Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Chem Demo Shows for school children?

DancingMadSci - 8-6-2010 at 08:17

Hey All,

I used to post here frequently under username Mericad, but have not visited in a while, anyway!...

I enjoy doing chemistry demonstrations for kids and I am thinking about making this into a side job in the summer when I'm not studying biochem at the university. Does anyone have any experience doing this?

I have done a few half hour shows at local elementary schools but now I'm trying to take it to the next level and made a website (link should be in signature)

Any help, guidance, or tips for starting something like this would be much appreciated

Jeff

The WiZard is In - 8-6-2010 at 10:47

Quote: Originally posted by DancingMadSci  

I enjoy doing chemistry demonstrations for kids and I am thinking about making this into a side job in the summer when I'm not studying biochem at the university. Does anyone have any experience doing this?

I have done a few half hour shows at local elementary schools but now I'm trying to take it to the next level and made a website (link should be in signature)
Jeff



There a 'hole bunch of books on Chemical Magic.


Chemcraft Magic. The Porter Chemical Co. 1952.

Leonard A Ford. - Chemical Magic. Fawcett. 1964
- 2nd ed. Revised by EW Grundmeier. Dover Publications 1993

Richard L Palder Magic With Chemistry. Grosset & Dunlap. 1964

JD Lippy, Jr. and EL Palder. Modern Chemical Magic. No publisher. No date.

VE Johnson, Chemical Magic. C Arthur Pearson, Ltd. London. 1920.

&c., &c.

BZ Shakhashiri
Chemical Demonstrations : A Handbook for Teachers of Chemistry
4 volumes

LR Summerlin
Chemical Demonstrations : A Source Book for Teachers
2 Volumes

NB - The entire Smoke, Fire, and Explosions section of
the first edition of volume 1 has gone missing in the 2nd edition.


djh
-----
The way to capture a student's attention is
with a demonstration where there is a
possibility the teacher may die.
Jearl Walker - Cleveland St. U.


woelen - 8-6-2010 at 11:39

Some interesting experiments on my website, specifically for children:

http://woelen.homescience.net/science/chem/exps/child/index....

More experiments are available in dutch:

http://woelen.homescience.net/science/chem/exps/child/index_...
http://woelen.homescience.net/science/chem/exps/child/index2...

Normally I write pages in the english language, but for young children I had to write pages in dutch, otherwise dutch children don't understand it. I hope that you still can make something of it.

[Edited on 8-6-10 by woelen]

For children of all ages

franklyn - 16-4-2013 at 22:20

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ti_E2ZKZpC4

Hexavalent - 17-4-2013 at 09:11

I've done and seen my fair share of demonstrations, and anything involving chemiluminescence seems to be a hit with young children.

MrHomeScientist - 19-4-2013 at 12:29

I run a science stage show from my work that's targeted towards elementary-age childen, and it's been a lot of fun to develop and perform experiments for them. We have a website that lists a few of the demos we do, as well as other info about the program: www.sciencebrothers.org

Not all of our demos are up, but we're working on it. I'm in charge of the chemistry portion. The big favorites in my experience are elephant toothpaste, chemiluminescence (extremely bright glow stick chemicals), and the barking dog reaction.

That last one caused quite a bit of trouble, though, because it produces SO2 that caused throat irritation for us and some of the audience(!) I retired that demo for a while until I could come up with a safer version - woelen suggested a version using methanol that's worked out perfectly and we've been using ever since. The thread related to that is somewhere on here, if you search for 'barking dog'.

Finnnicus - 25-4-2013 at 04:18

What about the chemical chameleon? Its very 'cartoon sciency' and manganese is cool!!

MrHomeScientist - 25-4-2013 at 12:40

My page on that reaction is actually the #1 result in google when you search for "chemical chameleon"!

If you don't want to deal with potassium permanganate (some venues are wary of stong oxidizers in my experience), the chemical traffic light or blue bottle reaction are great alternatives, and are repeatable!

chemcam - 26-4-2013 at 16:07

Quote: Originally posted by MrHomeScientist  
My page on that reaction is actually the #1 result in google when you search for "chemical chameleon"!

If you don't want to deal with potassium permanganate (some venues are wary of stong oxidizers in my experience), the chemical traffic light or blue bottle reaction are great alternatives, and are repeatable!


I checked out your website, that is pretty cool of you to enlighten children on the subject of science/chemistry. I wish I could be a part of something like that.

DerAlte - 26-4-2013 at 21:21



- did this recently for 12 yr old grand daughter. See under Permanganates Sticky.

Der Alte

[Edited on 27-4-2013 by DerAlte]

franklyn - 30-4-2013 at 00:36

Hydrogen Chlorine explosion
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN82GoBG98s

Hydrogen Oxygen explosion
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrg8XlHEDJ8

.

