jhummus
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Experiments??
Hello Fellow Chemists,
I am a student obtaining a degree chemistry. I am finishing up my last semester of ochem and am about to take biochem, p-chem and probably quant. Here
is my so called problem. I love chemistry and it makes sense to me, but even after the labs, the products we get seem meaningless at best. We made
nylon in one lab which didn't work and clumped to the bottom, supposedly our reagents had grown old. I was wondering if there was a simple cheap
experiment that I could do at home that left me with an actual product. Something that I could say "Wow" I just made that. I am entering into a
research program soon which may help with my need to actually make something but as we all know experimental success is one in a million. If there are
any suggestions they would be appreciated. I am also looking for some cool easy experiments to show my nieces and nephews to get them into science.
Thanks
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Random
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You can make soap, light sticks, perfumes, dyes, corrector fluid.. But this are just few suggestiosn.
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m1tanker78
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Yeah, you need some garage time! 
| Quote: | | I am also looking for some cool easy experiments to show my nieces and nephews to get them into science. |
One word. Fire. See their eyes fill with wonder. Check out the potassium thread here. It's stickied onto the general forum.
Link: http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=14970&...
EDIT: I forgot to add that the "glue + borax = slime" experiment is really cool for kids and is safe.
Tom
[Edited on 4-16-2011 by m1tanker78]
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entropy51
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Quote: Originally posted by jhummus  | | Here is my so called problem. I love chemistry and it makes sense to me, but even after the labs, the products we get seem meaningless at best.
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Just pretend that the drug company you work for is paying you $30 an hour to synthesize this meaningless
product.
Or pretend that it is a crucial intermediate to make a drug candidate that can cure your grandmother's cancer.
That is the type of thing that motivates chemists in the real world.
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DDTea
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What you need to understand is that chemistry lab experiments seem contrived because they are. For an entry level O. Chem class with people who have
very little lab time under their belts, there aren't a lot of things that can be done. Exciting experiments involving pyrophorics, high temperatures,
toxic materials, etc. are virtually out of the question. Expensive reagents are a non-starter. Interesting subject matter is also difficult to
achieve because most students wouldn't have an appreciation of it.
That being said, at home the issues are entirely different. It's great being able to work on projects that interest YOU, but you have a whole other
set of issues to worry about. Although I love home science, my advice to people who are interested is to be very careful in choosing it as a hobby.
This may not be a popular opinion, but I'd advise you not to try too much organic synthesis right away. If you're new to lab work, at best you could
only do syntheses as contrived as the ones you're doing in school anyway. For that, it may be best to work with an O. Chem professor on their
research.
That said, definitely try some natural product extractions (keep them as non-toxic as possible; don't dive right into trying to extract ricin or
something) or even extractions of OTC compounds (e.g., acid-base extraction of diphenhydramine HCl). Work on getting your basic footwork up to par.
Other skills can be learned as you need them, but mastering basic skills will definitely give you an advantage over your peers.
If you do identify a problem of particular interest to you, by all means go forth and tackle it! That's what science is all about.
"In the end the proud scientist or philosopher who cannot be bothered to make his thought accessible has no choice but to retire to the heights in
which dwell the Great Misunderstood and the Great Ignored, there to rail in Olympic superiority at the folly of mankind." - Reginald Kapp.
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jhummus
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Thanks
Thanks for the comments and words of advice. They are appreciated. I completely understand I need to get my basics down, I just love this stuff...lol.
Everybody I know thinks I am crazy...lol.
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MrHomeScientist
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I'd advise you to go on YouTube and see all the great chemistry hobby channels there. We do lots of exciting eyntheses at home, sometimes using OTC
materials.
( Shameless plug of my own channel: www.youtube.com/mrhomescientist )
A good one to show the kids is elephant toothpaste, or colored fire - you get a beautiful green flame with HEET antifreeze (methanol) and Roach-Ridd
powder (boric acid).
Thermite is particularly satisfying to me, because the reaction is really exciting and you actually make pure elements.
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Neil
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Glue and borax slime was already mentioned, you can also try a concentrate solution of borax with glue watered 50/50 and a bit of corn starch to make
a bouncy ball which will last until it all dries out.
Strontium and lithium carbonates are highly available pottery ingredients which can be converted to chlorides and used to color a beaker of fire a
nice red/magenta color. Do mind the relevant MSDS sheets.
Sodium Bicarbonate can be mixed with acetic acid to produce sodium acetate which can be dried to a hydrated salt. when carefully heated it will
liquify and if cooled will remain liquid, ideally you have to prevent any evaporation when heating it or it will immediately solidify when removed
from the heat source. I always sprinkle in a few drops of water, with good results. Disturbing the cooled liquid version of the salt will cause it to
heat up and solidify try Googling 'Hot Ice' for more.
One I came up with for a TV promotion at an old job was mixing two solutions; one of borax/acetic acid and another of PVA/Sodium bicarbonate and then
mixing the two solutions. The mixture bubbles and foams up and then suddenly gels. the gelled foam can be scooped out and wrung out to form a bouncy
ball or played with as is.
You could make a large batch of calcium acetate and dry it out. a saturated solution of calcium acetate will gel ethanol/methanol/isopropanol when
they are at least 90% pure, higher is better. The methanol gel will burn with almost no visible flame, the ethanol flame is mostly clear but with
yellow flame tips and the isopropanol flame is mainly yellow/blue and very visible. the methanol and ethanol flame work very well for flame color
agents like CuCl, LiCl, CuSO4, KCl, and NaCl. If you are not familiar with it, burning methanol can be very dangerous, in daylight the flames are
often invisible.
You can do the standby of boiling up some red/purple cabbage and collecting the juices. The dark purple juice is a very rapid pH indicator and can be
used with sodium bicarbonate and vinegar to produce blue and red colors which when mix foam and neutralize back to purple.
If you have some tincture of Iodine a dilute solution of laundry starch can be made and distributed into small cups. a drop of iodine will turn the
solution black. Spitting into a cup of said solution and stirring will cause the solution to suddenly clear. it normally takes a few minutes though
some people have super spit with enough amylase to turn it clear in seconds. Enzymes, oh what fun.
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