Salters' Festival of Chemistry

Greetings fellow Scientists!

On Thursday 19th May, Clare, Devika, Ellie and Gerren took part in the Salters' Festival of Chemistry at the South Bank University. 

The girls conducted a number of experiments to solve a mystery murder:

During the day we were working with 13 other schools from across England. We came third in the University Challenge, well done girls!

Partner school challenge - bubble snakes experiment

Greetings fellow Scientists!

In our last partner school challenge we were preparing a set of instructions for an experiment for our friends from the Volcano Science Club. We chose the bubble snakes experiment we've done some time ago (click here). We had a lot of fun doing it, have a look at the photos below:

Mission: Starlight - RSC Global Experiment

Greetings fellow Scientists!

In today's session we took part in the Royal Society of Chemistry Global Experiment 2016 called Mission: Starlight. This year the focus is on UV protection. Watch the clip to find out more:

The beads used in this experiment change colour when exposed to UV light. Have a look at these "before" and "after" photos:

                                 before                                                    after

We completed the following experiments:

What particle size produces the most effective suspension?

Can liquid coating block UV light?

Glowing magic mud

Greetings fellow Scientists!

Today we made non-Newtonian liquid that can glow in the UV light.

Equipment used:

We started by extracting the starch:

Then, we added some tonic water with quinine:

After that the fun started!

 

If you would like to do this at home, here is the video with detailed instructions:

Fire writing

Greetings fellow Scientists!

Today we had fun with some fire writing. Here is what we used:

We started by preparing a saturated solution of sodium nitrate and getting the clamp and stand ready:

Then we hid a message, a letter or a shape on the filter paper:

When it dried, the fire revealed it:

We also had loads of unsuccessful attempts :)

Rainbow fizz

Greetings fellow Scientists!

Today we investigated neutralisation reactions and attempted to create a rainbow in a burette. We used some universal indicator, hydrochloric acid and sodium carbonate: