Bunsen Burner (THERMAL IMAGING) - Periodic Table of Videos

I do, admittedly, wish that this video was made with a Tirrill burner because that's what we use in my classroom, but the idea certainly works as though it were a Tirrill burner.

Bunsen burners work about the same, but the Tirrill burner gets a better mixing of the oxygen and methane and has a dial valve at the bottom to adjust the methane coming into the burner. (Admittedly I tell my students not to touch that valve because I've had two incidents where that fell out and caused a large - and thankfully momentary - fireball when the gas came into contact with the air.)

I love the show of the hottest areas of the flame in this video as well as the conductivity of the heat up the glass rod.

So, Someone Dumped 160 Liters Of Hydrogen Peroxide In 2 Olympic Pools

FoundOutAboutChemistry, your source for timely news in the sports world.

So, this past summer...

...the diving well in the Rio Olympic pool turned bright green.

You may not be aware, but that's not the color that diving well water is supposed to be.

Unless it's St Pat's Day.

Luckily, we know it's all because somebody dumped hydrogen peroxide into the pool.

160 LITERS OF HYDROGEN PEROXIDE

That's enough to clean up a whole bunch of paper cuts...or to kill the chlorine's ability to destroy organic matter, yielding a pool that 'smells like a fart.'

Best Fire Tornado - DIY - no moving parts!

I've made fire tornados before.

I've posted about them, too.

But those required a bunch of fans or a lazy susan.

This one is even lazier.

It requires some glass cutting and not much more.

Don't refill your methanol container even remotely when it's hot...or warm.

Be safe, folks.

Don't Flush Sodium Down a Toilet

Hopefully this goes without saying, but don't flush sodium down a toilet.

Don't think about it. Don't do it. Don't think about doing it.

Don't think about thinking about doing it.

See, sodium reacts like all alkali metals do with water.

They react to produce hydrogen gas and metal hydroxides. In the process, there's energy released that sometimes...sort of...sparks the hydrogen.

Which makes an explosion.

Destroying the toilet.

It's one thing, of course, if you do that to a toilet mounted on a platform in a parking lot.

Because that's where I keep my toilets.

The Transfermium Wars

We live in a time of wonders.

In my lifetime, the periodic table has grown by a dozen elements, all of which are synthetically produced.

In my father's lifetime, we've added twenty elements - all synthetically produced.

That means we've figured out how to take atoms, accelerate them to nearly the speed of light (source) and ram them into other atoms, creating matter that didn't exist until that very moment.

All so we can yell at each other about who did it first...about whose name needs to go on the discovery for the ultimate chemistry prize - having an element named after you. That's the basic story of the Transfermium Wars, the fights for naming primacy for elements 104 through 109.

I would sacrifice nearly everything in my world for the opportunity to put Duschium all over the periodic tables of the world.

I would gut you for that chance.

You think I'm joking?

Watch the Diesel effect in ballistic gelatin

I've never heard of hackaday.com, but their video showing the explosion of vaporized ballistics gelatin heated up due to the Diesel effect is pretty awesome.

There's full detail below (taken from their article), but the basics is that a bullet vaporizes some of the gel (made of combustable material). That gas expands then quickly collapses. As the volume of a gas decreases rapidly, the pressure increases. As the pressure increases, the temperature rises drastically...resulting in the above ballistic fart.

Ballistic gel is a broad term referring to a large chunk of dense gel generally used in firearms-related testing to reliably and consistently measure things like bullet deformation, fragmentation, and impact. It’s tough, elastic, and in many ways resembles a gigantic gummi bear. Fans of Mythbusters (or certain DIY railguns) will recognize the stuff. Water-based blocks made with natural gelatin can be easily made at home, but end up with a yellow-brown color and have a limited shelf life due to evaporation. Clear blocks exist that are oil-based and don’t dry out like the water-based ones. It’s one of these that is in the embedded animation [above].

Slow motion video capture is a natural companion to just about anything that you’d need ballistic gel for, and good thing — because the video captured what appears to be a diesel effect! The block is hit with a bullet, and as the bullet rapidly expands and dumps its energy into the gel, a cavity expands rapidly. During this process, some of the (oil-based) material in the cavity has been vaporized. After the expanded bullet exits (to the right of the gif above but easier to see in the video below), the cavity in the block begins to collapse. The resulting pressure increase appears to ignite the vaporized material, which explodes with a flash followed by some exhaust.

