Favorite home experiments

[bbctol]

This isn't a science experiment, rather an experiment in pure awesome, with some win on the side It's also every pyro's dream.
1. Get maybe 4 or 5 boxes of 4th of July sparklers.
2. Scrape the heads off of all but one and discard the stems.
3. Get a metal tube. If you have any metal tennis ball containers lying around, those are perfect. Put the sparkler heads in the tube.
4. Push the top of the tube into a slit, maybe half an inch wide, and put the remaining sparkler in as a fuse.
5. Bury the tube about halfway into the ground in an empty field and wit till night.
6. Light the fuse.
7. ???
8. PROFIT!

And by "PROFIT", I mean "A pillar of fucking WHITE-HOT PURE LIGHT TOWERING ABOVE THE MASSES, maybe twenty feet high or so, for a few minutes. WINNAGE."

[LE4dGOLEM]

Microwaveable? Cut a grape down so that there's just the skin joining the two halves. Try to get as much juice off as possible (eg by sucking, licking, using a tissue etc) and then out it, round side down, in the microwave. Result? Zaps, Fire, and smoke.

Diet-Cokeable?

At my school there is an arrangement of topology such that we have a wall with a ten, maybe fifteen foot drop, and both surfaces having a certifiable "ground". With Mentos we have experienced rockets and foam flying everywhere, but with Refreshers (Reviewcentre link; AQuarterOf link) there was a certifiable explosion. And I really do mean Explosion, as in, "very loud bang and the bottom of the bottle was blown out and after the initial blast there was maybe a quarter of a cup, maximum, of diet coke left".

[22/7]

This isn't a science experiment, rather an experiment in pure awesome, with some win on the side It's also every pyro's dream.
1. Get maybe 4 or 5 boxes of 4th of July sparklers.
2. Scrape the heads off of all but one and discard the stems.
3. Get a metal tube. If you have any metal tennis ball containers lying around, those are perfect. Put the sparkler heads in the tube.
4. Push the top of the tube into a slit, maybe half an inch wide, and put the remaining sparkler in as a fuse.
5. Bury the tube about halfway into the ground in an empty field and wit till night.
6. Light the fuse.
7. ???
8. PROFIT!

And by "PROFIT", I mean "A pillar of fucking WHITE-HOT PURE LIGHT TOWERING ABOVE THE MASSES, maybe twenty feet high or so, for a few minutes. WINNAGE."

I'm trying this. Soon. Much sooner than the police would like me to.

[Alomax]

My dad and a friend of his once spent an evening theorizing about the design of a plasma dishwasher, and it's economic viability in an industrial setting. (cafeterias)

Since apparently certain types of plasma will vaporize organic matter and leave plastic dishes perfectly clean in a few seconds.

[Xial]

My dad and a friend of his once spent an evening theorizing about the design of a plasma dishwasher, and it's economic viability in an industrial setting. (cafeterias)

Since apparently certain types of plasma will vaporize organic matter and leave plastic dishes perfectly clean in a few seconds.

There are plans to build dishwashers with silver ion cleaning. A similar kind of idea.

[hyperion]

iirc a plasma is rather loosely defined compared to other phases of mater. i.e. not all ionised gases are necessarily plasma. that said it sounds like there is at least some plasma in that experiment even if there is also ionised gases

Doesn't plasma also have to be super-heated? That's why I was doubtful. I have no trouble believing that a microwave could ionize something, but I can't see there being enough energy to superheat it....

I don't really know what I'm talking about or have any Chemistry intuition. A C+ In Chem101 is all the training I have.

Fire is a plasma, and other forms of plasma aren't hard to find.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_%28physics%29#Common_plasmas

[OneLess]

Dunno about anyone else, but I get endless amusement from sticking a milk jug containing room temperature or warm air into the freezer

[Terminus]

1. Know the location of a navy WWII ammunition dump
2. Scuba dive down to get boxes of shells
3. Knock the tops of the shells with a rock, as the high explosive is now probably all inert (hey im not dead yet)
4. Stuff the cordite into a big tube
5. Attempt to dig a hole big enough for the tube
6. Give up
7. Get the most inebriated person at the party to light said tube

result!

