Science Experiments

How To: Make This Amazing 9-Layer Density Tower from Things Found in Your Kitchen

Ralph Waldo Emerson once observed that "the seed of science" was "wonder," and taking a look at this nine-layer liquid tower from Steve Spangler's Sick Science! channel, one can't help but do just that — wonder. How is this possible? Is this magic or what?

How To: Perform various candle tricks based on scientific techniques

Here are some simple and fun tricks you can do at home with candles to astound and impress your friends and family. Create an extinguisher using baking soda and vinegar, use smoke to relight a candle and create a vacuum using a candle.

How To: Make burning soap bubbles

Learn how to make bubbles burn in this science video tutorial. You will see exactly how to make burning bubbles, with aerosol spray deodorant, a bowl of water, and liquid soap. It's a pretty simple experiment -- you just pour some dish soap in the water, stir it, then spray the deodorant can while submerged in water. The final step is lighting the burning bubbles on fire. Yeah!

How To: Get lithium metal from an Energizer battery

Watch this science video tutorial from Nurd Rage on how to get lithium metal from an Energizer battery. They show you how to get Lithium Metal from an Energizer Ultimate Lithium battery.

How To: The Best Investigatory Projects in Science: 16 Fun & Easy Ideas to Kickstart Your Project

Most of us have conducted an investigatory science project without even knowing it, or at least without knowing that's what it was called. Most science experiments performed, from elementary to high school students and all the way up to professional scientists, are investigatory projects.

How To: Make Soap Out of Guava Leaf Extract for a Science Investigatory Project

Unless you're a high-schooler building a nuclear fusion reactor, the hardest part of a science investigatory project often is coming up with a good idea. You want it to be cool yet feasible, novel but still useful.

How To: Extract DNA from a Strawberry with Basic Kitchen Items

We all know that DNA is pretty amazing, but it's not something that most of us get much hands-on experience with. Even though it's in every living thing around us, we never see it, so we rarely think about it either.

How To: Measure the volume of a balloon

Here we will demonstrate how to measure the volume of a balloon. A balloon is not a straight edged polygon shape, usually, so the mathematical equations get that much harder, on the flip side, it may be a spherical or ovalish shape, but measurements with math alone are detrimental due to the uneven sizes of the balloon. Here is how to do it properly. You will need a bucket, preferably, to hold water, a larger container than your original bucket, and a measuring container. Place the bucket ins...

How To: Make a chemiluminescent reaction with home chemicals

Watch this science video tutorial from Nurd Rage on how to make a chemiluminescent reaction with home chemicals. Make a chemiluminescent singlet oxygen red light pulse from two simple chemicals almost anyone can buy: pool chlorine and hydrogen peroxide.

How To: Make DIY Nitrogen Triiodide from ammonia & water purification iodine crystals

Nitrogen Triiodide is a very powerful contact explosive, but like most fun chemicals is not readily available to the general public cheaply. If you want some and have some chemistry skills, watch this video to learn how to make Nitrogen Triiodide at home out of household ammonia and water purification iodine crystals.

How To: Make Ammonium Nitrate with NaHSO4 and Nitrate Salt

OK, so you don't necessarily have to make ammonium nitrate to have ammonium nitrate — ammonium nitrate can simply be obtained from fertilizers and instant cold packs. Making homemade NH4NO3 can be much more expensive then buying it, but this method is not meant to be a viable route, it's an exploration of science and chemistry.

How To: There's Metal Hiding in Your Pepto-Bismol and Here's How You Extract It

Got an upset stomach or a little heartburn? America's favorite pink pill will cure it right up. But did you know that there's actually metal hiding in those chewable Pepto-Bismol tablets? Yes, metal. Technically, it's a poor metal, but metal's metal, right? Well, we do tend to eat a lot of iron in our diets, because it carries oxygen throughout our bodies, so consuming metallic minerals isn't anything abnormal. But you'd never think that Pepto-Bismol is actually made up of metal.

How To: Create napalm

This video illustrates how to make napalm. You will need a petri dish, gasoline, and styrofoam to create napalm. Combining the styrofoam and gasoline in a petri dish you allow the styrofoam to dissolve and become a semi-solid substance. It will have the consistency of chewing gum and it will be highly flammable. This substance will be sticky and if lit it should be lit outside and at a distance from anyone as it will produce a gas that is toxic.

