An experienced chemistry professor used to say that it took about one explosion per week to maintain college students' attention in chemistry lectures. At that rate, we'd get in pretty big trouble with a lot of parents and teachers! Don't worry, our list of chemistry science and engineering projects still has lots of bubbles, fizzes, bangs, and color changes for you to explore.
Have you ever looked at sunlight through a prism? If so, you know that the prism can separate the sunlight into many different colors of light — a rainbow. Like sunlight, chemical mixtures can also be broken into their component parts. One way of doing this is a simple technique called paper chromatography. What do you think you will see if you use paper chromatography to look at the components of black ink? Is black ink just black? Find out for yourself!
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Chem_p008
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- Less Details
Time Required
Very Short (≤ 1 day)
Prerequisites
None
Material Availability
For your convenience a kit is available from our partner
.
Cost
Low ($20 - $50)
Safety
Alcohol is flammable and toxic. Adult supervision is recommended while working with the isopropyl alcohol.
Some chemical reactions occur explosively fast, others may occur almost imperceptibly s-l-o-w-l-y. This project explores what effect the particle size of the reactants has on the speed of a chemical reaction: production of carbon dioxide gas by an Alka-Seltzer® tablet.
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Chem_p028
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- Less Details
Time Required
Short (2-5 days)
Prerequisites
None
Material Availability
Readily available
Cost
Very Low (under $20)
Safety
Adult supervision recommended when working with hot water solutions
There are many different kinds of slime out there. Some slime is runny and liquid-like; other slime is thick and rubbery. Some slime glows in the dark, some is fluffy, and some is even magnetic! What set of properties makes the best slime? What kind of slime would you choose to make if you were selling slime as a toy in your own "slime shop"? In this project, you will experiment with different slime recipes and try to perfect one to make the best slime.
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Chem_p110
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Time Required
Very Short (≤ 1 day)
Prerequisites
None
Material Availability
Readily available
Cost
Very Low (under $20)
Safety
Supervision required for small children. The slime is not edible.
This is a simple "kitchen chemistry" project about acid/base chemistry. Scientists measure the acidity or alkalinity of a solution using a logarithmic scale called the pH scale. In this project you'll learn about the pH scale, and you'll make your own pH indicator paper using a pH-sensitive dye that you'll extract from red cabbage. You can use your pH paper to measure the acidity/alkalinity of various household solutions.
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Chem_p041
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- Less Details
Time Required
Short (2-5 days)
Prerequisites
None
Material Availability
Lab filter paper can be purchased
from our partner .
Cost
Very Low (under $20)
Safety
Adult supervision required. Do not mix strong acids and bases.
Alka-Seltzer® tablets fizzle furiously when dropped into water. The moment the tablet starts dissolving, a chemical reaction occurs that releases carbon dioxide gas. In this science project, you can even measure how long and loudly your tablet fizzes using Google's
Science Journal app. Do you think you can make Alka-Seltzer fizz faster or more loudly by changing the temperature of the water? How big of a difference in the rate of a chemical reaction can temperature make?
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Chem_p027
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- Less Details
Time Required
Short (2-5 days)
Prerequisites
None
Material Availability
Readily available
Cost
Very Low (under $20)
Safety
Adult supervision may be needed when working with hot water solutions.
You know that water can exist in three separate phases: solid (ice), liquid (water), and vapor (steam). To change from one phase to another, you simply add (or remove) heat. When water boils, what happens to molecules (for example sugar or salt) that are dissolved in the water? Do they boil off too, or do they stay behind?
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