Fun Chemistry Projects

[Ulysses WkAmil]

Hello playground! Through a fortunate series of events that was set in motion before I was born, I am now in posession of some good quality chemistry equipment. I have: A few beakers (with the distilation hole thing), a couple of graduated cylinders, 50ft of plastic tubing, test tubes, pietri dishes, and some pipettes. I want to know if you have any fun experiments I could conduct with this equipment. All Google is giving me is those lame "super fun science for kids!". I'd like something more in depth with a bit more substance. I was thinking about separating the hydrogen out of oxygen with some electrolysis, but I have no use for hydrogen. Any thoughts on experiments or things I could do to put this stuff to use? As I am typing this, my friend is suggesting I make chloroform Any less creepy suggestions would be much appreciated.

[Kelb_Panthera]

Nothing off the top of my head, but I do have a warning for you.

If you do try the electralysis experiment, be aware that hydrogen is pretty volatile. Don't generate a lot of it unless you want a potential explosion on your hands.

TBH, when I saw the thread title the first thing that came to mind was mixing up some thermite, but A) telling people how to do that could end very poorly, and B) it's not so much a beakers and pipettes kind of experiment as it is a carefully mixing powders in a wooden bowl well away from anything valuable or flammable kind of experiment.

[Analytica]

Petri dishes, beakers and pipettes actually to me sounds mostly like cook up nutrient solution, get bacteria from somewhere (like your own body) and scrape plates with nutrient agar on them to check what kind of weird colonies you get, then grow them in nutrient flasks.

[Brother Oni]

TBH, when I saw the thread title the first thing that came to mind was mixing up some thermite, but A) telling people how to do that could end very poorly, and B) it's not so much a beakers and pipettes kind of experiment as it is a carefully mixing powders in a wooden bowl well away from anything valuable or flammable kind of experiment.

I'm not sure who told you how to make thermite, but it's a fairly simple mixture to make and the components are pretty much inert. This isn't even mentioning that the thermite reaction takes a hefty amount of heat to even get going in the first place (you typically need a magnesium fuse of some sort).

[The Succubus]

I do have a very good bit of advice for you: don't drink and science.

I failed part of my chemistry A-level by setting fire to the work bench after a liquid lunch during college. >.>

[Traab]

Make your own emergency stock of charcoal for when the apocalypse strikes, so you have a fuel source handy. In all honesty, the line between cool and dangerous is pretty thin, and most of the "cool" stuff I know of involves creating semiexplosive reactions that can make a mess or hurt people if you do it wrong. Im a bit out of practice, as chemistry class was almost 20 years ago for me.

[Karoht]

Look up a fellow named Stephen Spangler (sadly, no relation to one Egon Spangler) on youtube. He's got some safe and fun stuff. It's a good starting point.
I'm using his Cloud in a Bottle trick at halloween next year.

[Ulysses WkAmil]

I do have a very good bit of advice for you: don't drink and science.

I failed part of my chemistry A-level by setting fire to the work bench after a liquid lunch during college. >.>

...Duely noted.

I thought about the bacteria-culture one, I'll most likely try that to start.

[Saskia]

CHEMISTRY YOU SAY!?!?!

If I say something you already know, please don't take offense, I just don't know how much you know and I really don't want you to get hurt.

Nothing off the top of my head, but I do have a warning for you. [...] [B]e aware that hydrogen is pretty volatile. Don't generate a lot of it unless you want a potential explosion on your hands.

Taking that further, I would remind you that when you decompose water into hydrogen and oxygen, you are creating the perfect ratio for the oxidation of hydrogen, which means maximum boom for an already unstable element.

