ACS Chemical Safety Committee Statement regarding "Tornado Experiment"
Statement from the ACS Committee on Chemical Safety regarding the “Tornado Experiment” Explosion in a Science Museum in Reno, Nevada
Inexpensive Hydroglyphics and Superhydrophobicity
I previously wrote about an experiment published in the Journal of Chemical Education called “Hydroglyphics”1.
Rainbows in a Glass Density Demonstration
One day during class I presented the disappearing rainbow demonstration and explained the chemistry behind it. After doing so, I had a student ask me if a particular bartending trick called “rainbow shots” was done in a manner similar to the way the disappearing rainbow demonstration is performed.
Solution to the M&M Mystery?
Last year I wrote about a very simple experiment can be done using water, a plate and M&M’s candies. The experiment can be seen in the video below:
Solution to Chemical Riddle #2
Check out the answer to Chemical Riddle #2.
Chemical Riddle #2
A student of mine, Anthony Shepherd, and I worked together to develop a new chemical riddle. Check out the video and see if you can come up with an answer.
Solution to Chemical Riddle #1
In the video below, you can find the solution to the chemical riddle involving the food dye and bleach experiment.
Can you solve this chemical riddle?
Can you solve the chemical riddle described in the video below?
Pyrex by any other name...
Did you know that Pyrex glassware used in chemistry labs is different than Pyrex glassware used in kitchens? Pyrex glass used in chemistry experiments is made of borosilicate glass, whereas the Pyrex used when baking is made of soda lime glass.
Nail Bottle Demonstration in Slow Motion
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.