Question type: Shopping & Pricing. I'm looking at buying a 2011 BMW 335 Manufacturer buyback that was originally from California. I've gotten over the stigma of buying a buyback,' since the car has been repaired by BMW, is still under warranty and the price is a lot closer to what I'm willing to spend. The reason it was bought back was for an extended crank issue, which has been completely resolved.
Do you think we can use the flame test to determine the identity of unknown in a mixture? Why or why not? I think that the flame test could be used to determine the identity of unknowns in a mixture, however it would not be very effective. This is because if there are to many different compounds, or elements, all of the colors of light mixed together would bring the flame closer to just emitting white light.
Limitations of the Flame Test. 1  The test cannot detect low concentrations of most ions. 2  The brightness of the signal varies from one sample to another. For example, the yellow emission from sodium is much brighter than the red emission from the same amount of lithium. Impurities or contaminants affect the test results. Sodium, in particular, is present in most compounds and will color the flame. Sometimes a blue glass is used to filter out the yellow of sodium.