TBH, when I saw the thread title the first thing that came to mind was mixing up some thermite, but A) telling people how to do that could end very poorly, and B) it's not so much a beakers and pipettes kind of experiment as it is a carefully mixing powders in a wooden bowl well away from anything valuable or flammable

This actually isn't that difficult or dangerous to mix, just like he said it's not a pipettes and beakers sort of thing. The stuff is somewhat dangerous to store because a lot of people who try to store it put it too close to water heaters or furnaces so when those things malfunction there's a higher risk of destroying your home, but if you're not stupid about it it's fine (besides, if your water heater explodes your house is history anyway). If you're going to store it you should probably keep it in sealed masonry jars. The best way to mix thermite for the layman who needs to burn out a muskrat or skunk den or make some really cool fireworks is to use a heavy duty plastic drum that you can seal with two pounds of aluminum powder and a pound of iron oxide powder (I think it's 2:1 anyway) inside and tumble it until sufficiently mixed. Building a wooden stand for the drum is easy and cheap, and if you've done it right you can use the barrel and rotating stand as a composter!

The most dangerous thing about thermite is that when it burns one of the products is pure iron at very high temperatures, molten iron that can pop, and then you get globs of hot iron that can do some serious damage at surprising range. It also has a serious risk of igniting yards, houses, fluffy neighborhood friends, children, birds, tires, and other things you'd rather not ignite. Yard fires are like untrained mastiffs; they don't really care too much about property lines and have a tendency to cause a little more havoc than you'd like.

I do have a very good bit of advice for you: don't drink and science.

I agree. I think it's important to note that while there are a lot of great discoveries that were made in tandem with "Hold my beer, I wanna try something", many of them were followed by a triumphant trip to the emergency room to have something removed, repaired, or reattached.

I can't really offer much in the way of cool stuff to make because most of the cool stuff I'm intimately familiar with (which is fairly limited) is difficult to produce even with industrial equipment, and patented anyway so I could potentially get fired, but youtube is gold for that kind of stuff. Two good users are this awesome guy, all of whose videos are all pretty cool and informative chemistry stuff, and this sexy beast, who has other sciencytype stuff as well.

If you have a magnetic stirrer/mixer there are a LOT of cool things you can do, mostly because the most interesting chemicals aren't terribly interesting when not in solution, and most interesting reactions only take place in solution. You can get one for 100 bucks or less (or more if you want to get something really nice), or if you're handy with electronics you can make one; it's essentially just a rotating magnet or set of electromagnets to spin a magnetic agitator bar in the beaker/jar you want to stir. It doesn't work with solids-only mixtures very well (for probably obvious reasons) but for mixing solids you won't generally need a mixer anyway. You can actually buy the agitator bars pretty cheap, like 20 bucks for a set of 5 in varying sizes, encased in plastic (or glass if you're willing to spend more) so the ferrous magnet doesn't interact with the materials. Rusting magnets is a pain and they'd get expensive to replace, so I suggest shelling out the 20-40 dollars for a set of proper magnetic agitator bars with an inert coating. Magnetic stirrers usually come with a set of plastic coated agitators, so depending on what you want to do you may have to buy the glass-coated variety eventually. They're good to have anyway though.

Because the majority of awesome/impressive/badass/cool/whatever processes involve carcinogens, flammables, corrosive agents, and otherwise toxic or dangerous chemicals, you will eventually want all of the following things (duplicates can be a good idea if you have the cash to spare):