How cool is that?

Periodic graphics: the compositions of US coins

Thanks, Compound Interest.

And thanks, ACS for working with Andy Brunning (of the aforementioned Compound Interest) to produce this great, visual guide to the metals in US coinage.

That non-pure copper penny can make for some great lab experiments.

Then again, so can the pure copper.

Fluorescence is awesome (here is how it works)

Fluorescence is absolutely awesome.

The science behind it is very cool, absorbing UV light, exciting electrons, and releasing some of that energy as visible light.

Be careful, though, of the statement at 1:38, "this means that the objects are giving back more energy than they receive from the visible light source which explains their gleaming vibrancy under UV."

That statement is correct but sounds impossible at first. The statement says that the energy in the visible light range that they're giving off is more than the energy in the visible light range that they're absorbing. That sounds impossible until you understand that they are absorbing extra energy in the UV range that they're turning into visible light.

Here's a fun way to take advantage of fluorescence.

Pee a Rainbow: Scientist Snaps Shot of Colorful Urine

I apologize in advance, but urine for a treat today.

An article at LiveScience shows the above rainbow of urine colors collected in a week at Tacoma General Hospital in Tacoma, WA.

Thankfully, there's also an explanation of what can change the urine that color.

Next up, a poop rainbow.

Coating to make soap pour cleanly out of plastic bottles, reduce waste and frustration

Anything that makes recylcing easier is to be lauded.

In this article from phys.org, Ohio State researchers found a way to spray coat polypropylene and polycarbonate with

a small amount of solvent and ultra-fine silica nanoparticles onto the inside of bottles. Manufacturers already use solvents to change the texture of molded plastics, because they cause the surface of the plastic to soften a little. By mixing the silica and solvent, the researchers were able to soften the surface of the polypropylene just enough that when the plastic re-hardened, the silica would be embedded in the surface. 

The structures are only a few micrometers—millionths of a meter—high, and covered in even smaller branchlike projections. They look like shaggy heart-shaped pillows, but they're hard as glass. 

They don't cover the inside of the bottle completely, either, but instead are planted a few micrometers apart. The main branches of the "y" overhang the plastic surface at an angle less than 90 degrees—steep enough that water, oils and even surfactant can't physically sustain a droplet shape that would fall in between the branches and touch the plastic. 

"You end up with air pockets underneath, and that's what gives you liquid repellency," Brown said.  

Instead of spreading out on the surface, the soap droplets form beads and roll right off.

Gïk Live! - ¿Cómo se produce el vino azul?

I was reading Uproxx, as I am wont to do, and came upon an article about blue wine. In the article was the following sentence...

To get its distinctive color (self described as “Indigo Blue, WTF.”) the folks at Gik blend red grapes, white grapes, and chemistry.

Well, if they've included chemistry, then it has to be good.

I went hunting a little bit and am pretty sure that they're using the basics of anthocyanins to adjust the color of the wine. All they would have to do is take the pH of the wine from something in the 4-6 range to something in the 7-8 range. Wouldn't be all that tough, I would think.

Luckily one of their own videos says as much...



Aren't pH indicators great?

Gïk Live! - ¿Cómo se produce el vino azul?

I was reading Uproxx, as I am wont to do, and came upon an article about blue wine. In the article was the following sentence...

To get its distinctive color (self described as “Indigo Blue, WTF.”) the folks at Gik blend red grapes, white grapes, and chemistry.

Well, if they've included chemistry, then it has to be good.

I went hunting a little bit and am pretty sure that they're using the basics of anthocyanins to adjust the color of the wine. All they would have to do is take the pH of the wine from something in the 4-6 range to something in the 7-8 range. Wouldn't be all that tough, I would think.

Luckily one of their own videos says as much...


Aren't pH indicators great?

Dogs Teaching Chemistry

How frickin' cute is that, huh?

I know the dogs aren't exactly staying in place for the entire video. The cuts aren't all that smooth.

Still, though, the dogs are so marvelously well trained - holding the ball and rope evenly, unevenly, tugging on command. It's brilliant.

