Hi all,

 

I am as far away from a chemist as humanly possible; I much rather physics than chemistry any day, and I don't really undersatnd much of chemistry usually enough to do something practical with it.

 

BUT

 

I recently baught a book called "Sneaky Uses for everyday things", and it has a section about household organic chemistry.

 

One of the "tricks" it proposes, for instance, is creating a plastic-like material by heating up milk and adding vinegar to it. According to the book, the vinegar is creating chunks of solid matter called "Caseine" and you can just mold it to whatever u want, let it dry for a while, and have your own version of home made plastic.

 

At the same book they're also explaining how to make a battery out of lemons (stick nails and paper-clips in 'em), but I already knew that one..

 

I was wondering: What else can we do - what other neat, harmelss and non-sophisticated projects a lamen can do that are both fun and chemistry-teaching?

 

Would love your inputs!!

 

~moo

After a bit of playing around, I made my own latent fingerprint revealing kit.

I made a website (DIYforensics) but that got abandoned after I found that the numbers of forensic tests that could be done in your house was very thin.

Here is the link to making your own Cyanoacrylate fuming method:

http://www.freewebs.com/diyforensics/Cyanoacrylate%20fuming%20method.html'>http://www.freewebs.com/diyforensics/Cyanoacrylate%20fuming%20method.html

 

This is my actual website:

http://www.freewebs.com/diyforensics/

 

Hey, if any of you others know how to do any others, put them here and I can restart that website!

 

Hope yours goes well. Remember, "Warning, the gas produced can irritate eyes and lungs. Do not breath in or look too near the gas when it is not being contained". I learned that from personal experience when I was emptying it - even outside! I found that opening it outside and leaving it works.

 

If anyone does do this experiment, please could you tell me the outcome. Thanks.

Did you know if you mixed equal parts of gasoline and frozen orange juice concentrate you can make napalm?

The combination of baking soda and vinegar also is a very nice one. A lot of bubbling and formation of foam. Especially if combined with some food dye-stuff, you can make beautifully colored foam. With some creative molding of soft paper you can make nice volcano models, which really spew out "lava". Fun, and absolutely without risk.

 

Another nice one is red cabbage. You can make many colors:

 

With washing soda: yellow

With dilute ammonia: green

With dish washing soap: purple/blue

With vinegar: pink/red

(With hydrochloric acid: deep red, but this is not the plain simple kitchen stuff for most people).

 

Yet another nice one is the production of a deep blue copper solution by immersing copper wire in a solution of dilute household ammonia (~5% NH3), while allowing contact with air. With vitamin C this solution can be turned in a colorless liquid, which becomes blue at the surface on standing and colorless on shaking again.

Originally Posted by Tyler Durden

Did you know if you mixed equal parts of gasoline and frozen orange juice concentrate you can make napalm?

 

Hmmm.. which arnold schwartzenegger movie did I see that in ?

After a bit of playing around' date=' I made my own latent fingerprint revealing kit.

I made a website (DIYforensics) but that got abandoned after I found that the numbers of forensic tests that could be done in your house was very thin.

Here is the link to making your own Cyanoacrylate fuming method:

http://www.freewebs.com/diyforensics/Cyanoacrylate%20fuming%20method.html'>http://www.freewebs.com/diyforensics/Cyanoacrylate%20fuming%20method.html

 

This is my actual website:

http://www.freewebs.com/diyforensics/

 

Hey, if any of you others know how to do any others, put them here and I can restart that website!

 

Hope yours goes well. Remember, "Warning, the gas produced can irritate eyes and lungs. Do not breath in or look too near the gas when it is not being contained". I learned that from personal experience when I was emptying it - even outside! I found that opening it outside and leaving it works.

 

If anyone does do this experiment, please could you tell me the outcome. Thanks.[/quote']

 

 

Nice

 

after i've finished my finals, i'll have a play around and try to develop some for you.

 

I'm pretty sure that most forensic stuff could be done at home. DNA fingerprints might be a bit tricky

 

(oh, and i'm pretty sure the normal fingerprint powder is just aluminium dust, which is brushed over the print and then lifted off with tape)

Try polymerizing white glue (like Elmers) with a borax solution. It makes a neat rubbery goo that is fun to play with, you can vary the consistency by the amount of borax and water you add.

Hmmm.. which arnold schwartzenegger movie did I see that in ?

 

Fight Club lol.

 

But I like the ol' electrolysis with a 9 volt battery and epsom salt water solution. Kinda homemade.

 

EDIT: Sorry I broke the first rule of Fight Club... well all of em I guess :/

It's okay, we won't beat you up, JesuBungle.

 

you can make pepper spray by puting dried hot chiles in a blender turning it on to make a fine powder then opening it in someones face

I think you could create something that is vaguely similar to water rocket.I just had the thought yesterday night and since I'm on holiday, I'll probably try it out soon myself. Instead of using pressurised water for the rocket's propulsion ...

