Questions tagged [home-experiment]
For questions about a small-scale experiment which can be undertaken with reagents readily available around the house, while observing standard laboratory safety principles and practices. Do not confuse this tag with [everyday-chemistry] or [food-chemistry].
619
questions
-1
votes
1
answer
45
views
Synthesis of Sulfuric Acid via Sulfurous Acid Oxidation
I was planning on bubbling sulfur dioxide fumes into water to produce sulfurous acid ($\ce{H2SO3}$) and was wondering if it could be oxidized into sulfuric acid. How could it be oxidized into $\ce{...
-1
votes
2
answers
61
views
What's the best way to recover silver from industrial and medical x-ray film? [closed]
I washed industrial and medical x-ray film with lye and tap water. Can I add bleach to draw the silver out of the lye or would I just add salt water to get AgCl, then siphon off the excess water and ...
- 11
3
votes
1
answer
44
views
Does a steel pestle corrode while pressing soot?
While experimenting with a few different powders, I noticed the resulting small flakes were ferromagnetic. Then I decided to find out what was the cause: after repeating the experiment with only soot, ...
- 181
3
votes
3
answers
108
views
Can I use pH test papers with a dye-rich solution?
I'm working on some lactic acid fermentation of blueberries at home, and I'm trying to get a better handle on the process by logging the pH of the fermentation medium as the fermentation takes place.
...
- 131
0
votes
1
answer
80
views
About whitish layer that formed on chocolate bar
I noticed a whitish layer on the surface of a chocolate bar that I ate yesterday. I looked at the pack where it was mentioned that,
"Temperature and humidity changes may cause product to develop ...
- 41
0
votes
1
answer
60
views
How to measure heat transfer and heat dissipation in a kitchen? [closed]
I am a chemistry beginner just starting to coming to grips with stoves and Bunsen burners.
I would like to know, what kind of instrument can I use to measure the amount of heat transferred from a ...
0
votes
1
answer
116
views
Testing whether an unknown powder is wheat gluten (at home)?
Last week, I ordered wheat gluten to make seitan. I received some powder and attempted a recipe, which mixes 100g of water with 100g of gluten to form a sticky dough. However in my case, I only got a ...
- 109
3
votes
0
answers
130
views
Why is my Briggs-Rauscher reaction not oscillating?
I have been trying to run the Briggs-Rauscher reaction following this guide, which is pretty similar to other guides out there, yet the reaction is failing to not only oscillate, but display any color ...
- 67
-2
votes
1
answer
136
views
Small (personal) scale sea salt production?
I was looking to try to make a small setup for producing small amounts of sea salt. Ideally a series of evaporation chambers, with a heavy brine as the finished product, that could then be baked. May ...
0
votes
0
answers
782
views
Weight Ratio vs Molar Ratio - Chloramines
I'm working with a delicate experiment whilst trying to test corrosion of stainless-steels in a chloramine environment. I've run into various literature that discusses the formation of different types ...
- 65
1
vote
0
answers
183
views
How to clean naphtha of non-saponifiable fats
My dad has been using naphtha to degrease some animal bones, which based on the MSDS is probably some random jumble of hydrocarbons, mostly heptanes. He's trying to be environmentally friendly so he ...
- 11
-3
votes
1
answer
94
views
Is the gas produced by boiling bioethanol safe?
As part of a small experiment, I'd like to boil bioethanol (I believe it should boil at 80 degrees).
Would the resultant gas be safe (to humans)?
Presumably it would be quite flammable?
In small ...
0
votes
0
answers
68
views
Problematic Menshutkin reaction
I'm quite new to organic chemistry and want to try menshutkin reaction. Like the reaction in an attachment.
I use that recipe:
I do everything in a 60ml beaker. I dissolve 18 mmol of pyridine in 35 ml ...
-2
votes
1
answer
123
views
Why my mineral water from different sources do not mixed well? [closed]
Background:
In 8 hours range, I have bought cold mineral water (brand A), then refill the plastic bottle with cold mineral water (brand B) from my office. As far i know, brand B has high pH while ...
0
votes
0
answers
258
views
How to achieve highest CO2 pressure from acetic acid + sodium bicarbonate reaction?
I'm planning to make a high-end vinegar + baking soda rocket and started doing some researches for the best ratio of the reagents's concentrations to achieve maximum pressure. Furthermore, I know that ...
- 9
0
votes
0
answers
167
views
Safely dilute this 35% hydrogen peroxide solution to 3% and store after opening (no stabilizer)?
The problem: eating yellow curry with naan and no spoon for the first time resulted in a wonderful dinner but some permanent yellow stain on my cotton shirt. I assume it's coming at least in part from ...