Let's see if the dogs know about atoms.



Huh, apparently they do.

HOLDING AN EXPLOSION at 20,000 fps - Smarter Every Day 156

That's brilliant.

The explosion there is wonderful and marvelous to watch. Gorgeous stuff, there.

Seriously, the explanation of the combustion and the slow-motion imagery is spectacular.

In the daytime, it's a little less thrilling.

See, because oxidizing..

Totally true unless your car is made out of iridium.

Source - XKCD

Trader Joe's Alkaline Water

So, Trader Joe's is selling alkaline water.

You know, just in case you need that stuff.

I happened to be over at the TJ's recently and took a photo of the back of the bottle to see what ingredients were that made it alkaline.

Potassium carbonate, potassium bicarbonate, and magnesium sulfate...simple enough then.

In AP chemistry we discuss the pH of salt solutions, and the first two of those salts are pretty straight forward.

K⁺¹ + H₂O --> KOH + OH^-1

Not gonna happen because that would involve the creation of a strong base solution (KOH) something that isn't feasible.

The anions, however, do react with the water to form alkaline (basic) solutions.

CO₃^-2 + H₂O <--> HCO₃^-1 + OH^-1

HCO₃^-1 + H₂O <--> H₂CO₃ + OH^-1

They would, indeed, make alkaline solutions because they're remaking weak acids.

The third salt, magnesium sulfate, is a little more complicated as both ions form weak acid/base solutions. There the K_a and K_b values have to be considered.

Mg⁺² + 2 H₂O <--> Mg(OH)₂ + 2 H⁺¹

SO₄^-2 + H₂O <--> HSO₄^-1 + OH^-1

The water, then, is definitely alkaline/basic. Is there, however, any advantage to drinking alkaline water? That's a different question entirely.

At this point, I'm certainly skeptical on the values of drinking alkaline water based on my brief bit of research. The folks who promote alkaline water seem to fit a lot of characteristics of snake oil salesmen.

I will be using the alkaline water in AP chemistry next year, however, and asking the students to explain the pH effects of the dissolved salts.

Wear your safety goggles, folks

We don't use a lot of angle grinders in high school science, but we certainly do teach a lot of - hopefully - good safety habits.

There are actual reasons why directives are made to wear your safety goggles, folks.

My source...original post...

Dave needs a dermatologist

That's a bad skin condition that Dave has there. He's all tessellated and rainbow-hued.

Of course, he's made of fifty-nine different elements, so that may not be entirely healthy for him.

You can check out the data on the website referenced at the bottom of the image, but that's way more boring than the graphic guy up above.

Will you be here tomorrow?

Wear your goggles, folks.

In fact, after watching this, I'm thinking you probably should wear your goggles all the time, not just when doing a lab experiment.

How to make rich, flavorful caramel without melting sugar

I'd always thought of caramel as being produced when sugar melted. I figured it had something to do with the Maillard reactions - though that needs proteins and sugars reacting together.

Turns out that caramelization is based on thermal decomposition which is - to quote Serious Eats...

...on the other hand, is a chemical reaction that breaks down molecular bonds to produce new substances. While it's not a perfect analogy, imagine a pile of grass clippings releasing carbon dioxide as it turns to mulch in the sun—an irreversible process with variable results (i.e., no two handfuls of mulch are exactly alike, or composted to the same degree). Instead of occurring at a specific point, thermal decomposition occurs over a range of temperatures determined by the intensity and duration of heat.

That doesn't call for any melting at all. All you have to do is heat the sucrose up high enough that it starts to decompose into other compounds.

In fact, caramel is so unlike sucrose, C12H22O11, that its nature can't be expressed by a single chemical formula. Instead, it's a mixture of caramelan (C15H18O9), caramelane (C12H9O9), caramelen (C36H48O24), caramelene (C36H25O25), caramelin (C24H26O13), and over a thousand other compounds "whose names," one scholar lamented in 1894, "science seems to have invented in a fit of despair."

In fact...

Despite a modest progression of color, the sugar goes through extreme changes in flavor every step of the way. With only one hour of toasting, it mellows with a complexity totally unlike plain sugar. After another hour, it's evocative of caramel the same way unrefined sugar hints of molasses, surely but subtly.

