pH

When introducing acid-base theory, the concept of indicators and their pH color changes is usually discussed. To illustrate some color transitions to students, a classroom demonstration has been devised based on a memorable scene from Disney’s 1964 movie Mary Poppins.

Recently as I was mowing my lawn, I noticed that some of the florets on white clover have a slight pink or purple color (Figure 1). Because anthocyanins often impart red, blue, and purple color to plants, fruits, and flowers,^1,2 I wondered if these tiny pink florets in white clover contained anthocyanins.

If you know me, you know that I love the Diet Coke and Mentos reaction. It’s so simple to carry out, but yields incredible results! Just drop a few Mentos candies into a bottle of a carbonated beverage and watch the magic take place! See video 1.

Berries are red, berries are blue…I’ve got a berry surprise for you! DESCRIPTION: I observe a red to blue color change when I rinse my bowl after eating frozen blueberries. Sounds like an acid-base reaction, doesn’t it? Read on to learn about the blueberry surprise!

I recently tried an experiment in class that works well as a chemistry demonstration for Halloween. In fact, I recently performed it at our annual Halloween / National Chemistry Week chemistry demonstration show. The experiment is very easy to carry out. I call it “The Devil’s Milkshake”. Check it out in the video below.

Another school year has come and gone, and summertime is upon us! Soon we’ll all be enjoying cookouts, summer conferences (ChemEd 2019, anyone?), swimming at the beach, and fireworks on the Fourth of July.

This lab activity is designed to allow students to explore the use of indicators. It serves as an introduction to acids, bases and pH.

In Chemical Mystery #14, neutralization reactions were used to cause some interesting color changes. See the two videos below:  

Here’s a fun demonstration I did for my students on Valentine’s Day:  

The unit of acids and bases is difficult for most students in Advanced Placement Chemistry. The variety of various calculations can be overwhelming. I decided it was time to make the pH calculations more exciting.