• Vented safety goggles. Preferably with vents at the top rather than on the sides. I'm not talking about the "oh well it'll deflect wood shavings herp derp" glasses safety-unconscious carpenters use; other than the vents (they reduce lens fog) they should create a solid and continuous seal around your face like swimming goggles. These are pretty much standardized and will run you 5-20 bucks, though if you are so inclined you can spend upwards of 100 dollars on a good full protective face mask. Not a bad idea if you can afford it, but not really necessary either. Remember, skin can grow back but blindness is permanent. You CANNOT just "make do" with something less and I will personally hunt you down if you try. They need to protect your eyes from dangerous splashes, corrosives, steam, and other nasties that might come in contact with your eyes, including popping glass. You might be surprised how many times you touch your face/eyes in a day; goggles help a lot when trying to avoid that when you've got nasty stuff on your gloves. Goggles are absolutely necessary and usually the cheapest piece of equipment and can last four or five years, if not longer. Goggles should be the first piece of protective gear you buy, there is literally no excuse for not having and using them. I'm making a big deal about this because I've seen so many people ignore it; in high school, undergrad chem labs, and even in grad school. Even with competent professional chemists; I regularly have to get on people at work for not using them even though almost everything we work with has some flavor of industrial solvent as a major component that's either toxic or corrosive or otherwise capable of doing serious damage. I cannot fathom why people avoid eye protection, but please don't be one of them. Safety goggles are extremely important. Get them.
• Heavy, chemical resistant lab apron. It needs to provide protection against broken glass; corrosion from acids, bases, and other dissolving agents; toxic contact hazards; sticky materials up to 390~degrees (centigrade! We use metric, not that casual scum imperial system ); and popping glass in case you do something wrong (you don't want glass shards embedded in your abdomen, it's not as comfortable as it sounds). A good apron can cost 15-30 bucks and protect you for two or three years. Once you get the hint of cracking or tearing, replace it.
• Latex gloves. If you're allergic to latex then nylon, nitrile, or vinyl gloves work too, they're just more expensive.
• A good chemical lab coat. A lab coat protects you and your clothing in the places an apron does not: shoulders, arms, and back. These are more expensive but can last pretty much forever with proper care, and usually cost 50-80 dollars and go up as high as you might want.
• Safety goggles.
• Tongs. Even when you're not applying heat directly, a beaker or test tube might become very hot or very cold because the reaction is highly exo- or endothermic. Exothermic means the reaction releases heat and gets hot, endothermic means it absorbs heat and gets cold. If you're dealing with chemicals that are dangerous you may want to use tongs anyway.
• Don't set up shop in a poorly ventilated area. Ideally you get a fume hood, but that can be expensive, especially if you're not planning on doing anything profitable to offset the cost. A window with a fan blowing outside can work, but any time something or somebody says to use a fume hood or be outside, a window and a box fan won't cut it. Your lungs can recover better than your eyes can, but that doesn't make it a good idea to stand around inhaling mustard gas.
• Vented safety goggles. I'm not joking, you've got to have them.

[Brother Oni]

The best way to mix thermite for the layman who needs to burn out a muskrat or skunk den or make some really cool fireworks is to use a heavy duty plastic drum that you can seal with two pounds of aluminum powder and a pound of iron oxide powder (I think it's 2:1 anyway) inside and tumble it until sufficiently mixed. Building a wooden stand for the drum is easy and cheap, and if you've done it right you can use the barrel and rotating stand as a composter!

Checking up on the reaction, it's 2 moles aluminium to 1 mole iron oxide, which is ~57g Al to ~160g Fe₂O₃, so it's closer to a 1:3 ratio the other way.
The trick is getting the powders thoroughly mixed and igniting it (a sparkler will do the trick).

[Socratov]

I do have a very good bit of advice for you: don't drink and science.

I failed part of my chemistry A-level by setting fire to the work bench after a liquid lunch during college. >.>

fixed that for you

Make your own emergency stock of charcoal for when the apocalypse strikes, so you have a fuel source handy. In all honesty, the line between cool and dangerous is pretty thin, and most of the "cool" stuff I know of involves creating semiexplosive reactions that can make a mess or hurt people if you do it wrong. Im a bit out of practice, as chemistry class was almost 20 years ago for me.

wasn't charcoal made by building a fire underground and covering it so the carbon monoxide and coal starts forming?

Anyway, you could always try to make the perfect coffee

[Justyn]

Checking up on the reaction, it's 2 moles aluminium to 1 mole iron oxide, which is ~57g Al to ~160g Fe₂O₃, so it's closer to a 1:3 ratio the other way.
The trick is getting the powders thoroughly mixed and igniting it (a sparkler will do the trick).

A drop or two of Sulfuric acid should work as well.

You might want to give NurdRage a look over, he's a professional chemist up in Canada, and his videos are very well explained. But a lot of them are very high end stuff, both in terms of complexity and price.

[Saskia]

Checking up on the reaction, it's 2 moles aluminium to 1 mole iron oxide, which is ~57g Al to ~160g Fe₂O₃, so it's closer to a 1:3 ratio the other way.

