Reaction of Chlorine with Iron
Description: A ball of iron wool being heated and placed in a flask containing chlorine gas. The iron reacts vigorously with the chlorine to form a cloud of iron(III) chloride. This demonstration is available on video.
This demonstration is also available on JCE Software “Chemistry Comes Alive!” Vol. 3 CD-Rom.
Source: JCE Software “Chemistry Comes Alive!”
Year: 2000 Vol: 77 Page: 671
Keywords: Chlorine, Iron(III) Chloride, Chlorine gas, Iron wool
Rating: 
Hazard: High
- Flammability hazard
- Acute toxicity hazard – eyes, lungs
- Inhalation hazard
- Skin corrosion hazard
- Burn hazard
- Oxidizing gases
- Eye irritation
- Specific target organ toxicity – single exposure, respiratory system
- Short term (acute) aquatic hazard
- Long term (chronic) aquatic hazard
Effectiveness: Good
- Results are clearly observable without guidance
- Strong effects are seen by audience
- Good connection from demo to course material
- Good reliability
- Time to results is low
Difficulty: Medium
- Some intermediate steps to results
- Some sequential and timed manipulations
- Toxic regents in use
- Reactions at non-standard conditions
Safety Precautions:
- Eye protection required
- Gloves required
- Thermal gloves recommended
- Lab coat recommended
- Downdraft hood or full hood required
- Perform in a well-ventilated area
- ABC fire extinguisher on hand
- Perform on heat resistant surface
- Prevent release of reagents to the environment
Class: Main Group Chemistry, Groups VIB and VIIIB (16 and 17), Transition Metals
Division: General, Inorganic Chemistry
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