Chemistry+is+fascinating

1. Briggs-Rauscher Reaction
media type="custom" key="4733951" [[|YouTube Clip]] The Briggs-Rauscher reaction is a well known example of oscillating chemical reactions, also known as chemical clocks because the periodicity can be used to tell time. What's going on in the beaker is actually quite a complex set of chemical reactions. Here's how to do it: [|Link]

2. Gummy Bear and Molten Potassium Chlorate
Who'da thunk that Gummy Bear can be //so// ... violent? Here's what happen if you drop a Gummy Bear (which is mostly sugar), to a tube of molten potassium chlorate: media type="custom" key="4733957" [[|YouTube Clip]]

3. Diet Coke and Mentos[[image:http://neatorama.cachefly.net/images/2009-11/mentos-geyser.JPG width="398" height="599"]]
Mentos in various carbonated liquids. From left to right: carbonated water (Perrier), Classic Coke, Sprite, and Diet Coke. By [Wikipedia] You've all seen this before. The Diet Coke and Mentos experiment by Fritz Grobe and Stephen Voltz of [|EepyBird] was the stuff of Internet legend back in 2007. But what exactly happens when you drop a Mentos into a solution of Diet Coke? MythBusters [|explain]:

//According to Hyneman (he's the mustachioed MythBuster), it's a process called "nucleation," in which the particular chemistry of the Mentos candy interacts with the chemistry of the carbonated Diet Coke, causing the carbon dioxide gas, or CO2, to suddenly come out of suspension in the liquid and make a break for freedom. [...]// //Hyneman says, "There's a cascade that happens with -- it's a little esoteric -- an ion exchange. Basically the Mentos start to dissolve, and it's like tripping a switch. It's not what you would call a chain reaction, because that's something else in chemistry terms, but it's a cascade whereon all of a sudden, all of the CO2 that was contained in the liquid is suddenly not as attracted to the liquid as it was before, because of this slight change in the chemistry that occurs."//

Whatever you do, don't eat a mentos then chug a mouthful of diet soda, mmkay?

4. Elephant Toothpaste
media type="custom" key="4733959" [[|YouTube Clip]] Yes, even elephants need to maintain good dental hygiene, but what kind of toothpaste do they use? Here's a favorite chemistry demo called Elephant Toothpaste (no, elephants don't actually use this as a toothpaste, silly - it's only called that because it looks like the kind and quantity of toothpaste an elephant would use). This one's easy to do, all you need is dish soap, hydrogen peroxide, and potassium iodide: [|Link]

Got that?

6. Burning Salts
Quick: what color is fire? Orangey red? Obviously you haven't seen alcohol, barium chloride, boron, strontium, calcium, lithium, sodium, copper, and potassium salts set aflame ... media type="custom" key="4733969" [[|YouTube Clip]]

8. Ferrofluid
[|Ferrofluid], a colloidal mixture of nanoscale magnetic particles in a solvent, reacts to magnetic field in an awesomely bizarre way. Sachiko Kodama uses ferrofluid to create dynamic sculptures called [|Morpho Towers]: media type="custom" key="4733981" [[|YouTube Clip]]

9. Mercury Beating Heart
media type="custom" key="4733991" [[|YouTube Clip]] A drop of mercury in a solution of potassium chromate and sulfuric acid, set so it's almost touching an iron nail, will start to beat like a heart. Journal of Chemical Education explains why: [|Link]

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