Ford Motor Company :: Business Management Marketing Essays

Ford Motor Company is the world's largest producer of trucks, and the second largest producer of cars and trucks combined. Ford has manufacturing, assembly or sales affiliates in 34 countries and Ford companies employed 337,800 people world-wide in 1996. Ford has manufacturing facilities in 22 countries on 5 continents, with 87 plants in North America and 41 in Europe. In Europe, in 1995, Ford's combined vehicle market share, at 12.2%, was the highest for eleven years, with three of the eight best-selling cars. In 1995, in the United States, five of the ten top- selling vehicles were Ford, including the best-selling car (Ford Taurus) and best-selling truck (F-series). On January 1, 1995, Ford merged its North American Automotive Operations and its European Automotive Operations into a single organization, Ford Automotive Operations. Instead of being organized by geographic regions, the Company is now realigned by product line, with five Vehicle Centers, each responsible for one group of products worldwide. At the same time, Ford is reducing the time taken to develop a new vehicle from 48 to 24 months and reducing engines, transmissions, and basic vehicle platforms by 30% worldwide. Ford hopes that by pooling global skills and resources will result in more variations on each vehicle platform, increasing the number of vehicles introduced over the next five years by 50%. One of the key strategies behind the realignment has been growth. Ford has launched a variety of new initiatives throughout the world, with joint ventures for the assembly of vehicles in countries as diverse as China, India, Thailand and Vietnam. In China, Ford expects to begin production of light trucks with a company named Jiangling Motors in the near future. In India, Mahindra Ford India Ltd. will begin manufacture and distribution of Ford products, beginning with the Ford Escort, in mid-1996 and Fiesta in 1998. In Thailand, Ford has a joint venture to produce pick-up trucks and in Vietnam, Ford plans to build a vehicle assembly plant at Hanoi, together with partners Song Cong Diesel. In Poland, the Plonsk plant has begun to build Escorts and Transits. Joint ventures are establishing a presence for Ford all over the globe. Ford is working with two companies in Korea, one to supply automotive air conditioning units and the second as a new joint venture to produce electronic components later this year. In addition to the 20% of Jiangling Motors, China, acquired by Ford in 1995, four further manufacturing joint ventures in China have been set up to produce radiators, glass, plastic and electronic components. Ford has also acquired a 45% equity in South African company, Samcor, for the assembly of Ford

Holography Essay -- Hologram Descriptive Essays

Holography Holography has been around for sometime now, but has become increasingly more popular in recent years. Holograms are now found in virtually all types of products. These products consist of currencies, checks, stock certificates, credit cards, passports, ID cards, computer software, audio/visual tapes and CD ROMs, aircraft, software, electrical/electronic appliances, building materials, food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, food, building materials, branded fashion wear, tickets for performances and major sporting events, textbooks, toys, the list goes on. Although the possibility of holography was suggested as early as 1947, it could not be demonstrated until a pure coherent light source, the laser became available in 1963. The techniques of holograms are also applicable to sound, and bats may navigate by ultrasonic holography. Holographic techniques also have applications in storing dental records, detecting stresses and stains on construction and retail goods, detecting forged paintings and documents, and producing three-dimensional body scans. Holography is a method of producing three-dimensional images by means of laser light. Holography uses photographic techniques involving the splitting of two beams apart. So you may be wondering, what exactly is a hologram? The easiest way to describe it is a three dimensional picture. Like if you had a picture of a big marble, and had a smaller marble behind it you would not be able to look around the big marble to see the little one. Holography though, has very little to do with photography. A photograph is an actual image; a snapshot taken in a seconds time to preserve a memory. â€Å"A hologram contains information about size, shape, brightness, and contrast of the object being recorded.