Hot Science Experiments Posts
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...
HowTo: Use Science to Decode a Credit Card's Secret Data
Tetherd Cow Ahead posts an interesting science experiment. All you really need is a little bit of iron powder and a magnet, and you can unveil the info behind the magstripe on a credit card.
How To: Use baby powder to reveal latent fingerprints
This short video shows us how to reveal latent fingerprints on a glass surface by dusting. Anyone interested in forensic science would enjoy trying it as it shows simple steps in dusting and lifting fingerprints. It does not require any chemicals and we can do it with baby powder. The steps involved are so simple and easy to follow that even kids can try it out for fun. This gives a clear idea about fingerprints on different objects like porous, non porous and metals. Enjoy viewing and detect...
How To: Make nitric acid
Watch this science video tutorial from Nurd Rage on how to make nitric acid. They show three ways to make nitric acid based on two different chemical approaches, both of which can be done using easily accessible materials.
How To: Make a simple dry ice bomb
When I was a kid, the 4th of July was my favorite holiday for one simple reason...the joy of making things go BOOM! Somewhere along the line that fun was taken away by politicians. It's time to put the fun back in celebrating freedom. From your friends at America's favorite podcast, Anarchy-X.
How To: Calculate electrical power
This video introduces the formulae for watts in an electric circuit, P=IxE, P=I^R, and P=E^/R. It also explains how P=I^R and P=E^/R are algebraically derived from P=IxE and Ohm's Law.
How To: Rip a Penny in Half
No, we're not lying. But before you try and tear a plain old penny in half, you should probably watch this video first or you may hurt your fingers. While ordinary pennies are very, very difficult to rip, if you get rid of the zinc core you are left with only the thin copper shell, which is itself very easy to tear apart.
How To: How Do You Balance 14 Nails on a Single Nailhead? Find Out with This DIY Gravity Puzzle
This little brain game is all about engineering a lower center of gravity. The idea has been around forever, but most people still don't know how to do it. Trying to stack nails above the balance point will raise the CG and make the structure unstable. Here's how you can lower the CG to make a very stable structure and impress your friends.
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: Shrink plastic with household materials
In this video, we learn how to shrink plastic with household materials. You will need: tin foil, plastic container, scissors, glove, and colored markers. To start, you will preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Then, cut a piece of the plastic out in a square shape. Next, draw whatever you want onto your piece of plastic. Make it as colorful as you would like to! When finished, put this in the oven using a glove. Make sure it's on the foil when you put it in. Then, leave it in for less than a minu...
How To: Make graphene sheets from graphite flakes and cellophane tape
Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, from the University of Manchester, have just won the Nobel Prize in physics from their work with graphene. They've found a way to isolate graphene from graphite (carbon in pencil lead) and distinguish its behavior, which holds extreme potential for future technology.
How To: Use a protractor to measure the height of any object
In this video, we learn how to use a protractor to measure the height of any object. First, attach a level to the protractor, followed by a straw at the 45 degree angle. Next, walk back form the object while looking through the straw. Keep walking back until you spot the top of the object through the straw, then measure to the base of the object. After this, you will have an isosceles triangle that has two equal sides. Use these sides to help find what the size of the object is. After this, a...
How To: Dissolve gold in aqua regia to make tetrachloroauric(III) acid (gold chloride)
Aqua regia (königswasser in German) is a very corrosive liquid made from a mixture of nitric acid and hydrochloric acid (1:2 - 1:3). This chemical mixture is so corrosive that it can even dissolve gold, and that's what you'll learn about in this video.
How To: Make glow sticks with DEP, TCPO, sodium acetate & dye
If you prefer glow sticks over candles during a power outage, then this how-to is for you! Although glow sticks are used as temporary light sources, there are other applications for them. Divers use them for night diving, fisherman use them to catch swordfish, and the military uses them for light markers, along with infrared versions used in conjunction with night vision devices. But with all these handy uses for glow sticks, the most popular is — recreational use, like dancing at raves, some...
How To: Do a yeast experiment to see how much C02 it produces
In this Education video tutorial you will learn how to do a yeast experiment to see how much C02 it produces with different types of food. Yeast is a fungus and it has to eat. After it eats, it produces CO2 gas. The bubbles in bread are produced by the CO2 gas from the yeast. Take five different types of food items and measure out the same quantity for each item. In the video it is 8gms of cookie, oil, flour, salt and sugar. Take six glasses of water and mix one packet of yeast in each glass....
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: 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: Determine the density of salt water
Everyone floats in the Dead Sea because the amount of salt in water effects the density. Do a hands-on experiment and practice checking density. Here’s a good science experiment to do in class or at home, if you have access to an electronic balance.
How To: Make MnSO4 from MNO2 (two separate ways)
What is MnSO4 and MNO2, anyway? They are they molecular formula for Manganese Sulfate and Manganese Dioxide. And you can make one from the other. But how?
