Your Aunt Millicent drinks water from a secret artesian well

Your Aunt Millicent drinks water from a secret artesian well located somewhere in her backyard. She swears that its healing powers come from the silver (Ag) and mercury (Hg) left behind by Angels (presumably of the celestial sort and not the baseballers). What method would you use to analyze a water sample of Aunt Millie\'s water?

Solution

We will apply the qualitative salt analysis of the water sample.

If it contains Ag and Hg, it will give ppt when reacted with HCl.

Adding ammonium hydroxide to the ppt, if the precipitate is soluble, then Ag⁺ is present, and if the white precipitate turns black, then Hg⁺² is present in the water.