How To: Make a Paper Plate Speaker That Actually Works for Under $1

Back in 2007, YouTube user HouseholdHacker posted a parody video on how to make a high-def speaker for under a buck. MythBusters took on the challenge and busted it.

News: Vortex Cannon Demolishes House

Jem Stansfield from BBC's Bang Goes the Theory has "put scientific theory to the test" with his Vortex Cannon. Filmed at 1300-fps, you can see the cannon knock down three different houses made of straw, stick, and brick with an explosive vortex ring.

News: What Happens When You Mix Coca Cola and Milk

Interesting reaction coke and milk The reaction of phosphoric acid (V) to proteins in the milk - they are cut and causes a precipitate

How To: Make Water Freeze into Ice Instantaneously

Have you ever seen water freeze instantly? This "Quick Clip" shows some of my personal experiences with making instant ice using a bottle of water supercooled in a freezer.

How To: Make a Monster Dry Ice Bubble

Sure it's been done before, but it never gets old. There's something magical about dry ice, bubbles, and especially the result you see when they're combined!

How To: Make boric acid from borax

This is a video tutorial in the Education category where you are going to learn how to make boric acid from borax. For this experiment you will need borax (disodium tetra borate) and conc. hydrochloric acid. Take 25 ml of hydrochloric acid and dilute it with 75 ml of water. Next take 6 - 7 gms of borax and dissolve it in boiling water. Now add equal amount of hydrochloric acid. Crystals of boric acid will start forming. They are completely insoluble in cold water. After about half an hour, fi...

How To: Determine the empirical and molecular formulas for a compound in chemistry

In this free video science lesson from Internet pedagogical superstar Salman Khan, you'll learn how to determine the empircal and molecular formulas of a substance given percent composition. Whether you need help studying for that next big test or could just use a hand finishing your homework, you're sure to be well served by this video lesson. For more information, including detailed, step-by-step instructions, take a look.

How To: Make nitrogen triiodide

Learn how to make nitrogen triiodide (NI3), the main ingredient of the small, paper-covered parcels that you throw at the ground to make a snapping noise, with household chemicals and items. This chemical is very unstable, so please exercise caution.

How To: Observe the Full Moons in 2011 (Lunar Calendar)

When's the next full moon? Every time I've looked at the moon, I've wondered if it was full. Sometimes it looked like it was, but it's really hard to tell for sure unless you know the exact date of the full moon. Seriously, there's at a couple days before and after the full moon that could easily pass as full. At least, to someone like me who isn't naturally in tune with the moon's cycle (and doesn't have perfect vision).

How To: Make chlorine gas with pool chlorine and hydrochloric acid

Chlorine gas is a very useful oxidant, which was first introduced as a toxic weapon by the German Army. Even today, it's still used as a weapon, most recently in the Iraq War by insurgents. But chlorine gas has more useful (and less lethal) applications, and if you want to learn how to make some at home, NurdRage has the answers.

How To: Make hydrochloric acid from sodium bisulfate and table salt

In this home-science tutorial from WonderHowTo favorite Nurdrage, you'll learn how to create hydrochloric acid using 140 grams of sodium bisulfate, a pH lowering compound available in most pool stores, and 60 grams of sodium chloride salt and an external heat source. Watch for a full demonstration of the process and complete, step-by-step instructions.

How To: Make "Hot Ice" with Sodium Acetate Crystals

If you've ever used a heating pad or hand warmer, you essentially know what "hot ice" is. It's supersaturated sodium acetate, and it's actually fairly easy to make at home out of sodium acetate crystals. You can also make it out of vinegar and baking soda (directions at the bottom of this article).

How To: Make iodine from hydrochloric acid and H2O2

Watch this science video tutorial from Nurd Rage on how to make iodine from an alkali metal iodide, hydrochloric acid (HCI), and hydroxide peroxide (H2O2).

How To: Dissect a chicken for an anatomical look

Failed out of veterinarian school? No problem, just watch this video tutorial on dissecting a chicken (avian) to get you back on your feet. This demonstration and lecture of is by an eminent anatomist that will show you how to do it correctly.