You can do some other neat things with cordite aswell, its a very stable reasonably powerful propellant. Spiral seashells stuffed full and lit spin around like ... really fast spinny things, help me out here?
It also has a tendency to put itself out with the CO2 produced while it burns, watch for the pulse in the video, which makes for some interesting jet exhaust effects.


Tune in later for a link to toast spread with cordite jam!

[ruderalis]

Meth lab.

[Heika]

Well, First post for me here and actually, this topic got me to register. So anyway, Here's my, not-so-for-home experiment-ish thingy....

Acetylene... ya know that easily findable stuff you getting in welding torches... right well, out on my brothers christmas tree farm, we figured we'd blow some up.. first we tested it under an unside down cup with out a cap, and watched it jump.
then we move onto a gatorade bottle with a hole drilled in cap and a fuse, it was pretty damn loud. Then we tried a 5 gallon bucket, hole and fuse (really long fuse) and it was quieter than gatorade but really, really deep.
Lastly, I got a call from my brother saying he had found the best way to do it. That same coffee cup we were makeing jump, but this time he put the cap on it, and almost lost his hearing in the process cause he didnt expect it to be so loud. I got the fuse service when I heard it =)

Anyway, thats my story, you might see me around here more, we'll see.

[niko7865]

Acetylene in a condom or rubber glove is also quite enjoyably loud.

also
1. Bottle of Chloroform
2. Sexy Person of Preferred Sex
3. Combine
4. ???
5. Profit!

[evilbeanfiend]

iirc a plasma is rather loosely defined compared to other phases of mater. i.e. not all ionised gases are necessarily plasma. that said it sounds like there is at least some plasma in that experiment even if there is also ionised gases

Doesn't plasma also have to be super-heated? That's why I was doubtful. I have no trouble believing that a microwave could ionize something, but I can't see there being enough energy to superheat it....

I don't really know what I'm talking about or have any Chemistry intuition. A C+ In Chem101 is all the training I have.

1) a flame easily gets over 1000K maybe as much as 2000K, hot enough for you?
2) plasmas don't have to be hot.

they have to have ionised (heat is one way this can happen but not the only way) and they have to have sufficient charge density that the electrons can all interact with each other

[Zohar]

Nothing special but I liked this.

Half fill a plastic bottle with cold water. Keep the cap off, put your hands on the upper part of the bottle (where there's no water) for about 20 seconds. Close the cap, shake the bottle. The water will cool the air and the bottle will contract.

It was surprising how little air space was needed to have a noticeable effect.

[22/7]

Not really an experiment as much as awesomefunness, but someone already broke hearts so...

Get some non-dairy coffee creamer (powdered). It's important that it be non-dairy and that it be powdered. Stand up high, say on a roof, ladder, 2nd story of a building in a stairwell, etc. with someone on the first floor below you. Person on top has the coffee creamer, person on bottom has a flame of some sort (bbq lighters work the best I've found). Pour the coffee creamer over the flame and yay fire!

Getting this one to work well is all about the consistency.

Also, I've heard (but never tried) that if you get a bunch of sparklers (like 30 or 40 or so) and fold them in half in a big ball, leaving one sparkler sticking out as a fuse, then wrap the whole thing really tightly in electrical tape you can create a pretty cool bomb. Anyone ever tried it?

[hyperion]

Get some non-dairy coffee creamer (powdered). It's important that it be non-dairy and that it be powdered. Stand up high, say on a roof, ladder, 2nd story of a building in a stairwell, etc. with someone on the first floor below you. Person on top has the coffee creamer, person on bottom has a flame of some sort (bbq lighters work the best I've found). Pour the coffee creamer over the flame and yay fire!

I've heard cornflour does the same thing.

