A pH Sensitive Highlighter “Flame”
Discover the secrets behind flame-shaped highlighter markings that not only disappear and reappear but also glow and flicker under the influence of acids, bases, and UV lights.
Discover the secrets behind flame-shaped highlighter markings that not only disappear and reappear but also glow and flicker under the influence of acids, bases, and UV lights.
Try out this though-provoking capstone demonstration for the Chemical Reactions unit!
Igniting paper towels that have been soaked in concentrated potassium nitrate and allowed to dry yields a flame reminiscent of that produced by guncotton. Repeating this experiment with other metal nitrates produces flames with different colors, plus a few other chemical surprises! This series of experiments is fascinating and connects to a wide variety of chemical topics including combustion, redox reactions, chemical thermodynamics, and flame tests. You don't want to miss this one!
Regularly dimpled trays such as those used in food packaging can be used to represent layers of atoms in solid structures. For example, the square array of dimples in transparent plastic mini quiche trays can be used to depict layers within cubic or tetragonal unit cells. Multiple solid structures and ways to represent those structures are described.
Find out more about Nicholls State University Department of Chemistry's recruiting program involving a Roadshow and Field Days and its impact on diversity in the chemistry program.
The floating soap bubble is an impressive experiment that is surprisingly easy to carry out.
Josh Kenney shares three simple and inexpensive demonstrations using Elmer’s glue.
Part 4 of Colourful Chemistry of Canning explores how to make gold in an old tin can!
The color of a thermochromic system depends on its temperature. The colors of leuco dye-based systems can also be influenced by adding acids or bases to the thermochromic reactions. These can be used to create colorful demonstrations of acid-base chemistry. Thermochromism found in color changing cups can also be used to visualize heat flow, and therefore thermodynamic principles, associated with stretching and contracting elastomers.
Ordinary playing cards can be used in games where the cards model valence electrons in atoms. These games could provide players with a fun and active way to practice counting valence electrons in simple chemical structures.