What purpose would this particular combination of elements be used for in any human endeavor?
2006-07-07 01:57:09 · 2 answers · asked by ann_i_am2005 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Chemistry
Bad use of "elements": while barium and aluminium are elements (and at least barium is likely not to be present in elemental (metal) form), ethyl bromide is not an element, but a molecule made of the elements carbon (2), hydrogen (5), and bromine.
If I was faced with this as a forensic puzzle, I'd first need to find out what chemical (and physical) form the aluminium had. Al foil is an ubiquitious packaging material. Aluminium oxides and silicates are ubiquitious soil constituents.
Ethyl bromide doesn't occur naturally. Liquid at room temperature, will react violently with powdered aluminium (the bromine will react with the metal, and the reaction heat will ignite the organic rest of the molecule). The bromide can be used in chemical synthesis. Its use as a solvent probably has been forbidden, but wouldn't have been widespread anyway because alkyl bromides and iodides decompose rapidly under sunlight.
Barium remains the puzzle. Barium salts are used in chemical analytics, or as X-ray contrast infusions. Metallic barium is extremely unstable, in fact I haven't ever encountered it in my career as a chemist, so I will rule that out.
The only guess I can give is a badly packaged or possibly sabotaged lab supply transport.
2006-07-07 02:14:10 · answer #1 · answered by jorganos 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
uh ethyl bromine is a comound. they can be used in synthesis
2006-07-13 07:37:14 · answer #2 · answered by shiara_blade 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