† (www.holoworld.com/holo/quest2) â€Å"The information is stored in a very microscopic and complex pattern of interference. The interference pattern is made possible by the properties of light generated by a LASER.† (www.holoworld.com/holo/quest2) In order to have a hologram be effective and accurate it needs two things: 1. Light needs to be highly directional 2. One color If it is done correctly your eyes and brain perceives the object as being in front of you. Basically it is a mind trick. Earlier I mentioned holography. This is a method that allow... ...le conversation though! BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. American Bank Note sees secure future Westchester County Business Journal July 7, 2000 Volume 39. Issue 28 pg. 9 2. AMPLIFIERS HOLOGRAPHY, Poptronics, March 2000, Vol 1 Issue 3, pg10 3. http://www.enter.net/~holostudio/holonews.html 4. ELECTRONIC holography, Electronic Engineering Times, 12/15/97 Issue 985, pg33. 4. Foilmark Plans $5 million expansion for holographic unit. Converting Magazine, March 2000 Volume 18. Issue 3 pg.22 5. www.holoworld.com 6. www.holograms.bc 7. Holograms Are for Real Machine Design February 25, 1999 Volume 71 Issue 4 pg.48 8. Hologram Maker Reviews problems in Accounting Khasru, B.Z. Westchester County Business Journal February 8, 1999. Volume 6 pg. 5 9. HOLOGRAPHY-Technological innovations VOXEL Inc., Computer Graphics World, Nov 96, Vol.19, Issue 11, pg20 10. www.members.eunet.at/lexlechz/hologram 11. Multipedia, 1995 12. http://www.oldcoloradocity.com/magictown/ 13. Optics Industry Report Laser Focus World January 2000 Volume 36 Issue 1, pg.69 14. Protecting the right image. Modern Power systems. November 1999 Volume 19. Issue 11 pg. 59

Sports Narrative - Wrestling :: Personal Narrative Essays

Personal Narrative- Wrestling CLAP, CLAP, CLAP, CLAP, echoes through my head as I walk to the middle of the mat. "At 160lbs Aidan Conner of La Junta vs. Rodney Jones of Hotchkiss." All I can think of is every bead of sweat, every drip of blood, every mile, every push up, every tear. Why? All of this: just to be victorious. All in preparation for one match, six minutes. For some these six minutes may only be a glimpse, and then again for some it may be the biggest six minutes of their life. Many get the chance to experience it more than once. Some may work harder and want it more than others, but they may never get the chance. All they get is a moral victory. Every kid, every man comes into the tournament with a goal. For some is to win, for some is to place, others are just happy to qualify. These six minutes come on a cold frigid night in February at a place called the Pepsi Center. Once a year this gathering takes place when the small and the large, the best of the best, come to compete in front thousands of people. I am at the Colorado State Wrestling Championships. Ever since the previous season I had my standards set high. I had placed fifth, which was all right for the time being, but I knew as time went on I needed to push myself and increase my level of wrestling. I decided that I would do whatever it took, through thick and thin. I traveled to small local tournaments in Colorado, and a couple out-of-state tournaments, I even traveled to Delaware. It didn't really matter how I did at these tournaments because it was just all practice until February. So, I lifted and wrestled just about every chance I got. It was all in preparation for one match, six minutes. Starting the season as the second ranked wrestler in the state, I was just where I wanted to be, noticed, but not the "top dog". I did well during the season; not losing to anybody in the 3A classification. I didn't do quite what I wanted, but I wasn't going to complain. A broken hand after the second weekend of competition didn't help any, but I fought through it and kept my eyes set on one opponent, one goal, one match, six minutes.