[oxoiron]

Get some non-dairy coffee creamer (powdered). It's important that it be non-dairy and that it be powdered. Stand up high, say on a roof, ladder, 2nd story of a building in a stairwell, etc. with someone on the first floor below you. Person on top has the coffee creamer, person on bottom has a flame of some sort (bbq lighters work the best I've found). Pour the coffee creamer over the flame and yay fire!

I've heard cornflour does the same thing.

There are a countless fine powders that burn nicely when suspended in air at the right concentrations. This is why grain elevators occasionally explode. The grain dust is hanging in the air while machinery is running, something overheats (bad bearing, slipping belt, etc.) and ignites the dust.

Incidentally, I worked in a grain elevator one year during harvest, and about twice a week I had to go to the top of the building and sweep up the dust to minimize the possibility of an explosion. The dust that collects at the top is so fine that it acts like a fluid. When I pushed it with a broom, it would flow to the wall in a wave and rebound back to me. Because it is so fine, when it is suspended in the air it acts almost as if it were a flammable gas.

[Twasbrillig]

1. Find some alcohol-based liquid (alcohol will work fine, but you probably want to dilute it a bit).
2. Cover hand in said liquid.
3. Light hand on fire.
4. Wave hand to extinguish fire. (Optional)

Yes, we've all read the Feynman biographies, and no, we won't do that, because we have hair on the backs of our hands.

You forgot the first step, which is to dip your hand in water first.

[Vaniver]

I had actually forgotten that was in the Feynman autobiography, as I was thinking of a friend who did it fairly recently before the post (sans the water step). He might have extinguished it faster than Feynman did, but I don't remember him burning his hair.

[J Spade]

Darn, someone already took the grape one.

Well, there's always the experiment with the match heads.

1) Take about 50 strike-anywhere matches and cut off the heads.
2) Drill a small hole in a ping-pong ball.
3) Stuff all the heads in.
4) Throw ball against brick wall or other hard surface.

[oxoiron]

Darn, someone already took the grape one.

Well, there's always the experiment with the match heads.

1) Take about 50 strike-anywhere matches and cut off the heads.
2) Drill a small hole in a ping-pong ball.
3) Stuff all the heads in.
4) Throw ball against brick wall or other hard surface.

Wrap it tightly in electrical tape and it works a little better.

[22/7]

Anyone ever breathe/blow fire? I've heard kerosene is the best way but I couldn't ever bring myself to put it in my mouth. I prefer 98ish% isopropyl alcohol or, if taste is a factor, Bacardi 151. And nothing beats blowing them off of a tiki torch (except maybe off of your own thumb).

[jinzougen]

I prefer 98ish% isopropyl alcohol

Can't that make you go blind? I mean, even if you aren't swallowing, lots of alcohol is absorbed by one's tongue.

[22/7]

Yes, technically, but I'm assuming I'd have to actually consume a fair amount. After all, it's just like 2-3 times as much as, say, whiskey. And I've had far more whiskey in a single night than ever gets absorbed by blowing fire.

Note: Am I assuming wrong that it's the alcohol content that would cause blindness?

[Delbin]

So, oxoiron, where does one get magnesium?

I'm not sure if this counts quite as a science experiment, but it has some very interesting results.

You'll need a couple pounds of paraffin wax and some crayons of your favorite colors. You'll also need an open container that can hold about twice the volume of the wax. A milk carton works well.

Get a large cup of very cold water (no ice.)

Melt the wax, add bits of crayon, and swirl slightly to get a marbled effect.

Pour the wax into the carton while simultaneously pouring the cold water.

This will create a wax tower with a very intricate pattern of holes, depressions, and swirls of colors. You can suspend flammable thread in the carton beforehand to make a candle.

[Dibley]

The alcohol that usually makes people go blind is methanol. About 10 mls will give you blindness, and death occurs at about 50 mls (I think). I can't confirm that isopropyl doesn't do that too, though.

