Nitrate test to 2.5 micrograms and a concentration of 1 in 25,000 parts. Devarda's alloy (Copper/Aluminium/Zinc) is a reducing agent. When reacted with nitrate in sodium hydroxide solution, ammonia is liberated. The ammonia formed may be detected by its characteristic odor, and by damp red litmus paper's turning blue, signalling that it is an alkali — very few gases other than ammonia evolved from wet chemistry are alkaline. Aluminium is the reducing agent in this reaction that will occur. Diphenylamine may be used as a wet chemical test for the presence of the nitrate ion. In this test, a solution of diphenylamine
Stock solution Stock solution A stock solution is a concentrated solution that will be diluted to some lower concentration for actual use. Stock solutions are used to save preparation time, conserve materials, reduce storage space, and improve the accuracy with which working lower concentration solutions are prepared. In chemistry, a stock solution is a large volume of common reagent, such as hydrochloric acid or sodium hydroxide, at a standardized concentration. This term is commonly used in analytical chemistry for procedures such as titrations, where it is important that exact concentrations of solutions are used. Stock solutions do not necessarily come in concentrations