Fish Kill

Suyog Shrestha
Karrie Tonhsay
Experiment 14
11-5-14

Introduction
The team will analyze a water sample to find if there are any chemicals of group IA
and IIA metal ions. The reason for the fish kill in Columbia River Montana, is high
salinity of Group IA, II2 and Cu2+ , Fe3+ ions.
The purpose of performing this experiment is to determine the cause of a fish-kill
in a river located in Montana. The importance of this experiment is to be able to
determine the concentration of salt that is in the river that killed the fish. When the
metal ions are dissolved in water it can cause it to become toxic. When the
concentration of the metal ions becomes too high, such as 50-100 ppm of Cu2+ it
can cause the fish to die. Some of these metal ions are good in small amounts, but
when large amounts of the metal ions are dissolved into the water, it can be
dangerous for the aquatic life.
The theories used are the ones from emission spectroscopy and absorption
spectroscopy labs. The first lab was the Emission Analysis of Aqueous Solutions of
Group IA and IIA Metal Salts. This was the flame test lab where metal ions are
determined in the unknown water sample by using the data from the group IA and
IIA metal salts. Then the equation E=hc*6.022e23*1000 is used to find the energy
of light emitted per atom and the kilojoules emitted per moles of atoms.
The second lab was the Determination of Chromium (VI) Concentration via
Absorption Spectroscopy. The purpose of this lab is to determine if a lake water
sample was suitable for drinking and for agricultural purposes. A 300.00 ppm Cr (VI)
solution is obtained and diluted into 5 standard solutions. Then it is recorded via
absorbance spectra of each solution and used that data to create a Beer-Lambert
graph, which is used to figure out the concentration of the lake water sample.
The list of chemicals that are to be used in this experiment are standard 0.5 M of
NaCl, LiCl, KCl, CaCl2, BaCl2, SrCl2, solution, a standard Fe/Cu solution containing

400 ppm Cu+2 and 20 ppm Fe+3 in a SCN- solution, a 0.1 M iron (III) and copper (II)
nitrate solution that is already mixed with SCN - ions, and lastly, a simulated Clark
Fork of the Columbia River Water Sample.
Part One
Setup the Measure Net workstation at the lab table for emission spectroscopy. Get a
Bunsen burner, a nichrome wire, and a watch glass. Press Zero and put a finger at
the tip of the fiber optic cable until it reads Ready to Scan. Then press Intensity,
heat the nichrome wire until orange light glows, then position the Bunsen burner so
that it reads between 2500-4000. Lastly, press Intensity button until it reads Ready
to Scan. Clean the nichrome wire by putting it into 5 mL of HCl and move it around
in the solution for 35 seconds. Rinse your nichrome wire in distilled water. Put small
amounts of distilled water on the watch glass and heat the wire to clean the burner.
Take the watch glass and hold it near the bottom of the Bunsen burner, put the
heated nichrome wire in the distilled water and let it splatter. Repeat this 3 to 4
times.
Select an ion solution and pour a small amount of it in the watch glass, and heat the
nichrome wire until its bright orange. Put the watch glass near the bottom of the
Bunsen burner and quickly. Record the flame color. If Intensity is higher than the set
variable, press Setup then F2, enter a new variable, and press Display.
To save, go to File Options and press F3. Lastly, enter a 3 digit code (write down the
3 digit code). For the next scan press Display. Put the leftover ion solution into the
waste container. Wash out the watch glass with distilled water and repeat. When
done, clean up the work station.
Create an XY scatter plot of the solutions and the water sample, to make emission
spectra. Open Excel and also open the notepad document and copy all data to an
Excel worksheet, paste in column A (Wavelength Values) and B (Intensity Values).
Open up another worksheet and click on Chart Wizard then click on XY scatter plot.
Highlight cells A and B. Click Titles; enter Wavelength, nm for the x-value box, then
Intensity for the y-value box. Unmark the check from the Show legend box. Then
save the plot. With this graph determine the max wavelength of each solution.
Repeat the same step for each solution.
Part Two
Get eight cuvettes, beral pipets, five 10 mL graduated cylinder, 20 mL of the Fe +3
and Cu+2 solution at 400 ppm concentration, 0.1 M solution of CuSCN +, and FeSCN+2
and the river water sample given. Start by creating five standard dilutions of the
400 ppm solution of Fe and Cu solutions. You can do this by having the first dilution
at 400-50Cu2+ for and 20-2.5 forFe3+then 200, 100, and 50. To do this, you use the
equation M1V1=M2V2.