- 5,997
-2
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Influence of (activated) charcoal on water's pH
Does immersing (a) charcoal / (b) activated charcoal (both clean, no ash) into distillate water influences water's pH? If yes - in which direction - acidic or alkaline?
If there is an influence - is ...
- 201
2
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Experiment to crush soda can by air pressure
You put a can with water at its base on a hot plate and allow the water to heat. Once steam is visible from the opening on top of the can, you quickly flip the can upside down into a bowl of water ...
- 41
7
votes
1
answer
6k
views
Creating resilient (non-brittle non-water-soluble) verdigris (blue-green copper patina)
First off, I checked and there are indeed a number of questions on copper patinas, but none which deal with resilience.
Context
I own a number of copper writing utensils, which I'd like to get a nice ...
- 465
9
votes
1
answer
3k
views
Why does my sand dissolve in citric acid?
I soaked and washed white Darice decorative sand in distilled water. I added food-grade citric acid to different distilled water, then I sprinkled in a few grains of the sand. The sand bubbled and ...
- 99
0
votes
1
answer
386
views
Oxidation and Polymerization of drying oils
I am having trouble understanding the relationship between polymerization and oxidation of drying oils, specifically linseed oil used for fine art. In refining my own oil by filtering it then leaving ...
- 17
1
vote
0
answers
51
views
Is 25% aqueous ammonia solution considerably less safe than concentrated HCl
I plan to sterilize and clean some deer bones for display in my amateur chemical lab. The needed concentration of ammonia is only about 2,5% but it would be significantly cheaper to buy more ...
1
vote
0
answers
83
views
Possible experimental errors and how to improve them
I'm doing an experiment at home where I determine the relative atomic mass of magnesium by collecting the hydrogen produced from its reaction with hydrochloric acid. I ended up getting around 26, but ...
- 165
1
vote
0
answers
42
views
How can I safely recreate the "oxiclean effect" for a video production?
I am producing a parody infomercial, specifically copying the style of the early 90's OxiClean/Billy Mays spots:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTpXh33Mbeg
As it happens in the original commercial, ...
- 27
3
votes
2
answers
889
views
How can I test for impurities in my steel wool?
I am trying to purify ferrous sulfate (for some electroplating experiments) and I came up with the following process:
Dissolve 200g of iron fertilizer in 300ml of distilled water heated to 54 °C (...
- 232
0
votes
1
answer
802
views
Will potassium nitrate and petroleum jelly work as a rocket propellant
I saw a post on a online forum that potassium nitrate and petroleum jelly could be mixed to create a rocket propellant. What is the reaction that would take place?
- 11
2
votes
0
answers
48
views
Improving accuracy of water lead test
Home water tests for lead have an accuracy of about 15 ppb. If I first do a gentle/slow boil for one hour (hot plate under a glass beaker of water) to reduce 2000 mL to 20 mL, will I then effectively ...
- 121
-1
votes
1
answer
857
views
Safely removing sodium hypochlorite crystals from hard-to-reach surfaces
I have a small bathing whirlpool which wasn’t used for over ten years. It is built into the ground and I cannot reach the disinfectant container to replace it with a new one. I can access the fill-...
- 9
0
votes
0
answers
105
views
Labs without equipment - virtual chem lab?
I am an "international online" high school student with very spotty access to chemistry lab materials needed for some chemistry assignments I am being given. I would like to know if there ...
-1
votes
1
answer
564
views
Does the boiling point of ammonia hydroxide change with the ratio of water to ammonia?
My kids and I are designing a science experiment and we could use help with the ratio of water to ammonia in an ammonia hydroxide mixture.
A little bit of background:
Initial goal: To convert the ...
3
votes
0
answers
119
views
Can shop-bought caustic soda be used to measure titratable acidity of wines?
When making wines, it's occasionally necessary to measure the wine's 'titratable acidity' (TA). To do this, a 0.1N solution of NaOH is titrated with a wine sample. 0.1N NaOH solution can be purchased, ...
- 159
3
votes
2
answers
496
views
Why is my battery of galvanic cells not enough to power a lamp rated for a lower voltage than the battery provides?
I made a series of 12 galvanic cells with saltwater as an electrolyte and zinc and copper as electrodes. It produces 8.8 V, but it can't even light a 2.5 V bulb (the bulb can be lit by a 1.5 V source)....
- 49
2
votes
0
answers
100
views
Connect glass tubes to a graham condenser
I am currently making a syphon coffee maker such as this one:
However, I find that all the silicon tubing used on this image between the condenser and the boiling flask / between the condenser and ...