 

 

 

 

use Carbon Dioxide gas. I remember, once in one of my early attempts to carry out fermentation, I had no airlock, no nothing, just a 1 liter water bottle containing sugar solution and some reeeaally pulverizing-stinking yest (I wonder if all yeast is like that ?). The CO2 produced caused the bottle's interiors to increase in pressure and when I opened the cap, it shot out straight upwards (some really quick head-jerking skills needed) and would have travelled quite a bit. I was wondering if a rocket structure with fins and all could be added to it...

Maybe multi-stage with another smaller bottle inside it that would jettison soon. ( Hey maybe I should've competed for the X-Prize and all... ) I'd love any feedback from those who've done it. I recommend adding a large quantities of both reactants, warm water might also help. It might be preferable to carry it out in a fume cupboard for reasons afore mentioned.!

We discovered in lab once that if you add acetone to styrofoam packing peanuts you get an interesting moldable plastic-ish type thing. No clue what it is tho

We discovered in lab once that if you add acetone to styrofoam packing peanuts you get an interesting moldable plastic-ish type thing. No clue what it is tho

Acetone just acts as a solvent for the styrofoam; you're simply dissolving the styrofoam into a form that lacks the air bubbles.

I thought NaPalm was sodium palmitate, a blend of sodium and palm oil, no orangy juices there.

 

Miguel

I thought NaPalm was sodium palmitate' date=' a blend of sodium and palm oil, no orangy juices there.

 

Miguel[/quote']

I do believe when ecoli quoted Tyler Durden, he meant it as a joke

I know that mixing de-natured alcohol with styrofoam and it creates quite a flammable paste

We discovered in lab once that if you add acetone to styrofoam packing peanuts you get an interesting moldable plastic-ish type thing. No clue what it is tho

 

Yes i believe that is a form of napalm btw, idk though try lighting it on fire

i know thats wat it is if u added the stryofoam to gasoline though

Hi all,

 

I am as far away from a chemist as humanly possible; I much rather physics than chemistry any day, and I don't really undersatnd much of chemistry usually enough to do something practical with it.

 

BUT

 

I recently baught a book called "Sneaky Uses for everyday things", and it has a section about household organic chemistry.

 

One of the "tricks" it proposes, for instance, is creating a plastic-like material by heating up milk and adding vinegar to it. According to the book, the vinegar is creating chunks of solid matter called "Caseine" and you can just mold it to whatever u want, let it dry for a while, and have your own version of home made plastic.

 

At the same book they're also explaining how to make a battery out of lemons (stick nails and paper-clips in 'em), but I already knew that one..

 

I was wondering: What else can we do - what other neat, harmelss and non-sophisticated projects a lamen can do that are both fun and chemistry-teaching?

 

Would love your inputs!!

 

~moo

 

there's a fun experiment where you can extract DNA from any squishy fruit. Strawberries is the easiest... the only trouble is you dont have any way to prove it's DNA.

 

Also you can make your own sodium acetate and supersaturate it. the resulting solution will crystallise rapidly (in seconds), which can be fun. youtube "sodium acetate" and you'll see more.

Originally posted by hermanntrude:

Also you can make your own sodium acetate and supersaturate it. the resulting solution will crystallise rapidly (in seconds), which can be fun. youtube "sodium acetate" and you'll see more...

 

I agree that this is a pretty cool experiment. You can also find out more by google-ing 'hot ice'...

Originally posted by hermanntrude:

Also you can make your own sodium acetate and supersaturate it. the resulting solution will crystallise rapidly (in seconds), which can be fun. youtube "sodium acetate" and you'll see more...

 

I agree that this is a pretty cool experiment. You can also find out more by google-ing 'hot ice'...

 

I hate that phrase. It misleads people, makes them think there's ice involved. There isnt. this is simply a crystallisation

I hate that phrase. It misleads people, makes them think there's ice involved. There isnt. this is simply a crystallisation

 

I am aware that it's just a crystallization. But the fact remains that googling the term 'hot ice' will net a lot of links showing how to do the demo. I'm simply stating a fact and not offering my opionion...

i know. no offence meant. it just upsets me that the world at large seems to think it's some kind of magic trick rather than bothering to think

I thought NaPalm was sodium palmitate, a blend of sodium and palm oil, no orangy juices there.

A much bigger shindy makes heated flour on high tempreature.

 

Anyway, a beautiful explosion can be made with a few oil (about 1 liter) heated on fire to high tempreature (as high as you can) and when first flames appear(, count to three and) pour a cup of water into and run very fast away.(when I saw it at first it was an accident )

 

for more inspiration watch MacGyver

Anyway, a beautiful explosion can be made with a few oil (about 1 liter) heated on fire to high tempreature (as high as you can) and when first flames appear(, count to three and) pour a cup of water into and run very fast away.(when I saw it at first it was an accident )

 

DO NOT DO THIS! especially not if you are standing close enough to pour the water in by hand. if you are this close you will have a large number of third degree burns all over you.

petanquell, please familiarise yourself with our rules and be advised that suggesting experiments of this level of hazard without ANY warning at all to the readers is very much frowned upon by the leaders of this forum.

 

In future, when suggesting demonstrations, do not post them at all unless they are safe to carry out (this is a fine example of one which isnt), and if you do post a demonstration be sure to give ALL the safety information neccessary to keep anyone who tries it safe from harm. This is your responsibility as a moral human being.