Top 10 Mad Science-Worthy Chemistry Experiments
Chemistry is a fascinating science, but it's often taught poorly in today's boring schools. Here's how chemistry should be taught: by mad scientists! Here's Neatorama's list of the Top 10 Mad Science-Worthy Chemistry Experiments:
1. Briggs-Rauscher Reaction
The Briggs-Rauscher reaction is a well known example of oscillating chemical reactions, also known as chemical clocks because the periodicity can be used to tell time. What's going on in the beaker is actually quite a complex set of chemical reactions. Here's how to do it: Link
2. Gummy Bear and Molten Potassium Chlorate
Who'da thunk that Gummy Bear can be so ... violent? Here's what happen if you drop a Gummy Bear (which is mostly sugar), to a tube of molten potassium chlorate:
3. Diet Coke and Mentos
Mentos in various carbonated liquids. From left to right: carbonated water
(Perrier), Classic Coke, Sprite, and Diet Coke. By K.
Shimada [Wikipedia]
You've all seen this before. The Diet Coke and Mentos experiment by Fritz Grobe and Stephen Voltz of EepyBird was the stuff of Internet legend back in 2007. But what exactly happens when you drop a Mentos into a solution of Diet Coke?
MythBusters explain:
According to Hyneman (he's the mustachioed MythBuster), it's a process called "nucleation," in which the particular chemistry of the Mentos candy interacts with the chemistry of the carbonated Diet Coke, causing the carbon dioxide gas, or CO2, to suddenly come out of suspension in the liquid and make a break for freedom. [...]
Hyneman says, "There's a cascade that happens with -- it's a little esoteric -- an ion exchange. Basically the Mentos start to dissolve, and it's like tripping a switch. It's not what you would call a chain reaction, because that's something else in chemistry terms, but it's a cascade whereon all of a sudden, all of the CO2 that was contained in the liquid is suddenly not as attracted to the liquid as it was before, because of this slight change in the chemistry that occurs."
Whatever you do, don't eat a mentos then chug a mouthful of diet soda, mmkay?
4. Elephant Toothpaste
Yes, even elephants need to maintain good dental hygiene, but what kind of toothpaste do they use? Here's a favorite chemistry demo called Elephant Toothpaste (no, elephants don't actually use this as a toothpaste, silly - it's only called that because it looks like the kind and quantity of toothpaste an elephant would use).
This one's easy to do, all you need is dish soap, hydrogen peroxide, and potassium iodide: Link
5. Grape Plasma
What happens if you put a grape and nuke it in a microwave? You get something very cool ... and dangerous at the same time, because it *will* ruin your microwave, release poisonous gases, and you *can* burn down your house - so don't do it, mmkay? Watch:
What just happened? Here's the explanation, according to The Plasma Universe:
It is relatively easy to generate a plasmoid using a microwave and a medium that will initiate the formation of a plasmoid, this can be caused by the carbon microparticles in the smoke from a naked flame or match, which ignites and moves about as plasmoids, and some biological cells are known to produce plasma under microwave conditions, such as grapes (electrons try to move through highly resistive grape-skin, and plasmoids may form) This is due to the fact that microwaves, being high frequency electromagnetic radiation in the GHz range, are capable of exciting electrodeless gas discharges in air, similar to the process used in Sulfur lamps.
Got that?
6. Burning Salts
Quick: what color is fire? Orangey red? Obviously you haven't seen alcohol, barium chloride, boron, strontium, calcium, lithium, sodium, copper, and potassium salts set aflame ...
7. Magnesium in Dry Ice
You've probably heard that fire needs oxygen to burn (indeed, the principle behind CO2 fire extinguisher is to use the heavier carbon dioxide to displace the oxygen needed by the flame).
But does a fire really need oxygen? Not burning magnesium! It'll burn even when encased in dry ice (solid CO2). Note: magnesium shavings are used - not powder, which will explode if you try to set it on fire.
8. Ferrofluid
Ferrofluid, a colloidal mixture of nanoscale magnetic particles in a solvent, reacts to magnetic field in an awesomely bizarre way. Sachiko Kodama uses ferrofluid to create dynamic sculptures called Morpho Towers:
9. Mercury Beating Heart
A drop of mercury in a solution of potassium chromate and sulfuric acid, set so it's almost touching an iron nail, will start to beat like a heart. Journal of Chemical Education explains why: Link
10. The World of Chemistry
John Farrier posted this back in May, 2009 but it's too good not to post again here. Behold, the World of Chemistry, a video from the Europe Research Commission using a dance party to explain basic chemical reactions.
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Don't miss these other fun science articles from Neatorama:
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557,000 Miles
90-year-old Rachel Veitch of Orlando, Florida has been driving the same 1964 Mercury Comet Caliente since it was new. Now she has racked up 557,000 miles on the odometer -and it’s still going great!
Unlike her three husbands, Veitch says, the Mercury has “never lied to me, never cheated on me, and I can always depend on her.”
Veitch is on her seventh Midas muffler, and thank you, gentlemen, for the lifetime warranty. She’s had three sets of Sears shock absorbers, also through a lifetime warranty. And though the number seems high, she claims to have had 16 free batteries, courtesy of J.C. Penney and Firestone.
“She’s demonstrating the perfect way to take care of a car,” says Mike Hardie, director of global quality and productivity for Ford Motor Co., and that’s what makes her a menace.
“If everyone did that,” he says, “we’d never sell another one, so don’t spread it around too far.”
If the engine ever goes out, Veitch may be in trouble, because they are no longer manufactured. Link -via the Presurfer
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Mercury Fish
Theo Gray (featured previously at Neatorama) cast this fish out of a metal you rarely see made into sculpture -mercury! To keep the shape, he had to cool it to –320°F (-212°C) with liquid nitrogen. When mercury is cooled that much, it acts like tin or other metals we are more familiar with. Link -via Boing Boing
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Man Sitting on a Pool of Mercury
Remember the video clip of a guy tossing a cannonball into a pool of mercury? Well, here’s something even more amazing: a 1972 photo from the National Geographic magazine showing a man sitting on a pool of mercury.
(Photo: National Geographic)
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Cannonball in Mercury: Will It Float?
David Letterman never did anything this cool on his "Will It Float?" skit: here’s one from the BBC involving a cannonball and a bath (!) of mercury.
Link (embedded YouTube clip)
You probably guessed what happened, but it’s cool to see anyways …
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