Well that's an embarrassing mistake Thanks for correcting me though

[The Succubus]

Checking up on the reaction, it's 2 moles aluminium to 1 mole iron oxide, which is ~57g Al to ~160g Fe₂O₃, so it's closer to a 1:3 ratio the other way.
The trick is getting the powders thoroughly mixed and igniting it (a sparkler will do the trick).

Oni is really hot on his chemistry.

[Archonic Energy]

anyone watch Breaking Bad?

no, only me... never mind then.

Lab rules.
1. cold pyrex looks the same as hot pyrex.
2. REMEMBER RULE 1.

[Socratov]

anyone watch Breaking Bad?

no, only me... never mind then.

Lab rules.
1. cold pyrex looks the same as hot pyrex.
2. REMEMBER RULE 1.

I did watch Breaking Bad until I lost connection to my source of episodes

[Brother Oni]

A drop or two of Sulfuric acid should work as well.

A sparkler has the advantage of giving you about 30 to 60 seconds to run away though.

You might want to give NurdRage a look over, he's a professional chemist up in Canada, and his videos are very well explained. But a lot of them are very high end stuff, both in terms of complexity and price.

Thanks for the link - I'll have a look later. I'm a pharmaceutical scientist by trade, so I mostly know about wet chemistry rather than the fun explody stuff.
Unfortunately the chemistry I have the most knowledge about is liable to land Ulysses in a fair amount of hot water with various authorities (FDA or Homeland Security).

Edit: By the way, do you know of this page? I'm quite fond of it as it has the general laissez-faire attitude towards science that most of my lecturers had (one ancedote was how to identify someone was an experienced biochemist - count how many fingers they had left).

Oni is really hot on his chemistry.

Spoiler

Show

[Socratov]

wow, Oni, that page is hilarious. I have no idea how some of the compounds would look like, but it certainly fits with the whole science chemistry boom-boom picture I have going on ;)

[Brother Oni]

wow, Oni, that page is hilarious. I have no idea how some of the compounds would look like, but it certainly fits with the whole science chemistry boom-boom picture I have going on ;)

Some of the entries are absolutely terrifying. My jaw literally dropped when I saw the synthesis for FOOF (yes, that's dioxygen difluroride), then had to resist giggling like a schoolboy when reading some suicidal nutcase dedicated scientist decided to react it with things to see what happened.

[Morbis Meh]

DID I HEAR THE MENTION OF SCIENCE?!?!?! Anyway, judging from your list of equipment you really do not have much to do any really complex reactions but really the main issue is whether or not you have access to the necessary reactants. The whole bacteria swab culture on agar is a standard 1st year biology experiment that is fun to gross people out with, just make sure to seal the petri dish and keep your work area as sterile as possible (you never know what you could be incubating and it is best you don't spread it lol).

Now as far as chemistry reactions it solely depends on what your resources are, one of my favourite mini demos is simply covering the inside of a large glass jug with 95% ethanol then sticking a match inside. It will scare the bejezzus out of anyone not used to it since it basically sounds like a gun fire (also keep the top of the jug away from ceiling tiles, this reaction creates a jet of gas that is powerful enough to knock tiles out of the ceiling). Really what equipment you have (the side arm filter flasks) are mostly used for filtering which isn't too exciting and you would need a buchner funnel and a vacuum to do it properly. I am an organic chemist so the majority of the reactions I suggest wouldn't be all that thrilling (unless you improperly do a hydrogenation reaction ) though the product are fairly awesome and are only limited by what materials you have the amount of time you want to spend; however it is a moot point unless you have access to a rotary evaporator otherwise you will spend years boiling off your solvent and risk destroying your crystals...

[Ulysses WkAmil]

Well, to be honest, I'm just starting out, and have little knowledge of chemicals beyond some of the more basic stuff. I also am currently in High School, taking Biology and Chemistry (neither move at near the speed I'd like ) but I am certain I can handle complex experiments.

I have money to buy most chemicals (unless they're hundreds of dollars) and, for science, I'll spend it. I don't know where I'd go about buying such chemicals, and where they're cheapest. Obviously I could get most at Wal*Mart and the like but in cases where I can't, I don't know where to go.

