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Inorganic Chemistry

Chemistry In Pictures

Chemistry in Pictures: Mixing mix-up

by Alexandra Taylor
December 3, 2019

A top-down photo of a beaker containing a mix of liquids and solids.
Credit: Lina-Marie Baum and Silke Müsse

The beauty of science is often revealed by accident. Take this beaker, for example. Lina-Marie Baum and her lab partner Silke Müsse are both third-year chemistry students at the University of Giessen. An inorganic lab procedure directed them to make copper(II) hydroxide by mixing sodium hydroxide with copper(II) nitrate, but the partners forgot to include the magnetic stir bar. The result, shown here, was a teal liquid that covered a fluffy, light blue layer sitting atop a dark suspension. When they realized what had gone wrong, the students snapped a photo, popped in the stir bar, and watched the solution turn to a homogenous, bright blue.

Submitted by Lina-Marie Baum and Silke Müsse

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