Ok, so I combined nitric acid(70%) and iron filings, in a beaker, when agitated it would give off relatively small amounts of orange smoke. Then I put it on a hot plate and heated it to 160 degrees farenheit, the solution started bubbling, first emitting large amounts of orange smoke, then a constant stream of white smoke. I took it off the hotplate in order to prevent it from reaching its boiling point of 180 degrees, at this point it was a black gel. When agitated, this gel remained inert, so I was advised to rehydrate it with distilled water, which I did, I then put it back on the hotplate and reheated it to 160 degrees, it emitted an almost constant stream of white smoke and occaisionally a puff of orange smoke. When the smoke stopped, I was left with a a brownish powder caked at the bottom of the flask. Ferric Nitrate is supposed to be white crystals, not a brown powder, does anybody know why this happened?