Also, love Breaking Bad

[Justyn]

Well, to be honest, I'm just starting out, and have little knowledge of chemicals beyond some of the more basic stuff. I also am currently in High School, taking Biology and Chemistry (neither move at near the speed I'd like )

I would suggest you talk to someone about taking advanced placement classes then; they count for college credit in many cases.

I have money to buy most chemicals (unless they're hundreds of dollars) and, for science, I'll spend it. I don't know where I'd go about buying such chemicals, and where they're cheapest. Obviously I could get most at Wal*Mart and the like but in cases where I can't, I don't know where to go.

Google the chemical you want, one of the first results will typically be somebody selling it. Amazon is also a good place to look. A home improvement store like Home Depot or Lowes is good as well; you can buy ~12% hydrochloric acid by the gallon there, it's labeled under the archaic name "muriatic acid" and sold as a pool cleaner.

One thing you might want to try to start out with is reacting acetic acid with sodium bicarbonate, the famous "baking soda and vinegar" experiment; you get an acid-base neutralization [NaHCO₃ + CH₃COOH --> H₂CO₃ + CH₃COONa], decomposition [2H₂O + H₂CO₃ --> 3H₂O + CO₂], and after you boil the solution down, you can get first the trihydrate form of Sodium Acetate [CH₃COONa·3H₂O] and play around with hot ice if you get it right. It's non-toxic, and edible in fact; doesn't taste very good though.

If you then boil that down into the anhydrous form, you can add again as much vinegar as you started with, and then once that is boiled down, you have Sodium Diacetate [(CH₃COO)₂NaH], which is literally what is used in salt and vinegar flavored potato chips to give them the vinegar taste. You can actually use it as a food flavoring at home too.

[Ulysses WkAmil]

I would suggest you talk to someone about taking advanced placement classes then; they count for college credit in many cases.

Alas! My back-woods school doesn't have AP science classes, just Literature, World History, and Calc.

[thubby]

distillation jumps to mind.

the trick to proper hydrolysis is cathodes and anodes that can't rust, and enough amps to get the job done. (i've done this twice with a wall socket and both times popped the fuse, the first one also turned the wiring i was using into sludge)

[Kelb_Panthera]

I'm not sure who told you how to make thermite, but it's a fairly simple mixture to make and the components are pretty much inert. This isn't even mentioning that the thermite reaction takes a hefty amount of heat to even get going in the first place (you typically need a magnesium fuse of some sort).

What? That doesn't sound right.

Checking up on the reaction, it's 2 moles aluminium to 1 mole iron oxide, which is ~57g Al to ~160g Fe₂O₃, so it's closer to a 1:3 ratio the other way.
The trick is getting the powders thoroughly mixed and igniting it (a sparkler will do the trick).

Ah, now I see. No catalyst.

Much harder to weaponize without a catalyst. Silly me for making that assumption.

Edit: blast it all. I've got to stop getting thermite and thermate mixed up.

[Brother Oni]

Edit: blast it all. I've got to stop getting thermite and thermate mixed up.

Yeah, it's very difficult to stop people from making thermite, given your starting materials are rust, a couple of ground up Coca-Cola cans and a firework.

I take it you've worked with thermate in a professional capacity?

[The Succubus]

I've never come across Thermate before. Sounds like something you spread on toast.

[Asta Kask]

Thermite... vegemite... just as destructive.

[Brother Oni]

I've never come across Thermate before. Sounds like something you spread on toast.

Thermate appears to be weaponised/industrialised thermite. A quick check indicates that one particular brand is 68.7% thermite, 29.0% barium nitrate, 2.0% sulphur and 0.3% binder. The barium nitrate and sulphur are there to both decrease the ignition temperature and increase the burning temperature, while the binder is just to hold everything together.

I don't think the slogan 'my mate, thermite' rolls off the tongue as easily as marmite though.

[The Succubus]

Probably because it's on fire.


It's been quite a long time since my chemistry A-Level. I do miss the fun of mucking around with chemicals. A favourite experiment of one of my GCSE teachers was growing "trees" of various metals through ionic displacement. For example, sticking a coil of copper into silver nitrate and watching it slowly change over time.