Science Experiments

Question: any good ideas for the hottest Science Experiments?

i want really good ideas, i like smoke,fire,bombs,glow in the dark items, also cheap, and not fry ice water or diet coke mentos also not zinc sulfide and black light. but glowing items under black light is cool

Answer: The sugar/KNO3 smoke bomb mix works, but don’t heat it over a flame. Only heat carefully over an electric burner on low heat to reduce the chance of ignition. Stir constantly. Remove immediately if you see smoke. The saltpeter (potassium nitrate) can be purchased as stump remover from a garden store. Some pottery suppliers also stock it, and it can be found online. It usually runs about $3 to $10 a pound, so it is pretty cheap.

Another cool experiment involves hypergols – chemicals that ignite when mixed together. There are a number of good ones. The best known, and perhaps the simplest, is the reaction of potassium permanganate with glycerin. Glycerin can be bought from any drugstore, while potassium permanganate can be obtained online or from some hardware stores (it is sold as a water treatment).

Adding the potassium permanganate to concentrated sulfuric acid (sulfuric acid drain cleaner works) will create manganese heptoxide. This is an extremely unstable compound that will ignite on contact with most organic materials (ethanol especially gives a good flame). DO NOT prepare more than a few drops, and DO NOT EVER place it in glass or metal containers: it has been known to explode unexpectedly. This experiment is certainly too dangerous if you do not have experience working with chemicals.

Other reactions that are sort of hypergolic are the water activated fires. Silver nitrate mixed with magnesium or mangalium powder (the latter is an alloy of aluminum and magnesium, both metals can be obtained online from firework chemical suppliers) will give a burst of flame when a drop of water is added. Silver nitrate is pretty expensive though, so this is probably not the best option for you. Another water activated fire is made with ammonium nitrate, ammonium chloride, and zinc dust. It is called “Negative X” and instructions for making it can be found under “Chemistry Experiments” at the link below. NEVER make a water sensitive composition before you are ready to use it: the water in air can cause it to ignite spontaneously (ammonium nitrate will absorb water out of the air very quickly).

Science video #8: glowing Water