SIMPLE CHEMICAL EXPERIMENTS - Sciencemadness

SIMPLE CHEMICAL EXPERIMENTS

SIMPLE CHEMICAL EXPERIMENTS

By A L F R E D MORGAN

Illustrated by THE AUTHOR

APPLETON-CENTURY-CROFTS, INC.

NEW YORK

COPYRIGHT, 1941, BY D. APPLETON-CENTURY COMPANY, INC

All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission of the publisher.

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

I. YOUR LABORATORY

PAGE

i

II. EXPERIMENTS WITH PRECIPITATES . . . .

26

III. EXPERIMENTS WITH SULFUR AND SOME OF ITS

COMPOUNDS

54

IV. EXPERIMENTS WITH OXYGEN AND OXYGEN COM-

POUNDS

73

V. EXPERIMENTS WITH GASES AND SOME OF THEIR

COMPOUNDS

103

VI. CHEMICAL TESTS

123

VII. SAFE "FIREWORKS"

144

VIII. EXPERIMENTS WITH A FEW ORGANIC COMPOUNDS 156

IX. CHEMICAL TRICKS AND MAGIC

170

X. MISCELLANEOUS EXPERIMENTS

186

XI. PRACTICAL USES FOR YOUR CHEMICAL KNOWL-

EDGE

214

XII. THE CHEMICALS YOU WILL NEED . . .

.231

INDEX OF CHEMICALS

259

GENERAL INDEX

263

V

SIMPLE CHEMICAL EXPERIMENTS

*>

CHAPTER I

I

YOUR LABORATORY

I

MOST of the experiments described in this book can be performed without elaborate equipment or apparatus.

| For them you will need only a few bottles, test-tubes, meas-

i uring-spoons, and an alcohol lamp. Jelly glasses, mayonnaise

f jars, small enameled saucepans, and thin glass tumblers can

| often be substituted for the beakers, flasks, and glassware of

I the professional chemist.

t

A few of the experiments require beakers, flasks, tubing,

| funnels, filter paper, crucibles, mortar and pestle, and Bunsen

I burner. The small sizes of these are not expensive. Frequently

the cost of apparatus and chemicals can be shared by estab-

lishing a "community" laboratory which is used by two or

more experimenters.

Of course it is more convenient to use commercial chemical

equipment and more "professional" than to use the home-

l made variety.

Several firms which advertise in the columns of the popular

* mechanical and scientific magazines will fill mail orders for

J glassware and other apparatus. Four or five dollars will equip

I a home "lab" well.

2

SIMPLE CHEMICAL EXPERIMENTS

THE LABORATORY BENCH

For occasional experimenting, the kitchen table makes a good place. But the experimenter who devotes a good deal of time to his hobby or who owns a considerable assortment of chemicals and apparatus needs a table or bench where he can leave his equipment and where it will remain undisturbed.

A design for a simple laboratory bench which can be built from packingcase lumber. A hammer and saw are the only tools required.

YOUR LABORATORY

3

^ A table, a shelf, and a bucket or large can for waste mate-

i rial are the essentials in arranging a home laboratory. When I there is a choice of locations, the spot selected should be one

* where there is no danger to rugs and furniture. If possible,

I it should be near running water, a gas outlet, and a sink. ^ An old kitchen table, a home-made table, even a large

I packing-case, when fitted with shelves, is a satisfactory lab-

oratory bench. Here much that is interesting about one of the

most important and most useful of modern sciences may be learned. A coat of asphaltum paint will protect the surface

of the table and make it resistant to water, acid, and other

chemicals which may boil over or be spilled during an experiment. Cover that portion of the bench where the Bunsen burner or alcohol lamp is used with sheet-asbestos.

A SIPHON BOTTLE

When running water is not available, a siphon bottle for storing and delivering water at the laboratory bench will be found useful. This can be rigged out of a one-gallon glass jug, a funnel, rubber tubing, a two-hole stopper, glass tubing, and a spring clothes-pin or pinch-cock. The whole arrangement is shown in the illustration. The siphon bottle should be set on a shelf or bracket above the bench level.

To start the siphon, fill the bottle by pouring water in the funnel. Then tilt the bottle until the water fills the glass tube and begins to flow out of the rubber tube. Clamp the spring clothes-pin or pinch-cock over the rubber tube so as to shut off the flow of water and set the bottle on its shelf above the level of the "lab" bench. After the siphon has been started, water will flow out of the rubber outlet tube when-

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