Transition Elements

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The Transition Elements

In the centre of the Periodic Table is a block of metallic elements called the transition elements.

e.g. iron- Fe copper- Cu platinum- Pt mercury- Hg

they have the typical properties of metals

compounds of transition elements are often coloured:

copper compouns are blue, iron(II) compounds are grey-greeen, iron(III) compounds are orange-brown

many transition metals and their compounds can be used as catalysts, e.g. iron is used in the Haber process.

Thermal decomposition: reaction in which a substance is broken down into simpler substances by heating.

when transition metal carbonates are heated, a colour change occurs and they decompose to form a metal oxide and carbon dioxide

metal compounds in solution contain metal ions. Some of these form precipitates that come out of solution when sodium hydroxide solution is added to them.

the reaction between the transition metal ions and sodium hydroxide solution is called a precipitation reaction

metal ion: copper(II)

precipitate: blue

metal ion: iron(II)

precipitate: grey-green

metal ion: iron(III)

precipitate: orange-brown

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