Within three hours, thermal decomposition liberates enough water that the sugar begins to clump as stronger caramel notes develop, changes that intensify into hour four. At five hours, the clumping effect makes granulated caramel visually identical to light brown sugar, but with a unique flavor of its own. Though undeniably caramel, it lacks the bitter notes synonymous with high-heat techniques, giving it a lighter profile. Beyond that point, thermal decomposition will finally liquefy the sugar.

Check out the full recipe and science over at Serious Eats.

Slow Mo Rainbow Flame - 4K - The Slow Mo Guys

Fire in slow motion - I'll watch that pretty much any day of the week.

In this video, the Slow Mo Guys - Gav and Dan - take tiki fuel with some additives meant to change the color of the flames and they burn it in the dark while filming it in slow motion.

Turns out that tiki fuel is made of napthas and burns much more cleanly than does kerosene - which I pretty much thought it was. Who knew?

Science: A Closer Look at Gluten

That final image, the balloon of bread gluten is so gross.

I know a heck of a lot more about gluten than I ever knew before, though. Very cool...

Oh, and all that stuff about gluten in This is the End is wrong. I would link to the scene, but it's full of school-inappropriate language.

Acid-base indicator charts

Thought I'd take a moment and collect some of the best acid-base indicator color charts

This one, from Flinn Scientific, is a poster that they sell. It suggests that the indicators have very distinct color changes rather than fading one color into the other - something that isn't quite perfectly true.

chemed 2013 diy chemistry

There is just so much in this Prezi. Cool chemistry abounds.

Heck, I'm willing to set aside my utter and total distaste for Prezis. It's that cool.

Let's start with the key chains. Cutting of the top off of the 2L bottles seems easy enough. Then there's heating and reshaping the bottle tops with - I assume - boiling water and pliers.It seems a lot like the toothbrush bracelet project over on the MatSciWit blog. Could be fun to play around with.

Next up is the amateur inflation of preforms. I've done that using a process developed by Summit Country Day's Ed Escudaro. It takes a 2L cap fitted with a bicycle tire valve stem, a tire pump, and a source of heat. Ed's method uses an MRE heater wrapped around the preform and held in place with rubber bands.

Carving a can s pretty straight forward. I think they're using acid to get rid of the exposed aluminum. That's not too far removed from something we do in the material science course.

The hydrophobic toys are really cool. That looks like something we could certainly make in the classroom. The use of soot as a hydrophobic coating is fascinating, and I love the idea of using it to guide the water drop along.

The PET bottle molecules, though, is the project that I desperately want to try. Those huge molecular models look outstanding, and I'm thinking that the project doesn't look all that difficult to make. Yes, getting the angles correct is going to be a little tough as is getting my hands on a pop rivet tool, but I'm guessing both of those are achievable hurdles.

I just wish each project came with a little more explanation of what's going on. There is an associated pdf, but not nearly everything is on there, and I can find a video of him performing the bottle top/keychain experiment.

SuperHydroPhobic NanoTechnology Coating Chemical Manufacturer by Printing Paris Barcelona

The first minute or so of the above video isn't anything special. We get views of magic sand being played with under water, chocolate syrup rolling off of a pristine shoe, a cell phone being lowered under water, and a really useless kleenex.

After that, though, there's a nice animation of industrial coating of a cellphone with superhydrophobic material using a plasma at low pressures. Well worth a watch.

Hydrophobic water?

Sure, because I have a whole bunch of aerogel just lying around doing nothing. I'm just going to smear it around on paper so I can see what colored water will do.

Honestly, though, I'm curious whether HDPE powder will have similar effects. The water drops rolling next to each other in the videos down below seem to look about the same. Check out the various videos from InnovativeMaterials.

The sight of water drops nearly invisibly coated so that they won't do what water droplets do - glom together and form a single, larger, uber-drop Katamari-style - is a little creepy, though.

Color magic barbie

It's weird how frequently interesting chemistry can be found when you're open to finding it in the wild. Take, for example, this post from Katydid, a former student of mine. The color-changing nature immediately made me think of acid-base indicators, and the note toward the end of the ad copy, "make new solutions with vinegar or baking soda" pretty well locked down my assumptions.