[oxoiron]

So, oxoiron, where does one get magnesium?

You can get turnings from a machine shop that is working magnesium.

A scrapyard would be another source. For years, Lawn-Boy made their mowers with Mg decks, which means there are plenty of those floating around. You would have to chip off little pieces to burn in the dry ice depression.

If neither of these sources work, go to a sporting goods store and look in the camping supplies. A lot of places sell Mg sticks as fire starters which can be scraped with a knife blade to produce sparks. This isn't the ideal shape for burning, and it is outrageously expensive compared to other sources, but I suppose you could chip up a couple bars as a last resort.

Finally, you might be able to find a supplier here: http://www.chemexper.com/

By the way, I found a website detailing the reaction and showing a film clip at http://www.chem.umn.edu/services/lecturedemo/info/Magnesium_and_dry_ice.html

[Dibley]

Having bothered to check the MSDS for isopropyl alcohol, I can confirm that it won't make you blind. It is poisonous, though.

Isopropyl alcohol is oxidized by the liver into acetone. Symptoms of isopropyl alcohol poisoning include flushing, headache, dizziness, CNS depression, nausea, vomiting, anesthesia, and coma

LD50 for mice is 3600 mg kg-1 , while for rats it is 5045 mg kg-1.

The lowest toxic dose for humans is TDLO 223 mg kg-1.

[teucer]

More of a garage project than a home project, but you can make your own hovercraft!

And there's an easier way to make hydrogen than by electrolysis. Fill a wine bottle a reasonably large fraction full of water, and add lye (NaOH). Get the lye dissolved. This is exothermic, so let it cool down before proceeding to step two: add a handful of crumpled pieces of aluminum foil. Then put a balloon over the neck of the bottle and fill with hydrogen. Alternatively, light the hydrogen that's coming off the bottle for a self-fueling lamp.

And, while I've never done this last one, I'm told you can make lava in the microwave!

[Ghona]

And, while I've never done this last one, I'm told you can make lava in the microwave!

You can do silversmithing too.

[Bugs]

Long post, but these are good fun!

This is a good demonstration to show kids the gases are fluids:
First, make some CO2 by mixing any acid (e.g. lemon juice, vinegar, dissolved cream of tartar etc) with a base (Bicarbonate of Soda, aka Baking Soda). As everyone knows, this will fizz messily, releasing carbon dioxide. Do this in the bottom of a jug, and you get a jug full of (relatively dense) carbon dioxide.

Now, get a bowl and put a few lit candles of different heights in there. Pour the CO2 from the jug into the bowl and watch the candle flames suffocate one by one, as they're covered by the rising CO2. For added fun, imagine their tiny screams.

*************

This one is really cool, but tricky. Ideally you need a smooth-sided bottle of very pure, fizzy water (I've got it to work with a bottle of Sprite in the past). Anyway, chill your fizzy liquid down to just above freezing; something like 1-2 degrees C should be fine.

When you open the bottle, bubbles will form as normal with two effects. Firstly, the expanding gas will help cool the liquid further, taking some parts of the liquid below 0 degrees. Secondly, the bubbles act as nucleation sites for the formation of ice crystals. Result: when you open the bottle lid, the whole thing freezes solid within a few seconds. You see a small core of ice forming, then corkscrewing out to spread the length and breadth of the bottle.

In principle, you should be able to take very pure water in a smooth-sided vessel down to a few degrees below zero without any ice forming. This is becasue ice crystals can't easily form unless they have some irregularity to act as a seed / mucleation site. If you then introduce a suitable irregularity - drop in a grain of sand, or tap the glass to create small vortices - the ice will form around it and, again, the whole thing will freeze solid in seconds. It's tricky though, because the water needs to be very clean and in an almost perfectly smooth vessel.
************************

Finally, a demonstration of air subjected to centrifugal forces.

Put a lit candle near the edge of a record player turntable, then upturn a biggish bowl over it. Try to keep the bowl fairly central on the turntable (so it doesn't spin off), and big enough to hold a few minutes' air for the candle. Start the turntable spinning.

