Classic Chemistry: Colorize Colorless Liquids with "Black" Magic, AKA the Iodine Clock Reaction

Want to make boring old colorless water brighten up on command? Well, you can control the color of water with this little magic trick. Actually, it's not really magic, but a classic science experiment known commonly as the iodine clock reaction, which uses the reactions between water and chemicals to instantly colorize water, seemingly by command. You can use different colorless chemicals to produce different colors, and you can even make the color vanish to make the water clear again.

News: World's Simplest Electric Train

The trick in the video is that the magnets are made of a conducting material and they connect the battery terminals to the copper wire, so the battery, magnets and copper wire make a circuit that generates a magnet field just in the vicinity of the battery. The geometry means the two magnets are automatically at the ends of the generated magnetic field, where the field is divergent, so a force is exerted on the magnets.

How To: Make nitric acid

Watch this science video tutorial from Nurd Rage on how to make nitric acid. They show three ways to make nitric acid based on two different chemical approaches, both of which can be done using easily accessible materials.

How To: Make hydrochloric acid from salt

In this tutorial, we learn how to make hydrochloric acid from salt. First, you will pour some salt into a distil flask. After this, you will add in some concentrated sulfuric acid to the salt. Next, you will let these react with each other. You will start to see gasses bubble up and the excess hydrogen chloride gas come out through the top of the tube. To create a stronger reaction, you can add heat underneath the reaction. Then, test this by exposing it to ammonium chloride. If it's the righ...

How To: Perform a cool water heat conduction experiment

This is a cool science experiment to show what a great heat conductor water is. You'll need some balloons, a candle and some water. Check it out and be amazed! Common sense tells you that it's impossible to boil water in a paper bag, but this classic parlor trick was a favorite of the Victorian magician. The real difficultly in performing this effect is making it look harder than it is! As you might imagine, the secret lies in yet another amazing property of water - it's ability to conduct he...

How To: Determine the empirical and molecular formulas for a compound in chemistry

In this free video science lesson from Internet pedagogical superstar Salman Khan, you'll learn how to determine the empircal and molecular formulas of a substance given percent composition. Whether you need help studying for that next big test or could just use a hand finishing your homework, you're sure to be well served by this video lesson. For more information, including detailed, step-by-step instructions, take a look.

How To: Make elemental sulfur (sulphur)

This video tutorial is in the Education category which will show you how to make elemental sulfur (sulphur). The chemicals you need are nitric acid and sodium thiosulphate. The reaction produces toxic SO2 gas so keep it coved with a watch glass. Put 12.9 grams of sodium thiosulphate in a beaker and dissolve it in minimum amount of water. Pour about 15ml of nitric acid in to the beaker. Let it sit in a warm place for a couple of hours and the sulphur will settle at the bottom of the beaker. Th...

How To: Use baby powder to reveal latent fingerprints

This short video shows us how to reveal latent fingerprints on a glass surface by dusting. Anyone interested in forensic science would enjoy trying it as it shows simple steps in dusting and lifting fingerprints. It does not require any chemicals and we can do it with baby powder. The steps involved are so simple and easy to follow that even kids can try it out for fun. This gives a clear idea about fingerprints on different objects like porous, non porous and metals. Enjoy viewing and detect...

How To: Synthesize copper(II) carbonate & sodium bicarbonate

This actions is a video tutorial in the Education category where you are going to learn how to synthesize copper(II) carbonate & sodium bicarbonate. For this you will need copper sulphate which is available in root kill and sodium bicarb which is baking soda. Take 100g of copper sulphate and dissolve in about 400ml of water. Now take 69.27g of baking soda. Add baking soda very slowly and keep stirring the solution. You got to be very careful as the chemical reaction will produce lot of carbon...

News: This DIY Passion Fruit Battery Can Power Lasers!

It's been proven over and over that you can make batteries out of fruits and vegetables such as lemons, potatoes, and even apples. Turns out, passion fruit is also acidic enough to power a battery, but Maui Makers member Ryan K decided to take it a step further by adding a laser. Passion fruit, or Lilikoi as it's called in Hawaii, is usually over-abundant in Maui, so Ryan decided to put it to good use. Using anodized bolts, copper pipe, wire, switches, and some LEDs, he built a battery that c...

DIY Plastination: Turning Dead Animals Into Science-Jerky

If you found the world renown Body Worlds exhibition gnarly and perverse, perhaps you'll find this latest parade of plastination a little less so—considering we don't share the same DNA as these specimens of jerky-in-the-name-of-science. The Koerperwelten der Tiere—or Animal Body Worlds–doesn't showcase preserved corporal matter, but rather 20 odd plastinated mammals, currently on display at the Cologne Zoo in Cologne, Germany.

How To: Make your own thin-layer chromatography (TLC) plates

The price of TLC plates can add up. See how to make thin-layer chromatography plates (TLC plates) for a few cents each that are as good as commercial TLC plates that sell for a dollar or two each. You can use these home-made TLC plates the same way you'd use chromatography paper, but the plates provide sharper separations and require far less analyte. They also lie flat, and are much easier to store for later reference. For more information, including step-by-step instructions, and to get sta...

How To: Make a never ending foam snake

In this video the author shows how to make a never ending foam snake. He starts by speaking about how hydrogen peroxide can be fun. He starts with the requirements first which are a dish soap, a bottle of hydrogen peroxide, some dry yeast, and a red fruit color. Now he fills up a cup with hydrogen peroxide, adds the color and two table spoons of dish soap. Now he shows how to use yeast which is used to remove the oxygen from the hydrogen peroxide. And finally he demonstrates the never ending ...

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