Anyone know of any exciting experiments?

[Ice_Phoenix87]

Anyone know of any exciting experiments that i can do at home. I need some to keep me entertained and busy. I really liked the home made reactor, it was very interesting, it was posted by YT2095.

thanx

[Sayonara]

I'm sure YT will come through for you; he's the king of exciting experiments

[YT2095]

how about making your own hot air ballon?

it`s really quite simple, you`ll need large plastic bags of the thinest material you can get.

a roll of sellotape 1 inch wide. some strong aluminium wire, an empty take-away tray, a blow torch, a hair drier and some cotton wool soaked in meths.

 

carfully cut the bags open to make large plastic sheets and then tape them all up to form a large tube like a HUGE plastic bag.

at one end put a peice of tape across to join the middle, then bring the other 2 ends in and do the same, then seal along the edges. turn the whole thing insideout. it should look like a big plastic pop bottle.

make a hoop about 8 inches diameter out of the alu wire. tape that to the other end of the balloon evenly as possible and leave no gaps.

with your takeaway tin, put lots of tiny holes in it and then wire it onto your hoop, making a basket.

 

fill the ballon using the hairdryer, it will start to rise, then switch over to the blowtorch being carfull not to set fire to it!

after about 5 mins, it will not only rise but it will start to pull!

put the meths soacked cotton into the basket (best if a friend helps) when the blowlamp`s finished making the balloon pull, light the cotton and fuel, and let it go

 

I did one that flew over 12 kilometers and cars even pulled over thinking it was a UFO!

it takes about an afternoon to make, but it`s lots of fun

[Ice_Phoenix87]

hehe, thats cool. I will try that. Got anymore hehe.

[YT2095]

well. not knowing what sort of stuff you have access too or what you have financialy, it`s quite a difficult question to answer really.

there`s a zillion things that could be done, I like to see the stuff in front of me before I can really start to get ideas. what kinda things are you into anyway?

[Ice_Phoenix87]

well today i tried making copper sulfate, its still going well. It was actuallly very interesting. I love making stuff(hopefully making black powder and flash powder soon ). Anything interesting i guess. I just love most science

[YT2095]

heheheheh, good luck trying to get the powdered alu for the flash powder. I take it you`re doing the standard 70/30 using potassium chlorate?

the chlorate`s easy enough to get hold of or even make it, you only need some house salt 2 carbon electroded (taken from the inside of 2 D cell zinc carbon batteries) and a power supply.

be warned though, do it in a well ventilated area as it stinks of chlorine!

[aommaster]

yt, why don't u add this stuff to ur website? It would make it really interesting

[YT2095]

Time, Knowhow(lack of), and laziness if you want the truth

[Ice_Phoenix87]

yeah i am. where do i get that kind of battery?

[YT2095]

if your refering to `D` cells then that`s quite easy.

you know ordinary pencil batteries `AA` size like Everready or Ray-o-Vac etc.. well these are the biggest, it`s AA (the sort in TV remotes) then there`s the `C` some kids toys then there`s the `D` the biggest of them all. most shops have them in. use the battery 1`st though, don`t waste a good one

[Ice_Phoenix87]

how do i open the battery without destorying everything

[YT2095]

lol, VERY carefully! it is SOOOOOOO messy!

 

I take the metal case off it 1`st the bit with the battery name and stuff on it, I use a pair of old wire cutters and peel it.

then when your done you`ll have a zinc case, again, peel it with the wire cutters very slowly.

you`ll see a paper wrapper containging black stuff (manganese dioxide and ammonium chloride) this stuff gets everywhere and makes a hell of a mess!

gently break that off and in the very center will be a rod of carbon.

remove that and throw the rest away. now wash the carbon rod under warm running water and washing up liquid, you`ll know when it`s clean as non will come off on your hands when you`re done

just keep repeating that untill you have as many as you need

[aommaster]

Yt, how many times have u opened a battery before?

[YT2095]

more times than I care to remeber in all honesty

the black patches on my carpet will bear witness to that

[Lance]

It is much easier to get them from 6v lantern batteries. The rods are mush larger and all you have to do when you get the plastic case off is pull the little knobs with pliers.

[YT2095]

here`s another one you may wish to join in with, click here: http://www.scienceforums.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2863

 

and good luck

 

 

Lance, yeah, good point, I`de completely forgoten about those, we used to get the old one off the workmen that used to use them in the yellow flash lanterns at night for road works, next day we`de be out taking up all the dead batteries and doing just that

[ed84c]

Heres a few-

 

Heat Chalk up V.Hot it will make quicklime. Add water. V. Exothermic. Add sand (and ash to make it set under water) and it makes concrete.

 

Got another one-

Zinc+CuSO4. V.Exothermic

 

Got another one-

Iron oxide plus aluminum (possibley oxide). Heat to very hot. Then the reaction will begin. V.V.V Exothermic! Creates molten Iron and Al2O3. Did it once with a bunsen. Ceck it out on a website im not sure that is totally correct.

[YT2095]

chalk (calcium sulphate) on heating doesn`t make lime Calcium Oxide (sorry), but you CAN buy the hydroxide and heat that instead, goto a garden suppliers and buy Lime for soil, that will work

 

zinc and copper sulphate is a little exothermic sure, but not much

it works better if both are in power form and you add just a drop of water.

 

as for making thermite (typicaly iron oxide and alu powder) it`s very very difficult to light, a Sparkler from garden fireworks can often be used to ignite though

it`s great also if you can make a cast out of wet sand and let it dry, then pour in the mixed power, ignite it, enjoy the sparks them let it cool. you`ll have actualy made something as result of your efforts too

[ed84c]

I was always taught that chalk was CaCO3

[Sayonara]

That's limestone (well, along with some sediment).

 

Chalk is between 50-98% CaCO₃, with some or all of clay, hematite, mica, quartz and pyrite.

[YT2095]

Chalk is actualy a VERY broad term, one I shouldn`t have used really, calcium carbonate is chalk it`s also Marble the "stone" calcium sulphate is also Chalk in the broad term sadly just as "Potash" is for most all Potassium based salts in old terms. it was MY mistake to use it!

 

"Heat Chalk up V.Hot it will make quicklime. Add water. V. Exothermic. Add sand (and ash to make it set under water) and it makes concrete."

 

as calcium carbonate you`re quite correct, calcium sulphate does same too "Plaster of paris" I don`t know if anyone here`s been unfortunate enough to break a bone and had a "plaster" cast on, but you`ll have noted that it also gets quite warm upon setting!

[YT2095]

here`s a fun one!

 

a model jet powered boat, you`ll need a length of metal tubing about 3mm wide and about 20 cm long (idealy copper), wrap the middle part around a pencil about 5 times, so you make a spring with both ends equal in length and parallel.

drill 2 holes at a 45 degree angle in a peice of wood large enough to fit both ends of the tube through.

fill the tube with water and place the wood (Boat) in a bath half full.

light a small candle under the coil that should be on the top of the boat.

 

as the water in the coil heats up it makes a pocket of steam, and that pushes water out of the tube ends that are underwater, thus pushing the boat forwards a little, water will refill the tube and the cycle starts again, Put-Put-Put all around your bath tub

[ed84c]

Similar thread here;

 

http://www.scienceforums.net/forums/showthread.php?t=10061&highlight=favorite+experiment

 

im not sure how easy they are though.

[akcapr]

its a fact- chalk IS calcium carbonate. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chalk