Cause and Effect Solar Energy

Cause/Effect: Solar Energy Solar radiation is an energy resource many times larger than mankind’s energy needs. Mankind has been able to capture/harness this energy resource, but only on a limited scale. Mankind has found that the use of the sun was quite useful. They used it to grow and dry crops, dry clothing, produce heat, and for light. The sun is a sphere, on the inside of the sun there is a continuous process of fusion in which hydrogen nuclei combine to from helium nuclei. There is less helium than that of hydrogen, which allows the sun to create energy.The energy is then radiated out of the surface of the sun, in which only a small portion is intercepted by plant earth. Just outside of the earth’s atmosphere, approximately 93 million miles from the sun, has the intensity of radiation of about 1. 36 kilowatts per square foot. This process is also called the Solar Constant. This energy is absorbed, dispersed, and reflected by the atmosphere; beaming its radiation to earth’s ground. Almost half of this energy is visible light, approximately half is infrared radiation, and a very small portion of it is ultraviolet radiation.There are many ways to convert this energy. Some use it to heat their water and homes; some convert it to Electrical Energy. Most of the world’s energy needs have been met by converting solar energy into its electrical or mechanical forms. Electrical energy conversion of solar energy can be quite expensive. Much more than it would be to convert into thermal energy, but worth it in the long run. Solar panels or solar cells have been created to convert solar energy into mechanical energy, which can then be converted into electrical energy or used directly.This green energy alternative would cause a reduction in our environmental impact because it has less physical impact on the environment. They also help reduce the level of greenhouse gases produced and would decrease the demands of fossil fuels. Without a reli able, yet sustainable source of energy for the future, mankind will face a continued environmental destruction and continue to contribute to the growing problem of global warming. In order to stop the damage that is being done to the environment, we need to switch to an environmentally friendly energy production system.If we do not switch, the current facilities who rely mainly on fossil fuels, will continue to destroy the earth because they are leaving behind toxic residues and wasteful by products that will have to be dealt with for many years. The future lies with systems that eliminate these toxic and wasteful by products. Only by switching to fully renewable energy systems will humanity be free of these toxins. With our current technology and the expanding knowledge of tomorrow, wind turbines have a 30 year life span.The effort used to run these turbines is lower than the use of traditional power plants. Using wind energy to power turbines instead of plants using fossil fuels f or energy will reduce the overall impact of the U. S. Energy production. The before mentioned solar panel has a life expectancy of approximately 25 years. The total cost per kilowatt is way lower for solar panels than that of fossil fueled based power plants. These panels, once installed, need little to no maintenance. There is no monthly bill or added fees.Just like wind energy, solar energy is completely sustainable and they do not produce any physical by products. I believe that wind and solar energy is the perfect solution to the future of preserving the earth’s environment. Our environment is turning against us and there is a shortage of fossil fuels. It seems as though mankind as a whole is killing itself off. Mankind as a whole needs to rid itself of its dependency of fossil fuels. While wind and solar energy are not the only options available for sustainable energy solutions, in my opinion, they are the best alternative solutions.

Macbeth †Character assessment Essay

The 3 witches have told Macbeth that he will become king. He tells this news to his wife, Lady Macbeth . She starts plotting the murder of Duncan, the king of Scotland. A messenger then arrives at Dunsinane telling her that Duncan will be visiting them that evening. In this scene Macbeth kills Duncan. Setting This play takes place on stage. The play is set in 1600’s in the Scottish Highlands. The stage is bare apart from a bench, a bucket and well, there is a backdrop of the castle at the rear of the stage. Character Profiles Macbeth Stunned at what he has just done Angry – with both himself and Lady Macbeth Becomes quite hysterical Pure shock Lady Macbeth Evil voice Devious Cunning Calm throughout 4th witch very clever & Very evil A soft blue light falls onto the stage with a white spot light on Lady Macbeth, the light including spot light turns green during Lady Macbeth’s speech. Lady Macbeth sits on bench at stage rear holding a pure black cat. (A black cat is connected with witches, Lady Macbeth is the 4th witch). Lady Macbeth starts to say her speech in an evil, cold, powerful, crackle of a voice. Here she will be talking to her cat rather than herself. Here she talks of the fatal bellman, this signifies death. An organ is playing in the background (organs are played at funerals, and signify death, a murder has just taken place). Macbeth backs onto the stage very slowly almost in a trance. He turns to face Lady Macbeth â€Å"I have done the deed.† – saying this like in complete shock but realisation as much to himself as to Lady Macbeth. Macbeth: â€Å"Did though not hear a noise?† Lady Macbeth: â€Å"The owl scream and the crickets cry† (Elizabethans would know These things represented Death) Lady Macbeth: Did thou not speak? Quick, Macbeth: When? Panicky, Lady Macbeth: Now. Shows Macbeth: As I descended? Nerves, Lady Macbeth: Ay. and. Macbeth: Hark! tension Who lies in the 2nd chamber? Lady Macbeth: Donalbain Macbeth: This is a sorry sight! (angry, shouting, he sees the blood). Lady Macbeth: A foolish thought to say (trying to calm him whilst putting her cat Down). Macbeth is now slumped on the floor with his head in his hands saying lines 21-25. Remaining slumped he says lines 26-30, but this time in a whisper. In these lines Macbeth talks about sleep. Only innocence is allowed to sleep, Macbeth cannot sleep anymore, for he is now evil. â€Å"Macbeth shall sleep no more!† Macbeth also talks about not being able to say amen, this is because he is no longer holy. Lady Macbeth stands to his right looking down on him, this shows her power over him. She says â€Å"Consider it not so deeply.† In an impatient, and almost dismissive voice. Macbeth: â€Å"Sleep no more Macbeth does murder sleep!† Lady Macbeth: â€Å"Why have you got these daggers? They must rest by Duncan.† Lady Macbeth grabs the daggers. Macbeth is afraid to go back to Duncan’s chamber, for he cannot bear to look at what he has done. â€Å"If Duncan do bleed then I shall place the daggers in the arms of the guards, for it will seem their guilt!† she says this in an evil yet excited whisper. Exits stage left, running. Her evil and cunning nature has now been fully exposed to the audience. (A loud knocking is heard, the knocking comes from speakers all around the theatre, so the audience is surrounded by the knocking). Macbeth: Is in complete hysteria cries line 59-60. The blood is represented by long red ribbons attached to his finger tips and his clothes. He walks over to the well and tries to wash the blood from his hands. â€Å"All Neptune’s great oceans could not wash these hands clean.† Neptune is God of water, so here Macbeth is saying all the water in the world could not wash the blood away. I think he was trying to wash away his crime and his guilt by getting rid of the blood, as this was just a visual reminder of the wrong he had done. He pretends to throw the blood stained water over the floor. A watery red light appears on the stage floor rippling with waves. Lady Macbeth appears back on stage with her hands out in front of her, her hands and clothing are soaked with blood (red ribbons). She holds her hands up to Macbeth’s face, he turns away from her. She starts to speak in an evil, cold, and angry voice â€Å"my hands are of your colour , but I shame to wear a heart so white.† The knocking starts again. Lady Mabeth spins around in a sudden panic, â€Å"I hear knocking!† Lady Macbeth says the rest of her speech in the same quick startled tone. This is the only time in the scene where LM shows her nerves. Macbeth in complete hysteria with tears running down his cheeks â€Å"Wake Duncan with your knocking, I would thou couldst!† At this point M’s weakness is most apparent, at this point I feel that he would be ready to confess all. Lady Macbeth and Macbeth exit stage right. Lady Macbeth now calm again, strides off confidently. Macbeth crawls off on his hands and knees. This shows the difference between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, Macbeth is remorseful, guilt ridden and hysterical with disbelief. Lady Macbeth on the other hand is confident, calm, excited, and seems completely unfazed by the fact that she has helped murder her king. Her power over him is enormous, and makes you wonder whether Macbeth was in a trance to even be able to comprehend killing his king let alone actually doing it. At the end of the scene the lights suddenly go out the theatre is pitch black.