How To: Do Hot Filtration & Recrystallization in the Chem Lab
Find out how everything in a chemistry lab works, from pipettes to burners to recrystallization to storage. You'll get precise instructions on how to work and perform certain scientific duties in the chem lab, whether it's chemical or just ordinary high school science.
How To: Bend a carrot
Check out this instructional science video that demonstrates how to bend a carrot. From the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry's teacher curriculum, "No Hassle Messy Science with a Wow", this is an activity using common vegetables. Learn how to bend a carrot by watching the step by step instructions outlined in this science tutorial video.
How To: Create tornado demonstrations for the classroom
Ever wondered how a tornado works? Well, wonder no longer and watch this video tutorial for teachers and students alike. You will see how to create tornado demonstrations for use in the classroom or for fun.
How To: Make green colored fire flame special effects
You've seen them at Disneyland's Fantasia. And in big budget movies like "Waterworld" and "Lord of the Rings." Spectacular, glowing fire effects that seem to ripple with the wind are a staple of action movies, and though it may seem like you need a super good video editing team to create such light shows, all you really need is some household chemicals.
How To: Sugar & Sulfuric Acid — A Cool Chemical Reaction
Sulfuric acid is mixed with sugar, which is attacked by the acid. The final products are carbon, water vapor, and sulfur dioxide gas.
How To: Make Oobleck
Oobleck is a cool substance that is not quite liquid or solid. Don't believe me, then try for yourself!! All you need is a couple of household ingredients!!
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.
How To: Make Glowing Oobleck from Potatoes & Tonic Water
This magical, glowing mixture is very strange, with an equally strange name (Oobleck), because it feels like moldable pizza dough in your hands one second, and like liquified goo the next.
How To: Make Copper Glow Red Hot with Acetone
In this video, I will show you how to make copper glow red hot with the catalytic oxidation of acetone. For this science experiment, we'll just need some acetone, copper wire, and a flame source to initially heat the copper coil we'll make.
How To: Instant Ice! How to Waterbend in Real Life
In one of my previous articles, I showed off how to make water freeze into ice instantaneously. In this article, I'd like to elaborate on this, and show how a glass of water can turn to ice instantly on command. What exactly is this supernatural power? Discover the secrets to ice-bending—in real life.
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 Crazy Zigzagging Stream of Water Using a Speaker
Sound waves are a lot more versatile than you'd think. For starters, you can use them to project images onto a bubble and liquefy gummy bears. And now, YouTube scientist and optical illusionist extraordinaire Brusspup shows how sound waves can also be used to manipulate a stream of water into a zigzag shape.
How To: DIY Ninja Turtle Ooze! Make Your Own Radioactive Canister of Glowing Green Slime at Home
There's a broken canister of mutant ooze leaking down into the sewers! But don't worry because this sticky slime is non-toxic, and it's so easy to make, a three-year-old can do it!
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: Make a Soda Can Stirling Engine
Ever wonder how to make an engine out of soda cans? Not even sure if it's possible? These videos will show you how to build a working Stirling engine out of cans and other general materials. Here it is in action:
News: Dissecting a Human Head Through Anatomical Illustrations
Human anatomy is something every physician must undergo as a medical student. Some move on to become great doctors, some move on to become great artists, helping to better educate students and improve upon many illustrated representations of the human body since the days of medieval medicine. But thankfully, you don't have to be in the medical profession to enjoy the beautiful art of the human body created for teaching purposes.
DIY Plastination: Turning Dead Animals Into Science-Jerky
If you found the world renown Body Worlds exhibition gnarly and perverse, perhaps you'll find this latest parade of plastination a little less so—considering we don't share the same DNA as these specimens of jerky-in-the-name-of-science. The Koerperwelten der Tiere—or Animal Body Worlds–doesn't showcase preserved corporal matter, but rather 20 odd plastinated mammals, currently on display at the Cologne Zoo in Cologne, Germany.
News: Fluorescent Puppies You Can Turn On and Off
Always wanted a fluorescent dog but didn’t want to commit? Well, here’s your solution. Researchers at Seoul National University developed fluorescent puppies that only glow when you want them to. Just inject the special pups with doxycycline and they’ll glow like a black light poster for a few weeks. Then, they return to dull, furry normal.
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: The Trick to Stabbing a Balloon Without Popping It
A balloon's worst fear is a sharp object, so usually when you puncture a balloon, it pops in your face. Not with this science trick! To puncture a fully blown up latex balloon without popping it, you'll need a pointed metal or wooden skewer and some plain old dish soap. That's it.
How To: Perform a cool water heat conduction experiment
This is a cool science experiment to show what a great heat conductor water is. You'll need some balloons, a candle and some water. Check it out and be amazed! Common sense tells you that it's impossible to boil water in a paper bag, but this classic parlor trick was a favorite of the Victorian magician. The real difficultly in performing this effect is making it look harder than it is! As you might imagine, the secret lies in yet another amazing property of water - it's ability to conduct he...