In this equation, M1 will always be 400 ppm. M2is the resulting concentration.V2 will
always be 10 mL because we are going to be having 10 mL of the solution for all of
them. V1, which is how much of the 400 ppm is added, is unknown, and its needed
to determine the volume of water to add up to 10 mL. All of the five standard
solutions has to be diluted. The equation below determines how to solve for V1.
M1V1=M2V2

V1=M2V2M1

To measure the absorbance spectrum, the Measure Net Spectrophotometer has to

be used. Setup the Measurement station.
To prepare the cuvettes, pour each diluted solution in their own cuvette. Each
cuvette should have 3 mL of the solution in it ( full). Go to the Spectrophotometer
and enter the station number that will receive data. Before the station is ready to
read the samples, place the light block in the sample compartment and press Zero.
The screen will show Ready to scan once the process is complete. After removing
the light block, place the blank solution, usually with water, into the compartment
and press Reference. The screen will once again say Ready to scan when complete.
Then remove the cuvette.
Once this process is done, the station is ready to read samples. Insert a cuvette into
the compartment and press Sample. The spectrum will be displayed at your station.
Remove the cuvette and go to your station. Press File Option and then F3 to save
the spectrum. You will be asked to enter a three digit code which is of your choice.
Press Display to clear the screen for another reading of another sample. Empty the
solution that have already gone through the Spectrophotometer into proper waste
containers and rinse with distilled water. Repeat for each sample.
Open the files for each of the solution and create scatter plots to determine the
maximum wavelength for FeSCN+2 and CuSCN+. Record the concentration and
corresponding absorbance of the two solutions and the unknown lake water sample
at the maximum wavelength, which is selected between the 400-450 nm region.
With that data, create a Beer-Lambert curve.
Once that is done, plug in the absorbance of the unknown lake water sample into
the equation line and solve. That will determine the concentration of metal ions in
the sample.

Emission Wavelength

Flame Color

Metal Ion

Li+

Na+

File Name

670.8, 671.46

589.37, 590.05

K+

767.03, 770.16

Ca2+

624.41, 625.08

Sr2+

683.23, 683.88

Concentration Cu, Fe (ppm)

400, 20 ppm

320, 16 ppm

Red

333

Orange

165

Purple

Orange

Red-Pink

003

001

000

Absorbance ([CuSCN]+ &[FeSCN]+2)

.894

.628

200, 10 ppm

.321

100, 5 ppm

.069

50, 2.5 ppm

.02

Unknown

.442

Results
For the emission, there were two ions present in the sample. The ions were KCl and
NaCl. This was figured out by looking at the two highest peaks of the emission
graph and comparing it to the ones of the ions that we did before. From that it can
be known that the solution contained two different ions and also what those were.

Math
The equation that was made from the Beer Lambert graph for Copper was y =
391.16x + 62.854. The absorption of the unknown was 0.442. Since the Beer
Lambert graph has concentration as the y-axis, the unknown would be plugged in as
the x. When that is done it would be:
y = 391.16(0.442) + 62.854
= 172.89272 + 62.854
= 235.75
The concentration of Copper in the unknown would be 235.75. That number above
50 so that much concentration would be very toxic.

Using the Beer Lambert Graph for the Iron concentration, the equation for that
would be y = 19.558x + 3.1427. Once again the concentration was the y-axis, so
the unknown would be plugged in as the x. Doing that, it would be:
y = 19.558x + 3.1427
= 19.558(0.442) + 3.1427
= 8.644636 + 3.1427
= 11.79
The concentration of Iron in the unknown would be 11.79. The number is below 50
so this would not be toxic.
However, since the copper is toxic and the solutions are mixed together, the overall
mixture is toxic. The water would be of 236 ppm Cu 2+ and 12 ppm for Fe3+.
Since the lake water sample is toxic, the water is not suitable for the fishes to live
in.
Discussion
In this experiment the results collected were accurate but not precise. The
Significance of this experiment was figuring out the different concentrations of
certain metal ions that can cause the fish to die in the Clark Fork Columbia River.
The experiment was to help determine the specific amount of each metal ion that is
good at a reasonable amount. After the experiment was complete it was clear that
the salinity concentration was too high for the fish to survive.

Conclusion
Multiple experiments were done to figure out if the lake water was too toxic for
the fish. To do this two experiments were done. The first experiment was the
emission analysis; this detects ions that form colorless aqueous solutions. For
example group IA and IIA metal ions. Salinity becomes a problem when the salt
concentrations are too high. This is when it causes the lake water too become toxic.
These are some of the metal ions that are toxic (Pb2+, Hg2+ , Cr3+, Fe3+,Ni2+ ,
Cu2+). For the second lab done, was the Absorption spectroscopy this is the method
to detect colored aqueous solutions. The transition metal ions are identified by

wavelength when light passes through the solutions that contain the metal ions.
The experiment did provide the data did provide the necessary information needed
to complete the experiment successfully
. The identity of the unknown was NaCl,
KCl, and the unknown concentration was 236 ppm Cu, and 12 ppm Fe. Overall the
results show that the metal ions are too high of a salinity concentration thats
contaminating the lake water, which is causing the fish to die.

Bibliography
Atwood, C. (2010). Format for Writing the Formal Lab Report. In Experiments in
General Chemistry (2nd ed., pp. 421-422).
Atwood, C. (2010). Determination of the Cause of a "Fish-Kill" in the Clark Fork of the
Columbia River: A Self-Directed Experiment. In Experiments in General Chemistry
(2nd ed., pp. 185-187).