Litmus is from a plant, so it will have a limited shelf life (you’ll notice a different, more earthy smell to it). The amount of dry powder provided in the kit is enough for three solutions, more than enough for our experiments. If you notice particles and sludge at the bottom of your container, it’s totally normal, and all you need to do is pour the liquid off and scrape out the residue and throw (the residue) away. If you add a little denatured alcohol (ethyl alcohol), the solution will last a bit longer on the shelf.


We’re going to do a number of experiments with this solution, all in one video. My friend, a PhD Chemistry professor, helped make a new set of videos for you that will walk you through every step.


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You’ll find carbon dioxide everywhere: when you exhale, the bubbles in your soda, in Venus’ atmosphere… The next set of experiments bounce around a little within the manual that came with your set of chemicals. We put all of them together here because it makes the most sense – watch and you’ll see!


It’s hard to know what molecules are present in a solution, so with litmus and limewater, you now have ways to detect these! This is only the start… let’s watch the video now to learn more.


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Water is measured in inches or centimetres when it’s in a test tube. We’re going to make a solution that we will be keeping for not only today’s but also future experiments as well. The solution is hazardous to aquatic life, so make sure you watch all the disposal instructions near the end of the video.


You’re going to create a beautiful blue color by combining two substances together, one is an indicator for the other (the iron).
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This experiment is in two parts. We’re going to use chemistry to separate mixtures. We’re going to use a mixture we prepared in the previous experiment. Also, please make sure you displose of the copper sulfate correctly, you can’t simply just throw it in the trash or down the drain.
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This is a neat set of experiments, and the trick works because carbon dioxide is heavier than air so it really can be “poured” just like a liquid. The problem is that most people mis-judge the “pour”, so if you want to practice first, capture the smoke from an extinguished candle first (get an adult to help you!) and practice pouring a gas into a bowl.
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We’re going to learn about the properties of combustion by doing a simple set of experiments. Because this involves FIRE, please make sure you have an adult handy with you while you do your experiments. We’re going to learn how to detect the presence of carbon dioxide by looking for a “precipitate” – tiny little particles that seem to form out of nowhere.
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We’re going to look at how iron reacts with an acid and detect the iron bits with an indicator. We’re going to do several experiments that will need a bit more time, like overnight, so be sure to store this experiment out of reach of small kids while you are waiting for it to progress.
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Sodium chloride, ammonium chloride, sodium carbonate, and many others have tiny charged particles (positive and negative) called “salts”. When a “salt” is dissolved in water, it will separate into the two particles (plus and minus), which means that if you pass a current through the solution, the positive particles (positive ions) become attracted to the negative pole and the negative particles (negative ions) move toward the positive pole. This movement is allowing electricity to flow, and the this is the reason that “salt” solutions conduct electricity.
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We’re going to learn about saturated solutions today! A solution with solute (the powder added in) that dissolves until it leaves bits at the bottom (indicating that it cannot dissolve anymore). An unsaturated solution is the solution before the bits start showing up at the bottom, meaning that there’s enough solvent to hold all the solute you add in.
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We’re going to do experiments on the water molecule to discover more about water! We’ll need the lime water solution from a previous experiment. Water is a chemical compound and a polar molecule, and it’s a liquid at atmospheric temperature and pressure. The solid state is known as “ice” and the gaseous form is “water vapor”.
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Surfactants are compounds that decrease the surface tension between two liquids, a liquid and a gas, or a liquid and a solid. You’ll find surfactants acting as detergents (in laundry soaps), emulsifiers (like egg yolks and soy lecithin), foaming agents (like in foaming soaps, shampoos, and toothpaste), and dispersants (usually added to prevent clumping, like in engine oils and in concretes so it flows correctly before setting). Not all surfactants are the same, but they all are aimed at doing a particular job.


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We’re going to investigate the properties of charcoal! You’ll need ash, like the ground-up remainders from burning matches or sticks, which means you’ll need an ADULT to handle the fire elements of this experiment.


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We’re going to look at the properties of sugar. We’re going to combine sugar in different solutions to explore the interesting properties it has, including how even though sugar is sweet, something like apple juice, which has a lot of sugar in it, is actually acidic! It’s important that you DO NOT EAT ANYTHING in this lab. This is a CHEMISTRY LAB.
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Proteins are organic compounds that contain both nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen and carbon. We’re going to do a few chemistry experiments to look at some of the interesting properties of proteins.
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Calcium is an element that is softer than aluminum but harder than sodium, and it’s less chemically reactive than alkaline metals. Have you ever looked inside of a water pipe? The hard, white crust you see is probably calcium or magnesium deposits (especially if you have “hard” water). When calcium comes in contact with air, it forms an oxide coating which protects it from further corrosion.
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Tannins are everywhere in nature: in wood, bark, leaves, and fruit of plants like walnut, cranberry, cacao, grapes, and oak trees. Tannins are how plants make themselves unappetizing to animals, so they won’t eat the fruit before it’s ripe. Have you ever eaten an unripe pear or plum? That’s the tannin you’re tasting! People have used tannins to “tan” animal hides to make leather. People like tannins in their food, because it can be managed to make the food taste really good, like in chocolate, tea, coffee, and wine.
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We’re using the solution from the last experiment (the iron in what used to be a copper sulfate solution) for part of this experiment. This experiment is tricky to see a color change, which is why we’re going to look at the paper towel for the telltale blue that will indicate the presence of iron.


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