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Experiments

This section of the site is dedicated to giving you experiments to do at home. Be careful, these experiments all involve pyrotechnics (that means that you could get seriously injured without the supervision of an adult) so be careful.

1st Experiment: Sugar that Flames

Materials: You need a lump or cube of sugar, a wooden clothespin, a candle, and cigarette ash.

Close the clothespin on the cube of sugar and put it in the candle flame. You will notice it does not burn. Then put the cigarette ash on another cube of sugar. secure the sugar with the clothespin and put it in the fire. You will notice that the sugar and cigarette ash both catch on fire. Do not remove the cigarette ash until the fire has died down.

2nd Experiment: Pyrotechnics in a Thimble

Materials: You need a metal thimble, some iron wire, an alcohol lamp, some potassium nitrate, some charcoal, a vessel for sprinkling powder (like a salt shaker), and some mortar and pestle, and a hammer.

Use the hammer to break up the charcoal and then use the mortar and pestle to break the charcoal bit into a fine powder, fill the salt shaker with the charcoal powder. Wrap the iron wire around the thimble so you have a "ladle" so you have distance between you and the thimble. Place two grams of potassium nitrate in the thimble and melt it until it becomes liquid.  Then take the salt shaker and shake a few sprinkles of charcoal in the thimble and your result is a big stream of fire.