DraconicAcid - 1-5-2013 at 11:43

I just did a chemistry show my kids' class of nine-year-olds. Started with simple colour changes (mix yellow and yellow, get purple, etc., through judicious choices of pH and indicators), supersaturated sodium acetate solutions, flaming gel (calcium acetate solution mixed with ethanol), and a solution of iron(III) added to solutions containing ferrocyanide, salicylate, hydroxide, tea, and thiocyanate. Then the reaction of copper with silver nitrate under a microscope (we have one that hooks up to a TV), and plating pennies with zinc (copper -> silver -> gold). Ammonium dichromate volcano, screaming gummi bear, penny-in-nitric-acid, elephant's toothpaste (soap and hydrogen peroxide, plus catalyst).

A tried two demos that I had never done before. The first was nitrogen triiodide, following the directions given in "Chemical Curiosities". This says to start with "a pinch" of iodine, which is hardly specific. It also says to wash the crystals with ether, and a) I don't have any, and b) I'm not putting ether anywhere near a sensitive explosive. At any rate, I made two batches (washing with ethanol) and left them to dry overnight in the fume hood. Came back in the morning, and the filter papers are bare- either the damp crystals hydrolyzed, or the stuff simply decomposed slowly overnight. So I try some other batches. First thinking that the ethanol was wet, I decided to try acetone instead. Iodine plus acetone plus base, of course, gives iodoform- a better yield of that than of the desired compound. I also try dissolving the iodine in isopropanol instead of ethanol (it's more likely to be dry, and iodine dissolves better in it). That worked much better.

By the time I actually went to set it off, only the isopropanol-made batch had any nitrogen triiodide left in it. But at least the kids got one BANG! to impress them.

I also tried making flash paper (nitrocellulose), following the directions given here: http://chemistry.about.com/od/makechemicalsyourself/a/make-n... . That burned somewhat better than regular paper, but not much.

chemcam - 1-5-2013 at 14:52

I won't quote the whole thing but this sticks out to me:
Quote: Originally posted by DraconicAcid  
I just did a chemistry show my kids' class of nine-year-olds...
...I tried two demos that I had never done before. The first was nitrogen triiodide

Maybe I misread your post but from what I understand you performed a contact high explosive demonstration which you had not used before, NI3, in a class full of children? REALLY?!?

Pyro - 1-5-2013 at 14:58

what's next? NG synthesis? or perhaps HCN? :D
Normal paper doesn't nitrate so well. you need 100% cotton paper without clay etc. or just use 100% cotton balls

Finnnicus - 1-5-2013 at 15:06

Personally I think NI3 is fine, except for the Iodine vapor... How'd you handle that?

chemcam - 1-5-2013 at 15:16

Quote: Originally posted by Finnnicus  
Personally I think NI3 is fine, except for the Iodine vapor... How'd you handle that?


If you had never made NI3 before would you have done it for the first time in a room full of kids?

Finnnicus - 1-5-2013 at 16:44

Umm no, good point.

DraconicAcid - 2-5-2013 at 08:52

Quote: Originally posted by Finnnicus  
Personally I think NI3 is fine, except for the Iodine vapor... How'd you handle that?


I had it in the back of the fume hood. I certainly wasn't carrying a sample of it to the kids' class.

[Edited on 2-5-2013 by DraconicAcid]

chemcam - 2-5-2013 at 10:06

Quote: Originally posted by DraconicAcid  

I had it in the back of the fume hood. I certainly wasn't carrying a sample of it to the kids' class.


That makes it a bit better, I was picturing you at a table in front of the class. I have never seen a fume hood in a classroom for anyone under 8th grade. I have worked at quite a few schools, running the district networks and such.

But still, you had never messed with NI3 before that day?

[Edited on 5-2-2013 by chemcam]

DraconicAcid - 2-5-2013 at 10:11

Quote: Originally posted by chemcam  
Quote: Originally posted by DraconicAcid  

I had it in the back of the fume hood. I certainly wasn't carrying a sample of it to the kids' class.


That makes it a bit better, I was picturing you at a table in front of the class. I have never seen a fume hood in a classroom for anyone under 8th grade. I have worked at quite a few schools, running the district networks and such.


We brought the kids to the college class, not the chemicals to the kids.
Quote:
But still, you had never messed with NI3 before that day?


I did set some of it off the day before, to see if it worked. It worked fine then, it just didn't last the night.

chemcam - 2-5-2013 at 10:15

Oh okay you should have said that they came to the college in the first place lol, good job, you did everything fine then. What was the kids reaction to the BANG and the purple cloud? I bet they loved that.

DraconicAcid - 2-5-2013 at 10:22

Quote: Originally posted by chemcam  
Oh okay you should have said that they came to the college in the first place lol, good job, you did everything fine then. What was the kids reaction to the BANG and the purple cloud? I bet they loved that.


They loved the bang- I'm not sure they were impressed by the purple cloud, as I didn't even notice much of one. I was impressed by how well the bits of filter paper had been pushed through the wire gauze it had been sitting on.

chemcam - 2-5-2013 at 10:31

Oh yeah I guess that would be true for using small amounts. The only times I ever mess with it anymore is when I duplicate the experiment of 5 filters on a ring stand, about 4" in between other sheets, each with a pile of the NI3. Then set the top one off by a feather and they all appear to detonate simultaneously. The iodine vapor released is so thick you cant see through it, bright-dark purple and its very loud. You should try that out, not with an audience though unless they get ear plugs and goggles, but you know that. =]