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A Series of Early Chemistry Experiments and Demonstrations for New Science Teachers

The International Year of Chemistry 2011 (IYC 2011) is a worldwide celebration of the achievements of chemistry and its contributions to the well-being of humankind.

IYC2011 presents a good occasion for new teachers of young science students to offer hands-on science experiments and chemical demonstrations. Offered here are a series of short video segments illustrating how to safely and inexpensively conduct elementary and middle level chemistry lessons using common materials.

Our interest in producing these segments is to encourage teachers to develop hands on chemistry lessons for younger science students, and to help them do it safely and with a clear understanding of the chemistry involved. Thanks for your participation!

Gallium Plating - Part 1

Celebrating the international year of Chemistry we're taking a look at Gallium and a simple way to demonstrate phase change.

We're going to mirror plate a bottle from a small amount of slightly heated Gallium pellets.

Items you'll need:

Gallium Pellets
Heated Water
Small Bottle or Jar

Gallium Plating - Part 2

Adding heat energy changes the phase of the solid Gallium to a liquid. Spinning the bottle plates the inside of the glass, spreading in a thin coat.

Items you'll need:

Gallium Pellets
Heated Water
Small Bottle or Jar

Recycled Paper

This is a classic and simple lesson illustrating in a hands-on and clear way one mechanism for the recycling of paper products.

Recycled Paper - Part 2

A continuation of our recycled paper demonstration.

Copper Ions in Solution

Items you'll need:

Box of nails
Acetic acid (vinegar)
Pennies (older than 1981)
Superfine steel wool
Beaker
Glass stirring rod

Composition of an Orange

Experiment with metric mass and density. How much of this Orange is made up of water? Items you'll need:

An Orange
Small Kitchen Scale

Dissolving Plastic

Let's take a look at how a non-chemical reaction dissolves waste materials and think about how we could avoid waste.

Items you'll need:

Acetone
Beaker
Packing Pellets

"Green" Plastic

Break down packing pellets and show kids the advantage of milk-based vs. polyvinyl alcohol vs. poly styrene.

Items you'll need:

Packing Pellets
Glass Beaker

Chromatography with Leaves

In this segment we take the chemicals out of a leaf that help the plant carry out photosynthesis. This experiment is a good one because it shows kids that there is more than one type of chlorophyll in most species, and that we can separate them.

Inert Atmospheres: Chromatography part 2

Here we stabilize the biological pigments from reacting further by creating an inert atmosphere. We replace the oxygen-containing air with a nitrogen atmosphere.

Cross Linked Slime

Adding sodium tetraborate solution to your dissolved polyvinyl alcohol bags (like we made in our segment titled “Slime”) will cross link the polymers, producing an amorphous final product that can be trained to climb down a windowpane through the effects of gravity and surface tension.

Cross Linked Polymers!

In this segment we finish preparing our "Silly Putty" from Glue and Borax.

Mix It Up! Cross Linking Polymers

Of all the iterations we see of science lessons preparing “Silly Putty” from borax and glue, we’d like to see students looking carefully at each aspect of this classic chemical reaction, including the solution chemistry and the simple math involved preparing each reactant.

The "Usborne Illustrated Dictionaries"

Safety Items

Lab Safety is always important in all experiment lessons. Items you'll need:

Goggles
Heat Resistant Gloves
Fire Extinguisher
Latex Gloves
Rubber Tubes
Safety Manuals

Alien Egg - part 1

This is the first of our experiments called "The Alien Egg". In these experiments we dissolve the shell of an egg and then submerge the egg in solutions of different solutes, with different concentrations. The membrane of the egg remains intact, resulting in the egg expanding or contracting as water enters or escapes. While not really an "alien egg", it looks like one and kids enjoy this experiment a lot.

Alien Egg - part 2

Part 2 of the Alien Egg experiment.

Alien Egg - part 3

Part 3 of the Alien Egg experiment.

Alien Egg - part 4

Part 4 of the Alien Egg experiment.

Flame Testing Liberated Oxygen

Carbon Dioxide Source

A water seltzer or bicycle pump with a carbon dioxide cylinder inside is a great source of pressurized carbon dioxide that can be used to demonstrate countless different ideas.

Flame Testing Liberated Oxygen - Extension 1

Flame Testing Liberated Oxygen - Extension 2

Pyrolysis: Sugar on Fire!

Heating our sugar cubes to 186 degrees Celsius with our butane torch leads to a chemical reaction called pyrolysis and the formation of caramel, carbon dioxide and water, which we see as a pale brown steaming syrup with a familiar, pleasant nutty odor.

Copper Zinc Reaction - part 1

This experiment involving copper sulfate and mossy zinc is a very visual demonstration of a chemical reaction. It can be used to teach about redox chemistry in a qualitative or quantitative way. If you monitor the reaction over a period of about 24 hours, you will also see a dramatic color change and change in temperature
Items you'll need:

Bubble tubes (Click to buy)
Stopwatch
Unknown liquid of your choice

Copper Zinc Reaction - part 2

We return to our chemical reaction one day later.
Items you'll need:

Copper Sulfate
Mossy Zinc
Granulated Zinc

Budget Bunsen Burner

If you are designing a school science lab, you may elect to work with a class set of mounted butane torches or some commercial butane burner and eliminate the expense installing, maintaining and securing gas lines. These options offer a safe, much less expensive source of concentrated heat.

Bending Glass

Using the butane torch we recommended earlier, you can make your own custom-made glassware for experiments like fractional distillation.

Hydrogen Flame Test

This is a classic kitchen chemistry experiment involving the liberation of hydrogen gas.

Layers of Gases

You can teach your students about the density of different gases - carbon dioxide and air - by showing them how bubbles levitate on top of a layer of carbon dioxide. This is a gorgeous experiment and the materials are simple and cheap.

Carbon Dioxide Race

If your students are studying the chemical properties of gases as part of a greater study of matter, elements, compounds and their chemical properties, you can easily show the ability of carbon dioxide to extinguish a flame.

"700 Science Experiments for Everyone"and "Chemistry"

What's So Green About...?

If you're running an environmental science club or activity or if you have a green initiative in your school, you can ask your kids to look at principles of green engineering and do some experiments involving environmental science
Items you'll need:

"Green" items (e.g. recycled computer boards, bamboo materials)