Pop quiz:
Assuming the flame stays lit for a couple of minutes, where does the flame point while the turntable is spinning? This is not a trick question: do the experiment, or just think about it and assume the candle stays alight.

Anyone ever breathe/blow fire? I've heard kerosene is the best way but I couldn't ever bring myself to put it in my mouth.

Parraffin (which I think is the same as kerosine) is the usual choice for all fire juggling and breathing. It's much better than alcohol becasue it burns with a brighter flame and at a cooler temperature. Crucially, it's also safer to handle as it doesn't produce much vapour unless you heat it and it's difficult to light unless it's hot, on a wick, or in a mist or vapour. It's relatively non-toxic, although I wouldn't recommend swallowing it. A lot of performers swallow milk beforehand in the belief that it somehow coats their mouth and throat, but I have no idea how effective this is.

That said, fire breathing is always dangerous - a stray gust of wind can easilly burn your lips and face (especially with hot-burning alcohol) and "blowback" -- where the flame finds its way into your mouth and lungs -- does happen to some people. Also, if you do it enough you'll eventually develop symptoms of "chemical pneumonia", as a result of fuel vapours mesing your lungs up. Fire breathing is spectacular and fun, but it's one of those things that actually is as dangerous as it looks. If you're going to try it, read this information first.

[hyperion]

First, make some CO2 by mixing any acid (e.g. lemon juice, vinegar, dissolved cream of tartar etc) with a base (Bicarbonate of Soda, aka Baking Soda). As everyone knows, this will fizz messily, releasing carbon dioxide. Do this in the bottom of a jug, and you get a jug full of (relatively dense) carbon dioxide.

Acid + base => salt + H2O
However acid + carbonate => salt + CO2 + H2O
It's just a coincidence that Na2CO3 is both a base and a carbonate.

I want to try that instant-freezing water.

[Bugs]

Acid + base => salt + H2O
However acid + carbonate => salt + CO2 + H2O
It's just a coincidence that Na2CO3 is both a base and a carbonate.

*hangs head in shame*
My old Chemistry teacher is rolling in her grave. Well, she would be if she were dead. Which she isn't, so I get off scott free! Hurrah!

[gmalivuk]

This is a good demonstration to show kids the gases are fluids:
First, make some CO2 by mixing any acid (e.g. lemon juice, vinegar, dissolved cream of tartar etc) with a base (Bicarbonate of Soda, aka Baking Soda). As everyone knows, this will fizz messily, releasing carbon dioxide. Do this in the bottom of a jug, and you get a jug full of (relatively dense) carbon dioxide.

Now, get a bowl and put a few lit candles of different heights in there. Pour the CO2 from the jug into the bowl and watch the candle flames suffocate one by one, as they're covered by the rising CO2. For added fun, imagine their tiny screams.

Floating a boat on sulfur hexafuoride is even cooler, though the gas is harder to get, so I can see why one would go with a CO2 experiment, instead.

[oxoiron]

Speaking of CO2 reminded me of another demonstration:

1) Remove the plunger from a syringe, and place a small piece of dry ice inside.
2) Replace the plunger, but do not depress it.
3) Wait a couple minutes for some of the dry ice to sublime, filling the syringe with gaseous CO2.
4) Seal the opening of the syringe by tightly holding a rubber cork against it.
5) Depress the plunger, compressing the gas inside.
6) Watch for condensation (liquid CO2).

This is a great way to illustrate what happens when pressure changes on a phase diagram.

[Bugs]

Floating a boat on sulfur hexafuoride is even cooler, though the gas is harder to get

I had no idea that is possible - that's awesome! I assume you'd need a very bouyant boat, say a paper or polystyrene hull?

Do you know what sulphur hexaflouride is commonly used for? I know lab workers in a few fields, it's possible that one of them could get hold of it.

