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Hot Science Experiments How-Tos

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. Of course, the first thing I did was beg my parents to buy me some fake slime, but I never knew I could've easily made my own at home. One of the most common ways to make slime is to combine liquid glue with water and a household chemical called borax. ...

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 Potassium Chlorate from Ordinary Household Bleach and Salt Substitute

If you're not just a chemistry nerd, but also a firearms freak and explosives nut, then this home brew chemistry concoction is just what you need for some cheap homemade potassium chlorate. It's a mixture of potassium, chlorine and oxygen (KClO3) and is used for such things as gun primers, propellents, and explosives (when mixed with the appropriate fuel). And guess what? NurdRage is going to show you the steps for this makeshift potassium chlorate.

How To: Make Your Own Homemade Glow Sticks

Glow sticks, a popular favor at parties and outdoor events, and a must-have on Halloween, can be traced back to the United States Navy in the mid-1960s. The military desired improved visibility during night operations, and glow sticks, with their small-size portability and lack of batteries, were a perfect tactical solution.

How To: Form hydrothermal quartz

How can hot water form beautiful quartz crystals? This mine is red Georgia clay, with veins of minerals running through it. The veins are hydrothermal. Hydro means water. Thermal means heat. So the veins were caused by hot water. But how could hot water form quartz crystals?

How To: Make your own nylon

In this tutorial, we learn how to make your own nylon. You will need: pipettes, pipette filler, forceps, beaker, stir rod, sebacoyl chloride and hexanediame solution. Now, pour some of the hexanediame solution into the small beaker. Add in a food coloring if you want to make this a specific color. After this, add in 4 cc's of sebacoyl chloride and carefully drip into the side of the beaker. You should see a layer of where the two liquids are after this. Now, take your tweezers and reach into ...

How To: Make hydrochloric acid from salt

In this tutorial, we learn how to make hydrochloric acid from salt. First, you will pour some salt into a distil flask. After this, you will add in some concentrated sulfuric acid to the salt. Next, you will let these react with each other. You will start to see gasses bubble up and the excess hydrogen chloride gas come out through the top of the tube. To create a stronger reaction, you can add heat underneath the reaction. Then, test this by exposing it to ammonium chloride. If it's the righ...

Classic Chemistry: Colorize Colorless Liquids with "Black" Magic, AKA the Iodine Clock Reaction

Want to make boring old colorless water brighten up on command? Well, you can control the color of water with this little magic trick. Actually, it's not really magic, but a classic science experiment known commonly as the iodine clock reaction, which uses the reactions between water and chemicals to instantly colorize water, seemingly by command. You can use different colorless chemicals to produce different colors, and you can even make the color vanish to make the water clear again.

How To: Make fireballs you can hold in your hand

This flame you CAN hold, without burning your skin off. Learn to make fireballs you can hold in your hand. This amazing video tutorial shows you how to do it. All you'll need for this little science experiment or fiery weapon is 100% cotton cloth, scissors, lighter fuel, cotton string, and a needle. Be careful to follow the directions in this how-to video carefully otherwise you'll really be playing with fire.

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: 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 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.

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: Turn pennies into silver and gold coins with zinc

One of the most famous and repeated chemistry experiments involves money. Some would say this is more of a trick than an experiment, but you can be the judge of that. No one can just turn pennies into silver or gold coins, but someone with a few chemicals can. So, if you want to cooler cents in your pocket, try out this chemistry trick yourself. Nurd Rage (Dr. Lithium) shows you how to turn pennies into silver and gold coins using zinc.

How To: Do a sodium and water experiment

In this video tutorial, viewers learn how to do a sodium and water experiment. Sodium is a silver metal that is very reactive. When exposed oxygen in the air, an outer coding of sodium oxide will form. Simply drop a piece of sodium into a cup of water. When dropped in water, sodium reacts to form sodium hydroxide and hydrogen gas. The sodium will constant move around in the water. Sometimes the heated reaction will cause the nitrogen gas to ignite. Under the right condition, it may even cause...

How To: Make liquid sculptures from a handwarmer

Learn how to make liquid sculptures from a hand warmer in simple steps. First buy an instant reusable hand warmer which has sodium acetate in it and keep it ready. Now use 4 packets of the hand warmer and stir them out with water. Transfer them to a bottle and keep it aside. Take a sodium acetate crystal from a used hand warmer and place it in a plate. Now pour the liquid slowly on the crystal and you can see the liquid turns solid as you pour it. Design your masterpiece using all the liquid....

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