- 41
2
votes
0
answers
189
views
How can I heat up a separatory flask?
I currently am working on a vacuum brewing system for coffee (which is not super useful but pretty cool I have to say) such as this one (image).
However I wondered if there was a way of pouring the ...
- 41
2
votes
1
answer
176
views
Old sodium hydroxide based drain cleaner become stony and brown, not hydrosoluble anymore
My drain was clogged and I used an old sodium hydroxide based drain cleaner to free it. The cleaner was quite old and inside it was brownish and monolithic, not a bunch of small white spheres anymore.
...
- 131
0
votes
2
answers
88
views
Inhibitors reaction at home
For a school science project, my teacher asked me to find a reaction that can be slowed down with an inhibitor and film it at home/lab at school. He told not to use lemon on an apple or anything ...
0
votes
1
answer
657
views
Impurities in household baking soda
For a long time, I have been using store bought baking soda (with sodium bicarbonate as the sole ingredient listed) as the sodium bicarbonate in my (qualitative) home experiments, but recently I ...
- 47
1
vote
0
answers
62
views
Relative Humidity inside a thermally insulated chamber for a NACL solution
I ran an experiment, where I had to measure the relative humidity of a thermally insulated chamber containing NaCl solution. I have read from a few papers, that the relative humidity of a NaCl ...
- 21
0
votes
1
answer
300
views
HCl labeled 31.45% concentration (20° Baume) [closed]
Just bought a standard concentration of HCl solution. The 31.45% is weight-by-weight & not weight-by-volume, correct?
- 302
7
votes
5
answers
3k
views
How can I roughly measure a fraction of a gram?
My son got a crystal making kit (from a relative) and it lists seed crystal weights of 0.5g for a small crystal solution and 0.75 g for a large crystal solution. The trouble is I (his father) don't ...
- 1,065
3
votes
2
answers
886
views
Producing hydrogen sulfide—difficult to do much?
When I was young (nearly sixty years ago), my "chemistry set" taught me how to heat sulfur and candle wax to stink up the house. It had no warning that hydrogen sulfide is toxic and ...
- 209
2
votes
1
answer
279
views
Suppressing flammable foam formation in electrolysis
I often use electrolysis to remove rust and other junk off of steel parts. My general setup is:
Electrolyte: Sodium bicarbonate + distilled water.
Anode: Plain carbon steel
Cathode: Carbon steel, ...
- 1,172
-4
votes
1
answer
111
views
Spilled denat. alcohol (5% methanol) [closed]
I spilled a small amount of denatured alcohol (~3ml) on my skin and table while prepping microscope slides for springtails. The bottle says its 95% ethanol, with unspecified amounts of isopropanol and ...
1
vote
1
answer
101
views
Can large, sticky, sodium polyacrylate crystals be coated in a powder to facilitate handling?
I am separating a larger container of sodium polyacrylate crystals into smaller containers for student experiments. Commonly known as "Deco Cubes" and used by florists in decorations and ...
1
vote
0
answers
487
views
Is shampoo or soap a better emulsifier? [closed]
Made homemade shampoo using:
Sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS)
Glycerin
95% ethanol
Sodium stearate
Made homemade soap using:
20% sodium hydroxide
Vegetable oil
95% ethanol
20% sodium chloride
...
- 21
1
vote
0
answers
84
views
Converting dissolved chromates to solids for disposal
I have 4 liters of electrolysis waste that was used to process stainless steel cathodes.
About half of it was oxalic acid based and the other half was sodium bicarbonate based (currently stored ...
- 1,172
1
vote
2
answers
1k
views
Can ferrous ions exist in an acidic solution?
Can Fe2+ ions exist in an acidic solution or will they always pick up available protons and become Fe3+? My hunch is they can't exist but I'm not really sure.
If the latter, does that mean that ...
- 1,172
2
votes
0
answers
687
views
What factors have the greatest effects on the yield from steam distillation of ginger?
I have a modest home lab setup that I use primarily for steam distillation of plant matter to extract essential oils. My yields are typically at or below the low end of estimates given by different ...
3
votes
0
answers
628
views
Understanding electrolysis w/ oxalic acid electrolyte, iron electrodes
I've been experimenting with electrolysis for rust removal, electroplating, de-plating, etc. Right now I have a rust removal setup with carbon steel electrodes and a solution of oxalic acid in ...
- 1,172
-1
votes
1
answer
251
views
Attempting to make Rochelle salt but obtained paste
I was attempting to make Rochelle salt by adding sodium carbonate to a mixture of cream of tartar and water, but ended up with a solid paste. I kept the cream of tartar/water mix boiling the whole ...
