Convection Currents

This experiment is a very simple yet amazing experiment. There are only 2 steps to this experiment. Firstly, fill a beaker with water and put it over a Bunsen burner. Secondly, add in KMnO4 Crystals and observe. The crystals will move in a circular manner rising from the bottom to the top , and than gradually sinks down to the bottom of the beaker and the cycle continues until the coloring is spreaded evenly throughout the whole beaker. This happens because when the crystals are heated, the purple coloration decreases in density, causing it to rise. But when it cools down, its density decreases and it sinks. The whole cycle will keep repeating but you would not be able to see it if the crystals are spread out evenly throughout the whole beaker.

Copper Chain Reaction

For this experiment, we had to add many different chemicals in order and observe the changes. Firstly, we had to add 1ml of Copper (ll) nitrate solution. It was blue in colour. Secondly, we had to add 1ml of sodium carbonate solution and shake it well. Precipitate was formed. We continue adding 1ml of dilute hydrochloric acid to form light blue substance, 1ml of aqueous sodium to form dark blue precipitate,, 1ml of dilute sulfuric acid to form light blue substance, 1ml of potassium iodide solution to form yellowish substance, 1ml of sodium thiosulfate solution and it turns chalky. Lastly, we added 4ml of aqueous ammonia to the test tube and the precipitate dissolves forming a blue substance.

Day 1 of Science Eureka

Today, we did a few very interesting experiments. In the first experiment, we made instant snow. This is made possible without freezing the water . This is because we made use of Sodium polyacrylate which is a chemical that absorbs up to 800 times its mass in water and forms small beads that resembles snow. This snow is unique as it forms by just stirring the sodium polyacrylate salt + iced water solution. This unique type of snow does not melts . This snow just like miniature ballons which are filled with water. In the next experiment, we attempted to create fake blood using chemicals. By mixing boith dilute Iron (lll) Nitrate and Sodium Thiocyanate, it forms a liquid solution which colour is very similar to the colour of blood, brownish red. This is when I finally realized that making blood is not as easy as just pouring tomato juice or any simple red mixture or chemical. The last interesting experiment would be the Copper Chain Reaction. A chain reaction is a series of chemical reactions in which the product of one of the chemical reactions is a reactant in the next. Thus, a copper chain reaction is a chain reaction involving copper. This is a very interesting experiment as there aren't many of such long chemical chains.