Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Potato, sodium chloride and acetic acid

Eddygp - 19-3-2013 at 03:45

I was starting to get bored with the supersaturated salt-in-acetic acid solution and I dropped a potato piece in it. I added 5% hydrogen peroxide and left it in the solution for around 36 hours.
When I took it out, due to osmosis, it had decreased its size very much: it was around 7cm in length and now it is only 5cm in length. Furthermore, the colour change has been spectacular: it has turned very bright and white (you can't see the real colour in the photograph, though).
I washed it in ethanol to remove impurities and took the photograph (the one attached).
Some NaCl crystals are beginning to form on the surface.

PS. I'll have to re-size the photograph.