6) Watch for condensation (liquid CO2).

That had never occurred to me. I'll give it a try tomorrow with CO2 and N2.

[oxoiron]

6) Watch for condensation (liquid CO2).

That had never occurred to me. I'll give it a try tomorrow with CO2 and N2.

You might be able to get it to work with N2, but you will have to start with liquid N2 to bring the temperature down to a range where you will see condensation when you apply pressure. At that temperature, you will have all sorts of things condensing and depositing on the outside of your syringe, so you might not be able to see the recondensed nitrogen.

Besides, the thing (in my opinion) that makes the CO2 demonstration neat is that you never see liquid CO2. Liquid N2 is common at atmospheric pressure, but liquid CO2 doesn't exist at the same pressure.

[Bugs]

Besides, the thing (in my opinion) that makes the CO2 demonstration neat is that you never see liquid CO2. Liquid N2 is common at atmospheric pressure, but liquid CO2 doesn't exist at the same pressure.

Oh, of course. I'm just being thick (I've had a long day) and had forgotten for a moment that CO2 sublimes at atmospheric pressure.

Starting with liquid N2 isn't a problem -- I use plenty of it in the lab -- but you're right about seeing other stuff condense / freeze onto the syringe's walls. Actually, that reminds me of something I've wanted to try for a while: the idea is to blow dry air through a metal tube which is cooled with liquid nitrogen. I expect liquid oxygen to condense in the tube and drip out of the end. Sure it's inefficient, but that's not the point!

If you ever have the chance, fill the finger of a latex glove with 75% ethanol in water and immerse it in liquid nitrogen. You get a suspension of ice crystals in liquid ethanol, with a really weird texture. It's great fun to squish around and play with until it warms up or your fingers hurt.

...yes, I regard the lab as a big room full of toys. It's like having the biggest, coolest chemistry set evah!

[alexthesoso]

I think I remember how to do this...

Get some blocks of dry ice, a big aquarium or other similar glass enclosure that can sit on the dry ice

pour some ethanol in the bottom, the dry ice cools it and it forms a mist which leaves the tracks of charged particles passing through it.

Ta-dah, particle detector! That's a half-assed and possibly wrong explanation though, just google cloud chamber

dry ice and pureish alcohol also makes a good poor mans liquid nitro. i do it with everclear when freezing vegetable for the deep freeze. no freezer burn here.

[alexthesoso]

Yes, technically, but I'm assuming I'd have to actually consume a fair amount. After all, it's just like 2-3 times as much as, say, whiskey. And I've had far more whiskey in a single night than ever gets absorbed by blowing fire.

Note: Am I assuming wrong that it's the alcohol content that would cause blindness?

its methanol that will make you go blind. isopropyl will do liver damage if you drink a lot, but whats absorbed should be fine. however, its a lighter liquid, and thus more likely to cause blowback. i used to work as a safety for a fire dancing troupe (before a nasty breakup with their leader, who i was dating) and the breathers exclusively used coleman white gas. tastes nasty, and large amounts of use will kill your throught and do nasty things to your insides, but your less likely to burn yourself. last i knew , they were working on a thicker jellied alchohol mixture (as in, inventing one).

also, if you DO swallow some of that 98 percent isopropyl, A. its going to dry out your insides something fierce. drink a gallon of water. B. becuase of the denaturing proccess, that water and alchohol WILL be coming back up.

[Nosforit]

A failed experiment is still an experiment, so;

I learned that polycarbonate plastic such as those that CDs are made out of are extraordinarily resistant to chemicals. I tried 30% HCl, saltpeter, ethanol and acetone. The HCl caused fuming on the label-side, but the CD otherwise just shrugged it off.

Plastics such as PS and PE start to soften up with ethanol alone...


Next up; a flywheel from an old C cassette player at 35 000 RPM. I expect to be impressed by the inertia. (Already tried spinning a CD at 35 000 RPM, inspired by: http://www.powerlabs.org/cdexplode.htm )