Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I am helping my son with his science fair project due in December.
We would like to do a project on exothermic reaction. I've noticed if I pour liquid clorox on a clorox wipe heat (exothermic) is produced. I also noticed a similiar reaction when you pour liquid clorox on a baby wipe.
We intend to put a thermometer in a closed bottle and measure the temperture. Then we will put clorox a clorox wipe soaked in clorox and measure that temperature. Similarily, we will test the heat given off when clorox is poured on a baby wipe.
Our question is can you suggest a good title for this experiment and lastly would you know why this exothermic reaction is occuring and any suggestions to better our experiment technique?.
Thank you very much.

Hi Sam1245,

It might be helpful to know that the kind of measurement you want to make is called calorimetry. There's some info about calorimeters in these projects and discussions that might help:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p092.shtml
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p012.shtml
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... f=2&t=2149
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/mentorin ... 13&start=0

I'm not sure about the specific reactions that you're observing. However, your observations so far suggest a few things: First, the version of Clorox included with the wipe might be slightly different from the liquid version (an added stabilizer?), or whatever reaction happens when the liquid is added would have already happened. Second, a reaction with paper is a possibility since both wipes include paper. How about putting Clorox on various kinds paper or wood to see if you observe the same thing?

I would also point out the Clorox is probably a combination of several chemicals (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bleach), so it might be difficult to determine which of them is involved in the exothermic reaction you're trying to identify. Some of these, such as hydrogen peroxide, are cheap and readily available; it could narrow down the possibilities to repeat the experiments with pure components.

Baby wipes may also have a number of different chemicals added.

While reading about calorimeters, you'll probably come across a number of well-understood reactions that you could start with to get a feel for the technique.

Hope that helps -- let us know if you have more questions.

Amanda

Amanda,
Mahalo Plenty(Thank you very much). We'll try with regular paper.