Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Christmas Demo Ideas

weschem - 11-11-2012 at 12:32

So Im supposed to come up with a few christmas themed demos for my universities chemistry club. So far I have the "silver tree" demo which is the crystallization of silver from a silver nitrate solution on a coiled copper wire that has been immersed in it.

Anyone have any other good ideas?

Hexavalent - 11-11-2012 at 12:51

Do they have to be Christmas-related?

If not, then on Tuesday I've got to do a little demo for some parents and young children at parent's evening. I'm doing competition (thermite reactions), "water starts a fire", the 'Bluebottle reaction', maybe an oscillating reaction and silver mirrors if that's any help.

[Edited on 11-11-2012 by Hexavalent]

UnintentionalChaos - 11-11-2012 at 12:55

Quote: Originally posted by Hexavalent  
Do they have to be Christmas-related?

If not, then on Tuesday I've got to do a little demo for some parents and young children at parent's evening. I'm doing competition (thermite reactions), "water starts a fire", the 'Bluebottle reaction', maybe an oscillating reaction and silver mirrors if that's any help.

[Edited on 11-11-2012 by Hexavalent]


You could silver mirror the inside of a clear glass ornament.

tetrahedron - 11-11-2012 at 12:57

barking dog reaction. i wouldn't settle for anything less.

Eddygp - 11-11-2012 at 12:57

yeah, check Hegelrast's video on that, in youtube

[Edited on 11-11-2012 by Eddygp]

Mailinmypocket - 11-11-2012 at 13:01

The traffic light reaction is cool, red...green, etc!

[Edited on 11-11-2012 by Mailinmypocket]

Eddygp - 11-11-2012 at 13:32

Burning magnesium in a CO2 brick is interesting... and solid CO2 is white as ice and magnesium oxide is bone-like white.

weschem - 11-11-2012 at 17:25

These all sound really good. Especially the mirror ornament one. Yeah theyd prefer it to be somewhat christmas-y. Ive already got some pyro i want to do with strontium for red and barium chloride for green.

Triazine - 11-11-2012 at 17:36

I second Eddygp's idea. For the winter holiday my professor made a "snow man" out of CO2 blocks and put a Mg fire in the head to make a Christmas jack-o-lantern. Very cool.

Morgan - 12-11-2012 at 07:41

I once ground some iodine and ammonium nitrate together and then added some zinc dust. It self-ignited so fast after a quick stir I barely had time to back away, but the color was fantastic. There was a beautiful blue smoke followed by a shift to violet it seemed. The thick column of billowing smoke rose to a height of nearly 8 feet and was gone far too quickly. But the vividness evoked such a sense of wonder.
Less intimately mixed, you can add a drop of water or piece of ice to start it.

kuro96inlaila - 12-11-2012 at 20:21

If you have sodium polyacrylate you can make "instant snow" demo.Just add water to it and it will expand greatly into fluffy snow like substance.Fit for christmast theme eh?;)

MrHomeScientist - 13-11-2012 at 06:29

I second the sodium polyacrylate idea - I've done that a number of times and it really does look like snow! It even feels cold, because of the absorbed water evaporating away. It's very impressive to pour a large amount of water into a small amount of powder and watch it all get absorbed, kids especially love it! And it's totally non-toxic so safe to play with.

Mailinmypocket - 13-11-2012 at 08:25

Then you can add a couple pinches of salt and mix it around with your hands and it turns back to liquid :P

Eddygp - 13-11-2012 at 11:04

Precipitating silver from an AgNO3 solution... or precipitating uhhh calcium hydroxide (CaCl2+2KOH = 2KCl + Ca(OH)2