In all precipitations the reagent should be added slowly, with constant stirring, and should be hot when circumstances permit.  The slow addition is less likely to occasion contamination of the precipitate by the inclosure of other substances which may be in the solution, or of the reagent itself.

FUNNELS AND FILTERS

Filtration in analytical processes is most commonly effected through paper filters.  In special cases these may be advantageously replaced by an asbestos filter in a perforated porcelain or platinum crucible, commonly known, from its originator, as a “Gooch filter.”  The operation and use of a filter of this type is described on page 103.  Porous crucibles of a material known as alundum may also be employed to advantage in special cases.

The glass funnels selected for use with paper filters should have an angle as near 60 deg. as possible, and a narrow stem about six inches in length.  The filters employed should be washed filters, i.e., those which have been treated with hydrochloric and hydrofluoric acids, and which on incineration leave a very small and definitely known weight of ash, generally about .00003 gram.  Such filters are readily obtainable on the market.

The filter should be carefully folded to fit the funnel according to either of the two well-established methods described in the Appendix.  It should always be placed so that the upper edge of the paper is about one fourth inch below the top of the funnel.  Under no circumstances should the filter extend above the edge of the funnel, as it is then utterly impossible to effect complete washing.

To test the efficiency of the filter, fill it with distilled water.  This water should soon fill the stem completely, forming a continuous column of liquid which, by its hydrostatic pressure, produces a gentle suction, thus materially promoting the rapidity of filtration.  Unless the filter allows free passage of water under these conditions, it is likely to give much trouble when a precipitate is placed upon it.

The use of a suction pump to promote filtration is rarely altogether advantageous in quantitative analysis, if paper filters are employed.  The tendency of the filter to break, unless the point of the filter paper is supported by a perforated porcelain cone or a small “hardened filter” of parchment, and the tendency of the precipitates to pass through the pores of the filter, more than compensate for the possible gain in time.  On the other hand, filtration by suction may be useful in the case of precipitates which do not require ignition before weighing, or in the case of precipitates which are to be discarded without weighing.  This is best accomplished with the aid of the special apparatus called a Gooch filter referred to above.

FILTRATION AND WASHING OF PRECIPITATES

Solutions should be filtered while hot, as far as possible, since the passage of a liquid through the pores of a filter is retarded by friction, and this, for water at 100 deg.C., is less than one sixth of the resistance at 0 deg.C.