Potato Lab

Michael Castelli Keegan Bauman Potato Lab Dr. Peano Block 1 Introduction: Potatoes are just your average food; they have been around for as long as the human race can remember. In this lab we will make them be a prime example of osmosis, which is a transport mechanism. In this lab the problem being tested was what environment affects the mass of the potatoes the most. The independent variable is the environments used salt, water and iodine solution. The dependent variable is the mass of the potato after being exposed to the environment for 5 days.The control was a potato in no specific environment, meaning it is just sitting in air, no salt and no water/iodine solution. If the potato is exposed to a specific (hypotonic/hypertonic) environment then the mass will increase/decrease because the cell will grow or shrink due to the environment exposed to. Experimental Design: The groups being testes are the hypotonic environment (water and iodine), hypertonic environment (Salt) and the con trol which is just the potato in just the beaker. The time the potatoes stay in each environment is 5 days.One potato is in 300mL of water and iodine solution, another is in 300mL of salt and the last potato is just in air. The potatoes are all fully peeled with no skin. The potatoes are in 3 different beakers with saran wrap over the top of each beaker. Materials: 3 potatoes Potato peeler 3; 500mL beakers 300mL of salt 300mL water 50 drops of iodine Saran wrap Safety goggles Triple beam balance Procedure: 1. Gather materials above 2. Put on goggles 3. Be safe 4. Peel three potatoes over garbage 5. Take mass of each potato 6. Record 7.Put three potatoes in three different beakers 8. Leave one potato in just the beaker (control) 9. In another beaker put 300 mL of water in with 50 drops of iodine (hypotonic environment) 10. In last beaker put 30mL of salt ensuring potato is covered. (hypertonic environment) 11. Put saran wrap over all the beakers 12. Make sure the beakers are sealed 1 3. Let potatoes sit in environment for 5 days 14. Take potatoes out of environment after five days 15. Take mass of each potato 16. Record 17. Record change in mass 18. Observe 9. See if hypothesis was true 20. Write lab Data: Mass of Potato in Environments | Control (Nothing) | Hypotonic Environment (Water and iodine) | Hyper tonic environment (Salt) | Starting mass | 129. 6g| 135. 5g| 144. 1g| Ending mass | 128. 6g| 150. 8g| 102. 2g| Change in mass | -1g| +15. 3g| -41. 9g| Mass of Potato in Environment (In Grams) Weight in Grams Environment Results: The results did not have any outcome that was not expected. The control changed only a single gram in mass, the hypertonic environment grew by 15. 3 grams.On the chart above it is below the graph because the starting mass was taken, then the mass after being in the environment was taken, and the result was -15. 3g hence the reason it appears to be negative. The hypotonic got lost 41. 9g of mass. Conclusion: The results that were taken were clear. The hypothesis was correct, based on the environment the potato was in it either grew or shrunk because it was exposed to the (hypotonic/hypertonic) environment. The results are valid because there were no variables in the experiment and also the results were ones that were expected.In the hypertonic environment the potato grew (as it was expected to) and in the hypotonic environment it shrunk (as it was expected to). The potatoes were expected to do so because when a cell is in a hypertonic environment water tends to flow into the cell, while in a hypotonic environment the water flows out of the cell. This was proven in this experiment. There were no changes to the procedure made. There will be no changes to the procedure if the experiment is replicated again.

