Describe briefly Carius method for the estimation of sulphur.
A known mass of an organic compound containing sulphur is heated with an excess of fuming nitric acid in a sealed Carius tube. The whole of sulphur present in the compound is converted to sulphuric acid which is treated with a slight excess of barium chloride solution. Thus, barium sulphate gets precipitated. It is filtered, washed, dried, and weighed. From this, the percentage of sulphur can be calculated.
Calculations.
Mass of organic compound taken = W
Mass of barium sulphate formed BaSO4 = ag
Molecular mass of barium sulphate
=
Now 233 g of barium sulphate contain sulphur = 32 g.