Can we recover bromine from sodium bromide (aq)+sodium acetate (aq) mixture?

2 Answers
Dave
Mar 8, 2018

Not just by mixing them.

Explanation:

Bromine is much more reactive than those "noble gas"-like bromide ions.....or said another way, Bromide ions are very stable compared to Bromine

I talk a lot in class about chemistry as "a ball rolling downhill", and taking Bromide ions to Bromine is pushing a big ball up a big hill. There is nothing in this solution that can push it up the hill.

You can get the the bromide ions to convert back to Bromine, but it will require something much more reactive than acetate ions. Chlorine gas, perhaps - but then you've got a bunch of toxic nasty gases.

anor277
Mar 8, 2018

Not easily....and note that #underbrace(Br^(-))_"bromide ion"!=underbrace(Br_2)_"elemental bromine"#

Explanation:

You start with sodium bromide, #NaBr#, and you want to reduce this to elemental bromine....#Br_2# (the which is a nasty corrosive substance). This is not something reasonable...

On the other hand, the bromide ion COULD be precipitated from aqueous solution by adding soluble lead salts....i.e. #"lead acetate"#...or #"lead nitrate"#

#2Br^(-) +Pb^(2+) rarr PbBr_2(s)darr#

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