Chemistry and Biotechnology Essay

ABSTRACT Elemental analysis of organic compounds determine the elements present in them but they do not give the actual structure or the functional groups present. Since all organic compounds contain hydrogen and carbon, most tests consist of only the determination of oxygen, sulfur, nitrogen and halogens – elements that are most of the time the only ones involved in organic compounds. The experiment focused on the Sodium Fusion test, which tested for all elements except oxygen. In the test, the test compound is broken down into its elements, which then bond individually with sodium. The presence of sulfur was tested either with lead acetate or sodium nitroprusside. The presence of nitrogen was tested with ferrous ammonium sulfate and potassium fluoride. The presence of any halogen was tested by a flame test with copper wire and the identification of the exact halogen was done using silver nitrate. Careful experimentation was needed in order to avoid false positive and false negative r esults. Keywords: elemental analysis, oxygen, sulfur, nitrogen, halogens, sodium fusion, lead acetate, sodium nitroprusside, flame test[pic] INTRODUCTION Organic compounds are composed mainly of carbon and hydrogen, and in certain functional groups, oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur and halogens. When presented with an unknown organic compound, it is at times enough to determine the elements present in the compound and not the exact functional groups. The process in which the elements of a compound are determined is called elemental analysis. One of the tests done to conduct elemental analysis is the Sodium Fusion Test. In this experiment, sodium fusion test is used in elemental analysis of qualitative determination of elemental halogens, sulphur and nitrogen in a sample. Sodium is a very strong reducing agent that will able to break up the organic compounds carbon atom chain. It also will convert the atoms which are covalently bonded to the carbon chain to inorganic ions. The elements are detected by sodium fusion test. The organic compound is fused with metallic sodium to convert these elements into ionic mixture which dissolved in water and the filtrate is used to perform the tests. The sodium fusion test, in some texts known as the Lassaigne’s test, was developed by the French chemist, Jean Louis Lassaigne in the 1800’s. It is a general test performed in order to determine the presence of nitrogen, sulfur and halogens. The principle behind the test is the breakdown of the compound into its elements at high temperatures. The breakdown of a compound into its elements is possible for organic compounds as they do not dissociate and form ions when dissolved in a liquid unlike salts and other ionic compounds. These elements then fuse with sodium. These sodium compounds are then the ones tested with different solutions that reveal the presence or absence of the above elements. A limitation of this test is that it cannot test for the presence of oxygen, however, the presence of oxygen can easily be determined through the determination of the actual functional groups in the compound. It is a general test for the detection of halogens, nitrogen and sulphur in an organic compound. These elements are covalently bonded to the organic compounds. In order to detect them, these have to be converted into their ionic forms. This is done by fusing the organic compound with sodium metal. The ionic compounds formed during the fusion are extracted in aqueous solution and can be detected by simple chemical tests. The extract is called sodium fusion extract or Lassaigne’s extract (Wikipedia, 2012.) When an organic compound is heated strongly with sodium, any halogens, nitrogen, and sulfur will be converted into inorganic sodium salts such as sodium halide (for halides), sodium cyanide (for nitrogen), sodium sulfide (for sulfur), and sodium thiocyanate (for sulfur and nitrogen).The nitrogen is confirmed with ferrous sulfate i.e. iron sulfate. In this experiment, the Sodium Fusion Test was used in order to determine the elements present in an unknown compound. MATERIALS AND METHODS The experiment was divided into 2 parts; the first part was the sodium fusion test while the second part consisted of the tests for specific elements. For the first part of the experiment, a piece of sodium metal was washed with hexane and then placed in a completely dry test tube. It was made sure that the test tube was completely dry because any drop of water in the test tube would result to an explosion due to the highly reactive property of sodium. The test tube with the sodium metal was then heated until the metal has melted. Once the vapor has reached a third of the test tube, it was removed from heating and 0.5g/15ml of the sample was added to it. The mixture was then reheated until the fusion has been completed. A successful fusion was noted by a small explosion or flash. The mixture was removed from heating. Once the mixture has cooled to room temperature, 1ml of ethanol was added to it and the mixture was again heated until a dull red mixture was obtained. This was done with constant stirring. Once the dull red mixture was obtained, the test tube was immersed in 10ml distilled water and was broken using a glass rod. The