I'm not sure what non-toxic, color-safe indicators are being used (pink to yellow, blue to pink, other color combos), but I'm feeling safe with my indicator assumption.

Litvinenko poisoning: polonium explained

It's not necessarily a happy thing that we often use interesting deaths as scientific opportunities to learn about the human body, but it's true.

Alexander Litvinenko's death due to polonium-210 taught scientists about death due to alpha radiation poisoning. Luckily, Litvinenko, a former agent for the Russian and Soviet spy agencies, was dosed - twice, it seems - with polonium-210. After the second dosing, Litvinenko died three weeks to the day after his ingestion of the polonium-210 on November 1, 2006.

The science of how we found out it was polonium-210 and of what happened to Litvinenko are fascination.

Melting Styrofoam with Acetone

What did that smiley face ever do to deserve that kind of treatment?

From about.com

Styrofoam is made up of polystyrene foam. When the polystyrene dissolves in the acetone, the air in the foam is released, causing it to look like you're dissolving this massive quantity of material into a small volume of liquid. You can see a less-dramatic version of the same effect by dissolving other polystyrene items in acetone.

...and a similar explanation but with nicer molecular structures drawn out.

So, if you missed it, here's the deal. Polystyrene foam is a solid with a while bunch of air surrounded by 'bubbles' of polystyrene. Think of a pile of soap bubbles.

The acetone breaks each of those bubbles as the polystyrene dissolves into the liquid. Effectively, the acetone 'pops' those bubbles. The gas inside - mostly air - goes away (you can see bubbles at the surface of the acetone in the above video. The polystyrene is still there - just like the bubble solution is there even after the bubbles pop. It's just the air inside the polystyrene bubbles (like soap bubbles when they pop) that is gone.

Still, though, it looks like magic.

Astronomy Picture of the Day - Where your elements come from

I've posted about "The Most Astounding Fact" before, and this comes back to that.

Everything - and I mean everything - was made in a star somewhere. Every atom in you. Every atom in your cheeseburger. Every atom in the tofu that makes up your fake cheeseburger.

We are stardust. We are golden.

Source - NASA

Periodic table webcomics

I have seen all of these. Feel free to send me any more that aren't there.

Blame Zach Weiner(smith)

Today's comic comes to you from Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal's very own Zach Weiner(smith). Blame him if you need to.

In all honesty, though, there are lots of examples of 'rocks' that would get spontaneously warmer than the surroundings via chemical reactions. Yeah, if there's not a chemical reaction involved (or radioactive decay, I guess,) then sure the 'Jesus' character is violating one of the major principles of thermodynamics.

The science behind the mesmerizing color-changing tea

Behold: The *magic,* color-changing tea you absolutely need to try. Read about it in our profile link.

A video posted by bonappetitmag (@bonappetitmag) on Jan 31, 2016 at 8:50am PST

There's magic in them thar tea leaves.

Actually, there's probably anthocyanin.

The video up there comes from a Bon Appetit post about butterfly pea flower tea and the cocktails made from it. The article doesn't go into the science because it's a cooking mag after all.

The science, however, is pretty frickin' fascinating. Anthocyanins can hit a half dozen different colors - red, yellow, green, blue, pink, purple - depending on the pH of the solution.

Ekspolsiv trappevask (explosive stair)

Ikke gjør dette hjemme

With a name like that - loosely translated as "Don't Try This At Home" or "Never Do This At Home" - a show is allowed to take a few liberties.

In this clip, the hosts have found a creative way to clean the stairwell quickly. They combine hydrogen peroxide (assumedly 30%) with potassium iodide (a catalyst promoting the quick decomposition into water and oxygen gas) in a soapy solution. To that they add a bit of (as seen in the original video - skip to about 24:25) n-heptane (though the translated captions call it 'gasoline') making for an explosive, highly theoretical dry finish to the 'clean-up.'

I'm thinking that the process goes about as well as they had expected it to.

For bonuses, I'll embed a video of the same folks showing how quickly an improperly-handled grease fire can get out of hand.

Liquid Ping Pong in Space

Worst ping pong game...ever...

Then again, it's in space, so that makes it pretty much the best ping pong game ever.

