Energy Of Candy M&Ms vs. Gummi Bears
This demonstration will open your eyes to the amount of energy stored in these little candies. | Magnesium and Dry Ice Halloween 2007. Has it been a year already? Well it is time for my Halloween demos. Thanks to Metacafe, this years Halloween show will have 250 pounds of dry ice for my chemistry demonstrations. This reaction is between metallic magnesium and carbon dioxide. Magnesium reacts with oxygen in the air to form magnesium oxide, but when the only source of oxygen is from CO2 the reaction becomes much more energetic. The products are white magnesium oxide and blck carbon. 2Mg + CO2--> 2MgO + C | Water Drops on a Penny- Cohesive Forces of Water (hydrogen bonding) How many drops of water can you pile on a penny? It is very impressive. Can you do better? This experiment demonstrates the cohesive forces of water also known as Hydrogen Bonds. These forces are responsible for water forming droplets instead of spreading out. |
Shivering Quarters in Dry IceWhen a quarter in pushed into dry ice, a strange thing happens. The quarter starts to quiver. It is a normal room temperature quarter. I did nothing to the quarter. This is not a trick but really happens. Can you explain this phenomenon? | The Dancing Penny A science experiment that everyone can do. Take a wet penny and place it on top of a glass bottle. Hold the bottle with your hand and watch the penny dance. The heat from your hand cause the air to expand inside the bottle and the penny bounces around. | Muscle Wire (Nitinol) Electrocuted Sometimes called the Smart Alloy, Muscle Wire or Memory Metal, is an alloy that "remembers" it shape. You can reshape the wire, but when heated it returns to the preset shape. Ever wonder how someone bends a spoon with their mind? Same metal. |
Dehyradration of Sugar
Sugar (a carbohydrate) is dehydrated with concentrated sulfuric acid. Since a carbohydrate was once considered just hydrated carbon, if you remove the water, carbon would be left over. The acid rips the water out of the sugar and the heat generated by this reaction causes the water to turn to steam. A black mass of carbon is produced. | Ion Flame TestThe flame test is used to visually determine the identity of an unknown metal of an ionic salt based on the characteristic color the salt turns the flame of a Bunsen burner. | Discrepant Event-The Rattleback A rattleback, also known as an "anagyre", "celt", "Celtic stone", "rattlerock", "spin bar", "wobble stone" or "wobblestone" and by the product names "ARK," "Bizzaro Swirls," "RATTLEBACKS," "Space Pet" and "Space Toy," is a semi-ellipsoidal top which will spin on its axis in a preferred direction. But, if spun in the opposite direction, it becomes unstable, "rattles", stops and reverses its spin to the preferred direction. This spin-reversal motion seems, at first sight, to violate the angular-momentum conservation law of physics. Moreover, for most rattlebacks, the motion will happen when the rattleback is spun in one direction, but not when spun in the other. These two peculiarities make the rattleback a physical curiosity that has excited human imagination since prehistorical times. |