mixture was stirred and it was made sure that no residue was left on the stirring rod.; it was then heated to boiling and filtered using an ashless filter paper and the residue was kept aside. For the second part of the experiment, tests for sulfur, nitrogen and halogens were performed. The test for sulfur could be done in two ways: the lead acetate test and the sodium nitroprusside test. For the lead acetate test, 1ml of the sodium fusion filtrate was first tested with blue litmus paper. Acetic acid was then added dropwise until the solution becomes acidic. A few drops of 1% lead acetate solution were added to the solution and the formation of a black precipitate indicated the presence of sulfur. The sodium nitroprusside test was done by adding 2 drops of 2% sodium nitroprusside to 1ml of the sodium fusion filtrate, with the formation of a deep blue-violet color an indication of the presence of sulfur. The test for nitrogen was done through the Lassaigne Test or the Prussian Blue Test. 1ml of the sodium fusion filtrate was adjusted to pH13 through the addition of 10% NaOH solution. 2 drops of each freshly prepared ferrous ammonium sulfate solution and 30% potassium fluoride solution. The mixture was then heated to boiling and acidified through the addition of 3M sulfuric acid drop wise until the iron hydroxides have been dissolved. A positive result was indicated by the formation of a dark blue solution or precipitate. The test for halogens was done in two parts – the first part, called the Beilstein’s test was the test for the presence of halogens while the second test was the test for the identity of the halogen if it is present. For the Beilstein’s test, a copper wire with a loop at the end was heated using a Bunsen burner until no color was imparted on the flame. It was then cooled and dipped into the sodium fusion filtrate and then burned again. The appearance of a green flame was the indication of the presence of halogens. For the test for the specific halogen present, 2ml of the sodium fusion filtrate was tested with blue litmus paper. It was then acidified through the drop wise addition of 5% nitric acid solution and boiled slowly for a few minutes. The solution was then cooled and filtered if a precipitate was formed. 2 drops of 0.1M silver nitrate solution was then added to the filtrate. The formation of white, pale yellow or yellow precipitate indicated the presence of chlorine, bromine and iodine respectively. The results can be further verified through the continuous addition of 0.1M silver nitrate in ethanol in order to precipitate all the halogens. The precipitate was then tested with 2ml of 5% ammonium hydroxide. Dissolving of the precipitate indicated the presence of chlorine. Slight dissolving indicated the presence of bromine while insolubility indicated the presence of iodine. DISCUSSION OF RESULTS The following table shows the results of the elemental analysis tests and the flowchart shows the correct steps of the elemental analysis (basing on the identity of the unknown and not on the experimental results): |Cl |- |S |- | |Br |- |N |Present | |I |- |Metal |- | |F |− | | | During the sodium fusion test, the unknown organic compound was heated to very high temperatures and as a consequence, was broken down into its elements. In the presence of sodium, the compound can form different products depending on the elements present. These products can be NaCN, Na2S, NaI, NaCl or NaBr, since the most common elements found in organic compounds other than carbon,hydrogen and oxygen are nitrogen, sulfur and the halogens. For the unknown compound, sulfur was present and so Na2S was formed. If the sulfur was tested with lead acetate, the following reaction occurred: [pic] The reaction leads to the formation of PbS, which is a black precipitate. If sulfur was tested with sodium nitroprusside, the following reaction occurred: [pic] The ionic solution formed was of a deep violet color. For the unknown compound, nitrogen was presend and so NaCN was formed. For the test for nitrogen, the following reaction occurred: [pic] [pic] [pic] The resulting product is of the Prussian blue color; it was either a solution or a precipitate. The unknown compound did not contain halogens but if it did, the following reaction would have occurred for the Beilstein’s Test: [pic] In determining the actual halogen present, the following reactions occurred: AgCl, AgBr and AgI are while, pale yellow and yellow precipitates respectively. If the sodium fusion test was done in limiting sodium and both sulfur and nitrogen were present in the compound, the thiocyanate ion would be formed during the fusion instead of the cyanate ion. A blood color would emerge from the nitrogen test due to the following reaction: [pic] The organic compounds to be analyzed consist of basically of a chain of carbon atoms which various other atoms are attached. Since these elements are covalently bonded to the carbon chain, it is unable to dissolve in water to form cations and anions. However, sodium fusion test can be used to reduce those atoms that are covalently bonded to the carbon chain to inorganic soluble ions since sodium is a very strong reducing agent. In the Lassaigne’s test, the nitrogen can be reduced to form cyanide ions, CN-: [pic] For sulphur, it had been