<p>I should NOT be thinking about this (i will get my hopes up)...but after the AP Chem test our "final" is to do whatever chem experiment we want, and explain it to the class...</p>
<p>i was wondering if you could list some really cool/fun experiments that i might do...</p>
<p>however it cannot even have a semi-big explosion or be dangerous...(booo)</p>
<p>thanks for the suggestions!</p>
<p>Our Chem teacher in 10th grade was really cool about experiments - she did loads where stuff glowed, and she would spell out greetings or whatnot on the front board.</p>
<p>I thought the iodine clock reaction was really neat. My chemistry teacher had it synchronized to the first movement of Symphony No 5 by Beethoven.</p>
<p>The glowing thing could be done by cutting apart crystals of CdS into various sizes and making nanoparticle solutions, then irradiating them with light to get the solutions to glow various colors.</p>
<p>Liquid Nitrogen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!</p>
<p>This one experiment is really cool, and it's pretty simple (and you can consume the final product!)</p>
<p>In AP Chem earlier in the year, my teacher taught us about colligative properties practically. We got a big insulated cooler and filled it with ice, then water + salt, and put in a few (small) plastic bottles of sierra mist in the cooler. The temp inside the cooler gets really cold (about -5 °C) and we mixed around the ice/water/salt and made sure the bottles were really cold. Then, when you take out a bottle and open it, CO2 escapes, so the liquid in the bottle freezes as soon as you take off the cap, and the bottle starts overflowing with solid sierra mist.</p>
<p>Although pretty simple, it's pretty cool.</p>
<p>make a block of solid CO2 and cut it in half. make a indent in one of the sides and put magnesium in it. light the magnesium (may take awhile) and put the other half of the CO2 on top. its so cool. the magnesium tries to form magnesium oxide but since the CO2 surrounds it, it has to pull the oxygen out of the CO2, which forms pure carbon. i recommend that your teacher do it.</p>
<p>Make an ammonia fountain!</p>
<p>We always did experiments with the Bunsen burner, so it was pretty cool experimenting with hydrogen, oxygen, and a bunch of other gases.</p>
<p>bump.. (10 char)</p>
<p>Put a box of Mentos into a liter of Coke and watch the result: a 12-foot geyser.
Or take HCl and Mg, react them and collect the hydrogen in a balloon, and then hold a match to it. Same can be done with the electrolysis of a liter of water. Massive explosions result.</p>
<p>My chem teacher exploded a gummy bear but I forget how she did it exactly...some sort of combustion reaction</p>
<p>Tightly roll a paper tube with a diameter of about half an inch. Then, pack one end with baking flour/confectionar's sugar/grain dust, whatever is available, and blow all of it out at once at a lighted bunsen burner. It's really cool.</p>
<p>thermite reactions :D</p>
<p>Dry ice and water is also fun.</p>
<p>We also played with gun cotton- it just vanishes when brought near a flame.</p>
<p>Oh, and when you add aluminum foil to HCl, do it under the fume hood. My lab partner and I nearly killed our IB Chem class by releasing Cl2 into the classroom. :eek:</p>
<p>On a more practical note, what about growing alum crystals? We thought it was fun, and it's pretty easy, although you have to let them grow for a while. Here's two examples.
<a href="http://cas.bellarmine.edu/chem116a/lab/alum.htm%5B/url%5D">http://cas.bellarmine.edu/chem116a/lab/alum.htm</a>
<a href="http://web.lemoyne.edu/%7Egiunta/chm151L/alum.html%5B/url%5D">http://web.lemoyne.edu/~giunta/chm151L/alum.html</a></p>
<p>fart and light it on fire, or bottle it up and use it to power your house.</p>