Question

What happens when you heat iodine and ammonium chloride?

Answer 1

Test tube of ammonium chloride (NH4Cl) being heated over a bunsen burner flame. Ammonium chloride decomposes readily when heated, but condenses in the cooler area at the top of the test tube. This is a reversible reaction, where the ammonium chloride decomposes into the gases ammonia (NH3) and hydrogen chloride (HCl).

Answer 2

· It actually decomposes in ammonia and hydrogen chloride. It's possible to separate them, because ammonia is lighter, so if you heat it in an inclined tube, the ammonia will go up and the HCl will go down.

The iodine atoms within one molecule are pulled closely to each other by a covalent bond. Between the molecules, there exist weak van der waals forces.