Yttrium2
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My new lab
I ordered,
a 125mL retort
a 400mL beaker
a 10mL glass dropper pipette
100 grams of potassium iodide
and a proctor silex hotpot, which I can set my retort into.
Now my questions are what are some cool experiments I can do with the potassium iodide?
And does anyone have any suggestions as to additional things to order, for a beginner? -- Was thinking of nitric acid, but I don't think I have any
use for it, or know of any uses for it. -- In fact, I kinda regret making yet again another purchase of lab ware, at least this time I haven't bought
too much. -- Not sure if my test tubes / rack would have been more useful / less conspicuous than the retort, not that I am up to anything.
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Syn the Sizer
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A simple, fun reaction with KI is elephant toothpaste.
You could also synthesize I2.
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Ubya
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well with potassium iodide alone not much i think, you could make some iodine, but you need hydrochloric acid/hydrogen peroxide.
starch indicator? (iodine+iodide)
elephant toothpaste
iodine clock
lead iodide "golden rain"
copper iodide to test for mercury vapour
i mean there are many things you can do, but you need other reagents
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karlos³
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He can simply use HCl and instead of H2O2, cheap NaOCl solution will do the trick just as well.
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B.D.E
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my first home experiment was to simply make concetrated NaOH solutions and putting stuff into it. flowers we're especially cool as their colors
changed in an interesting manner(visually).
you can also but some HCl from the hardware store.
as said above you can also buy NaOCl(bleach) and make the elephant toothpaste reaction(although it can be a bit of a pain to clean).
after getting th HCl you can also try and dissolve some small pieces of iron and try to somehow extract the FeCl2 formed.
another nice&dimple reaction with HCl is to try and dissolve the aluminium from a beverage can to reveal the thin plastic coating(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1pB6O6AYMU).
you can also try to extract powder starch from potatoes with nothing but hot water and potatoes. starch can open up some other cool expiriemnts with
potassium iodide.
the possibilities are endless. and the cool thing is that over the time you would get an idea about what glassware and reagents you should buy(in a
way that you'll find yourself thinking "a glass funnel(e.g) could have maade my life a lot easier right now", and than simply ordering one for your
next experiments).
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Chemorg42
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As to more things to order, I would suggest ordering several more beakers, test tubes, and flasks (Erlenmeyer, Florence and round bottom if you have
the budget.)
Anyone who is not shocked by quantum theory has not understood a single word. (attributed to Niels Bohr)
I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics. (Richard Feynman)
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Bedlasky
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Quote: Originally posted by B.D.E  | | as said above you can also buy NaOCl(bleach) and make the elephant toothpaste reaction(although it can be a bit of a pain to clean).
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Elephant toothpaste with NaOCl? This doesn't work. There isn't formation of gas = no foam. When you use H2O2, there is oxygen formation which can
create foam with detergent.
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Sulaiman
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Isolating chemicals from OTC supplies can be useful and educational.
With your retort and a cooled receiver you can do simple distillations,
which I assume is why you bought the retort 
(the receiver could be just a glass jar or bottle cooled by running water or ice water etc.)
There are quite a few OTC threads here on SM.
P.S I still think that a very good start is a used chemistry set e.g.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Chemistry-Set-Vintage-100-experim...
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Chemistry-Set-Young-Scientist-age...
spirit lamp, test tubes with rack and holder, indicators, a small flask, funnel, some useful chemicals, and a book of suggested experiments.
[Edited on 5-6-2020 by Sulaiman]
CAUTION : Hobby Chemist, not Professional or even Amateur
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Yttrium2
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those sets do look a little interesting, I coudn't enlarge the picture so I didn't see the contents in entirety, they are in the uk though, the
currency was in pounds, -- I thought you couldn't have glass in the uk. What a bummer that must be.
I enjoyed reading your P.S. remark, I have put a bit of time looking at the sets and thinking of ways to minimize the labware, so that there are only
the bare essentials.
This seems to have about pretty much everything one would need for a lot of basic experiments--
[Edited on 6/6/2020 by Yttrium2]
however, it is plastic and the goggles aren't going to protect your eyes from any splashes.
I wish they made a kit like this out of glass, with quality goggles, and in cased it in some sort of box with padding / foam cut outs --
I wish they sold them on the shelves, -- target, in the usa-- has chemistry sets, but they are like 5mL, way to small.
Maybe it would be good to create a thread where there is a collaborative effort to come up with a Good chemistry kit, that has all of the bare
essentials, but in a very minimalistic way, no bloat-- or bs fake plastic n shitty goggles.. Id like to see chemistry become popular again in the usa,
I hope it never goes away like it has in other countries. I think basic experiments can do a lot to inspire the youth. We should all work together to
build a set/kit that could be marketed
[Edited on 6/6/2020 by Yttrium2]
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Sulaiman
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Quite often heating is required,
at test tube scale I use IKEA GLIMMA tealight candles,
but any smokeless candle should be OK.
There is no restriction on glassware in UK.
CAUTION : Hobby Chemist, not Professional or even Amateur
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B.D.E
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| Quote: Originally posted by Bedlasky |
Elephant toothpaste with NaOCl? This doesn't work. There isn't formation of gas = no foam. When you use H2O2, there is oxygen formation which can
create foam with detergent.
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oops, my bad.
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foreign maple
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you can try doing the iodine clock reaction
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j_sum1
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You could make and isolate some potassium iodate. It is an interesting oxidant.
IMO, you sould right at the point where you will become an OTC junkie. Lots of cool things on the shelves ready to be isolated / purified or to do
reactions with as is.
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TriiodideFrog
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https://www.kbcc.cuny.edu/academicDepartments/PHYSCI/PL/chm1...
Try this link
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