urea and ammonium nitrate

[ovidiuanghel]

Hello everyone,

I have 2 buckets,one with urea and one with ammonium nitrate.None of them has label.
My question is how can i identify which is urea and which is ammonium,because it looks the same.

Thanks,
Ovidiu.

 

[lazersteve]

Urea smells like cat pee. Ammonium nitrate smells like a nitrate with a slight odor or ammonia.

If you have some concentrated (conc.) sulfuric acid on hand simply add a 1/2 gram of pellets of the unknown solid to a few milliliters of concentrated sulfuric acid in a test tube, if you see red NOx or can waft the odor of nitric that is your ammonium nitrate. If the red fumes do not appear for either solid when mixed with conc. Sulfuric acid in separate test tubes, then add a small piece of copper metal to each test tube. The one that produces red vapors and begins to attack the copper is the ammonium nitrate.

Steve