X-ray films consist of a flexible plastic base coated in a gel that contains lig
ID: 539012 • Letter: X
Question
X-ray films consist of a flexible plastic base coated in a gel that contains light sensitive silver halide (i.e. silver bromide and silver chloride). These films are exposed to X-ray radiation to produce images of the inside of a subject. Once the are no longer needed, it is common practice to recycle the film to recover the silver. This prices is done by shredding the film and placing it in a large cyanide solution bath. The silver is precipitated out as silver cyanide. a What can you conclude about the water solubility of silver cyanide. b. Using your knowledge of limiting reactants how can the process be optimized to ensure that the maximum amount of silver is recovered.Explanation / Answer
A) From the above paragraph, it is sure that the silver will be precipitated as silver cyanide on treating cyanide solution with the X-ray films. Precipitate is formed only when the compound formed is insoluble in water. Hence silver cyanide is insoluble in water.
B) In order to recover silver completely from the film, it's better to use cyanide solution in excess.
First try to analyze the amount of silver that might be present in the films. Then cyanide solution is added in excess amount so that all the silver ions which were present in the films should react completely with cyanide solution to give silver cyanide precipitate. That is, silver in the X-ray films should be made as a limiting reagent by adding excess of cyanide solution.
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