There's a whole bunch of science in there, what with water being held together with hydrogen bonds, dipole dipole forces, and London dispersion forces that are surprisingly strong considering the size of the molecules.

Plus there's a whole bunch of science in there because they managed to get the water into space.

Dust explosions

This is demonstration that I've done in class dozens of times. It's great because it's hugely impressive - fireballs and all that - but actually involves pretty low risk if you know what you're doing.

The lycopodium powder is flammable, but in piles it's very tough to catch on fire. There's just not enough oxygen to get to each of the tiny grains of powder.

When the same powder, however, is suspended in the air, the oxygen can very quickly get to each of the grains, resulting in an instant and thorough reaction.

Good stuff - and highly relevant when you see stuff like the video at the bottom, of a grain elevator explosion in Evendale, OH, about three miles from my school.

Powdered Sugar Birthday Cake Bursts Into Flames

Powdered sugar pretty innocuous.

In fact, a pile of powdered sugar is barely flammable at all. Those candles there could probably be upturned into the surface of the cake with almost no risk of danger to anybody around.

Then comes the dispersal.

See, mom didn't think about the fact that taking that same powdered sugar and dispersing it - increasing its surface area, mixing it far more thoroughly with the oxygen in the air - would turn an non-combustable material into a potential fireball.

It's kind of like the lycopodium powder fireball.

"Elements" - Radiolab

Radiolab is an NPR show with an odd pacing, and that's saying something when I - a confirmed fan of This American Life - say that it's got an odd pacing.

Each week they tell three or so stories with a unifying theme. In this episode, the theme is the elements. There's a series of element poems, a story about lithium and its effect on the brain, a quick interview with Derek Mueller about the origin of the elements (along the line of the most astounding fact), an interesting use of carbon, and the search for subatomic particles.

The ties aren't as perfectly scientific, but they're exploring some interesting aspects of compounds, so I'll recommend it.

There's also the shorter Radiolab excerpt about Mendeleev's periodic table of the elements and Oliver Sacks's collection.

Metallium - Element Coin Series

I do not need to start collecting something else.

Thought the idea of a chemistry teacher collecting coins made of the various elements is pretty on the nose.

About sixty elements are readily - if not necessarily cheaply - available.

Color Changing Hair

There's nothing magic there in the 'color changing' hair.

It's effectively the same effect that we see in most paint stores. In the area where they have their various paint strips, letting you explore the vast rainbow of color options, there is usually a pair of dimmer sliders. One slider controls a fluorescent light, and the other controls a 'natural' light source.

For most colors, the differences in appearance between the two lights is fairly minimal. Most fluorescent lights - particularly older, long tube ballasts - produce a limited spectrum of colors whereas more 'natural' light sources (most incandescent lights and newer, better LED lights) produce a more even spectrum providing each color of light fairly evenly.

Some colors - particularly those in the blue ranges -render very differently in the two different light sources. That's why paint stores provide both light sources, so you can see what the paint will look like in an office with fluorescent lights or outside under the sunlight. For most colors, the difference is minimal, but some show significant differences.

Apparently the dye that this woman has used to color her hair is such a combination of colors.

This video shows a decent comparison of the spectra, but I've struggled to find anything showing a paint under the different qualities of light.

The most dangerous foods in the world

There certainly are some foods that you really should steer clear of.

Admittedly, I've only tried two of the 'magic' twenty-one up there: hot dogs and red kidney beans.

I've slowly been building up an immunity to both of those, and I've been wise enough to steer clear of fugu.

Fun with burning methane on a lake First Experiment

I cannot in any good conscience endorse what this dude is doing.

First off, it looks like he's pretty close to losing his eyebrows in a couple of those 'first experiments.' Secondly, the ice can't be all that thick if he's able to crack through it with the point of his knife.

Then again, I've never been in a climate where the lakes freeze that thoroughly or where those frozen lakes have bacteria pooping out methane after dining on the organic matter under the ice.

Maybe the guy knows just how thick the ice needs to be and is.

Maybe he knows he's quick enough to get out of the way of a particularly large and highly pressurized gas bubble.

Maybe...

Or maybe we'll get a different video posted when his camera gets fished out of his watery, icy grave.



If you are interested in going methane hunting, check out this ebook first.

source - Emmanuel Coupe