chemicals that may be responsible for the production of color light?

The particles responsible for giving off colored light would be the electrons because the excitement caused by heating makes the electrons jump from ground state into a high energy level.

colorful light emissions are applicable to everyday life

Fireworks emit light when a fire, such as the fuse, excites the different electrons in different metals. These light emissions are related because they both have to do with and element's elctrons become excited.

Cu-Copper

Green

why do you think the chemicals have to be heated in the flame before the colored light is emitted?

Light carries away energy. At room temperature atoms sit in their lowest-energy state most of the time, so they don't have any energy to give to light. When they're heated, the atoms spend some time in higher energy states, from which they can emit light while falling back down to the low-energy states.

Define Excited State

Whenever an atom is above a ground state

Define Ground State

Whenever an atom is in a stable state

Ba-Barium

Yellow-orange

Na-Sodium

Yellow-orange

Unknown-Na-Sodium

Yellow-orange