Energy
Of Candy M&Ms vs. Gummi Bears
This demonstration will open your eyes to the amount of energy stored in these little candies.
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Magnesium
and Dry Ice
Halloween 2007. Has it been a year already? Well it is time for
my Halloween demos. Thanks to Metacafe, this years Halloween show will
have 250 pounds of dry ice for my chemistry
demonstrations. This reaction is between metallic magnesium and carbon
dioxide. Magnesium reacts with oxygen in the air to form magnesium
oxide, but when the only source of oxygen is from CO2 the reaction
becomes much more energetic. The products are white magnesium oxide and
blck carbon. 2Mg + CO2--> 2MgO + C
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Water
Drops on a Penny- Cohesive Forces of Water (hydrogen bonding) How
many drops of water can you pile on a penny? It is very impressive. Can
you do better? This experiment demonstrates the cohesive forces of water
also known as Hydrogen Bonds. These forces
are responsible for water forming droplets instead of spreading out.
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Shivering Quarters in Dry Ice
When a quarter in pushed into dry ice, a strange thing
happens. The quarter starts to quiver. It is a normal room
temperature quarter. I did nothing to the quarter. This is
not a trick but really happens. Can you explain this phenomenon?
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The Dancing Penny A science
experiment that everyone can do. Take a wet penny and place it on top
of a glass bottle. Hold the bottle with your hand and watch the penny
dance. The heat from your hand cause the air to expand inside the
bottle and the penny bounces around.
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Muscle
Wire (Nitinol) Electrocuted Sometimes
called the Smart Alloy, Muscle Wire or Memory Metal, is an alloy that
"remembers" it shape. You can reshape the wire, but when
heated it returns to the preset shape. Ever
wonder how someone bends a spoon with their mind? Same metal.
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Dehyradration of Sugar
Sugar (a carbohydrate) is dehydrated with concentrated sulfuric acid.
Since a carbohydrate was once considered just hydrated carbon, if you
remove the water, carbon would be left over. The acid rips the water out
of the sugar and the heat generated by this reaction causes the water to
turn to steam. A black mass of carbon is produced.
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Ion Flame Test
The flame test is used to visually determine the identity of an
unknown metal of an ionic salt based on the characteristic color the
salt turns the flame of a Bunsen burner. |
Discrepant Event-The Rattleback
A rattleback, also known as an
"anagyre", "celt", "Celtic stone",
"rattlerock", "spin bar", "wobble stone"
or "wobblestone" and by the product names "ARK,"
"Bizzaro Swirls,"
"RATTLEBACKS," "Space Pet" and "Space
Toy," is a semi-ellipsoidal top which will spin on its axis in a
preferred direction. But, if spun in the opposite direction, it becomes
unstable, "rattles", stops and reverses its spin to the
preferred direction. This spin-reversal motion seems, at first sight, to
violate the angular-momentum conservation law of physics. Moreover, for
most rattlebacks, the motion will happen when the rattleback is spun in
one direction, but not when spun in the other. These two peculiarities
make the rattleback a physical curiosity that has excited human
imagination since prehistorical times.
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