Conducting experiments with liquid nitrogen experiments is a sure-fire way to energize many chemistry lessons. Check out the Misbehaving Balloon demo!
The “bucket launch” is a fantastic experiment you can do if you have access to liquid nitrogen. Depending upon conditions, we have observed the bucket to launch anywhere from 80 to 160 feet high. See the video.
The nail bottle demonstration is one that many of us have conducted in our classes. To perform this demonstration, 2 – 3 mL of ethanol is placed into a plastic bottle that has two nails punctured into opposite sides of the bottle. After stoppering the bottle, a Tesla coil is touched to one of the nails. A spark jumps from one nail to the other, which initiates the combustion of vaporized ethanol inside the bottle. We recently filmed this reaction with our high speed video camera.
In this Activity, students explore buoyancy with helium-filled Mylar balloons. They use the ideal gas law to predict the mass of the balloon if it were empty, compare it to the actual mass of the empty balloon, and discuss experimental sources of error. This Activity demonstrates the ideal gas law and introduces students to the concept of buoyancy.
In this Activity, students compare the combustion of different substances such as a glowing wooden toothpick and lit birthday candle in air, oxygen, exhaled breath, and carbon dioxide environments. The oxygen and carbon dioxide are generated from supermarket chemicals. This Activity can be used to explore the chemistry of oxygen and combustion.
In this Activity, students assemble a Cartesian diver and observe the effects of changing the pressure and temperature. An optional extension challenges students to cause the diver to hit the bottom in one minute by connecting the diver bottle to a second bottle in which baking soda and vinegar are reacted.
In this Activity, students determine the concentration (percent volume) of oxygen in air. They place small quantities of fine steel wool into a test tube that is then inverted in a beaker of water. Oxygen in the trapped air reacts with the iron to form rust. The Activity ties in well with atmospheric chemistry.
The relationship between the volume of a gas and the pressure it exerts, known as Boyle's Law, is shown with a J-tube.
The vapor pressures of butanol and diethyl ether are compared using barometers to show the effect of hydrogen-bonding on vapor pressure.
The vapor pressures of chloromethane and dichloromethane are compared using barometers to show the effect of polarity on vapor pressure.