reduced to form sulfide ion, S2- in Lassaigne’s test as shown in the following: [pic] If both nitrogen and sulphur are present in the organic compound at the same time, then the chemical reaction below will take place in the test: [pic] If halogens (Cl, Br, I) are present in the compound, the halogens will be reduced to form halide ions (Cl-, Br-, I-) during the sodium fusion test. [pic] The inorganic ions in aqueous solution could be easily observed after undergo certain tests which can indicates the presence of elements in the particular compounds. In the cyanide test, the filtrate of compound A was added with ferrous sulfate, a dark green precipitate was formed. The formation of ferrous hydroxide was produced from the reaction between ferrous sulfate and sodium hydroxide. [pic] The sodium hydroxide was formed by the reaction of unreacted sodium metal with water due to incomplete reaction of sodium fusion with compound A. [pic] The FeSO4 solution was added to confirm the presence of NaOH and to react completely with it in the filtrate. At the same time, a small amount of black precipitate was formed at the bottom but it was disappeared after more ferrous sulphate was added. The formation of black precipitate may be due to the ferrous sulphide exists in the mixture. [pic] The equation below shows that the ferrous sulphate was reacted with the sodium cyanide to form sodium ferrocyanide as the main product. [pic] The sulphuric acid and increase in temperature was used to increase the suitable medium for the formation of complex. As a result, ferric-ferrocyanide complex with the colour of Prussian blue was precipitated out after ferric chloride is added to oxidize the Fe2+ to become Fe3+. This Prussian blue precipitate indicates that the unknown A contains nitrogen in the compound. [pic] Some of the Fe3+ was formed before the oxidation of ferric chloride. This might be due to the air oxidation of iron(II) ions in the mixture before the ferric chloride is added. For compounds B and C, a negative result is obtained which end up with colourless solution as results. Hence, these shown nitrogen are absent in the both organic compounds. The reduced sulfide ion can be confirmed by using two different tests which were sodium nitroprusside test and lead(II) acetate test. For the first test, the appearance of deep purple solution shows the positive result. The formation of sodium sulphonitroprusside is a complex that was formed between the sodium nitroprusside and sodium sulphide. [pic] In another test, the black precipitate will be formed if the sulphur is present in the compound. The formation of black precipitate shows a positive result for this test. [pic] There are various possible sources of errors for the experiment. One of these is the incomplete or improper fusion of the compound with sodium. If this happens, then the proper compounds would not be formed and therefore would give negative or even false positive results in the tests. Another possible source of error for the test is from the Prussian blue test. The solution must be basic because the test does not run in an acidic medium. If the solution is left acidic, the reaction will not occur and would give a false negative result. Another source of error is the determination of the flame color in the Beilstein’s test. The color should be blue-green because a blue flame indicates Cu1+ ions while a green flame indicates Cu-(non-halide). If the color of the flame was observed incorrectly, then it may give a false positive if it is observed to be blue-green instead of blue or green or it may give a false negative if it is not observed as blue-green. This was the main source of error for this trial since the presence of halogens was incorrectly deduced. Conclusion From the experiment, several conclusions could be made. First, the sodium fusion tests consist of various tests, which determine the presence of nitrogen, sulfur and halogens in an organic compound. The presence of nitrogen was confirmed by the formation of a Prussian blue precipitate or solution. The presence of sulfur was confirmed through the formation of the black precipitate PbS or the formation of a deep violet solution from sodium nitroprusside. The presence of a halogen in the compound was confirmed by a blue-green flame, when the flame test was performed with a copper wire while the exact identity of the halogen was determined by the different colors of precipitate formed with silver nitrate. It can also concluded that the experiment should be done in accuracy and care since the results can give false positive or false negative results when seemingly minor details are incorrectly deduced, for instance the pH of the solution or the color of the flame. Also, sodium is highly reactive and just a small area of contact with water can cause an explosion. REFERENCES 1. Lancashire, Robert John (2005) Qualitative Analysis of Organic Compounds., http://wwwchem.uwimona.edu.jm/lab_manuals/c10expt25.html 2. Baluyut John Y. G., De Castro Kathlia A., Organic Chemistry Laboratory for Chemical Engineering Students Part 2, 2004 3. Klein, David (2012). Organic Chemistry. Danvers. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 4. Wikipedia (2012). Sodium Fusion Test. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_fusion_test