How To: Make elemental sulfur (sulphur)

This video tutorial is in the Education category which will show you how to make elemental sulfur (sulphur). The chemicals you need are nitric acid and sodium thiosulphate. The reaction produces toxic SO2 gas so keep it coved with a watch glass. Put 12.9 grams of sodium thiosulphate in a beaker and dissolve it in minimum amount of water. Pour about 15ml of nitric acid in to the beaker. Let it sit in a warm place for a couple of hours and the sulphur will settle at the bottom of the beaker. Th...

How To: Heavy Water & Light Ice Experiment

Heavy Water & Light Ice Experiment. What happens? Ice floating over vegetable oil but it decreases in baby oil.

Make Slime Without Borax: 5 Easy Recipes for Gooey Homemade Ooze

One of the only things I remember from watching Nickelodeon as a kid is the epic green slime. Looking back, I don't know what was so great about it, but every kid my age thought that being drenched in slime would be the coolest thing on earth.

News: This DIY Passion Fruit Battery Can Power Lasers!

It's been proven over and over that you can make batteries out of fruits and vegetables such as lemons, potatoes, and even apples. Turns out, passion fruit is also acidic enough to power a battery, but Maui Makers member Ryan K decided to take it a step further by adding a laser. Passion fruit, or Lilikoi as it's called in Hawaii, is usually over-abundant in Maui, so Ryan decided to put it to good use. Using anodized bolts, copper pipe, wire, switches, and some LEDs, he built a battery that c...

How To: Make a Film Canister Rocket

This is a fun little how-to showing what happens when you put some baking soda and vinegar in a film canistar. Shake it up and see it blast off. Keep back though, or you'll stink like your homemade rocket fuel.

How To: Make iodine easily

In this video, we learn how to make iodine easily. You will need potassium iodine and sulfuric acid to make this. First, add the acid into the potassium iodine slowly. After you add in each part, swirl the beaker slowly so it gets mixed together. After you have added in all of the potassium, you will place this into a beaker filled with ice water while you add in more, because the mixture gets really hot. When finished, you will end up with a mixture that is iodine and nothing else. Fill with...

How To: Make ammonium chloride from hydrochloric acid and ammonia

This free video science lesson from the Home Scientist demonstrates a simple technique for creating ammonium chloride from hydrochloric acid and ammonia. For all of the relevant details and detailed, step-by-step instructions, as well as to get started trying this experiment yourself, watch this home-science how-to.

How To: Draw the Lewis structure for carbon dioxide & methanol

In this Education video tutorial you are going to learn how to draw the Lewis structure for carbon dioxide & methanol. Carbon dioxide is CO2. Oxygen atoms don’t bond together. So, carbon atom has to be in the center. Oxygen has 6 valence electrons and carbon has 4. Hence, carbon wants to form 4 bonds and each oxygen atom wants to form 2 bonds. So, two each electrons of carbon will bond with 2 electrons of each oxygen atom. The Lewis structure for CO2 will be ( …. O=C=O….). The 4 dots within t...

How To: Make crystal iodine

MAKE brings the do-it-yourself mindset to all the technology in your life. Make Magazine celebrates your right to tweak, hack, and bend any technology to your own will. In this tutorial, Robert Bruce Thompson shows you how to make crystal iodine. As Thompson says in the video, crystal iodine is currently a schedule one compound, and in order to buy you have to fill out a lot of paperwork and you'll end up on a DEA list. This tutorial gets you around that, but proceed carefully.

News: Vortex Cannon Belches Jumbo Smoke Rings

What makes vortex cannons so super cool? Is it that they're the perfect blend of weaponry and science?

How To: Make glass mirrors with silver nitrate

Watch this science video tutorial from Nurd Rage on how to make a mirror silvering solution from silver nitrate, ammonia, sugar, and sodium hydroxide.

How To: Use a Desiccator in the Chemistry Lab

For your chemistry experiments, you'll eventually need to know how to use a desiccator. Well, this science tutorial, interactive animation will show you how to use a desiccator in the chemistry lab.

How To: Build a real lava lamp

This is how to make a near professional grade lava lamp. We did this as a chemistry project. We perfected it in a week. This took many hours to do, as we had to get the density just right. We remade it three times, also. At the very end, we combined all of the wax into a huge flask. And then it blew up.