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Chemistry LibreTexts

Chemical Magic-- Acid-Base Chemistry

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Chemical Concept Demonstrated

  • Acid-base chemistry

Demonstration

Part A.
  • "Water" is poured from the pitcher into the glasses.
  • The contents are then poured back into the pitcher.
  • The pitcher's contents are poured into the milk bottle.

Part B (not shown in video). Six different glasses are obtained.

  • The "water"is poured from another pitcher into the new glasses.
rainbow.gif milk.gif

Observations

Part A: The second and fourth glasses turned red. When the contents are poured back into the pitcher the solution turns colorless. The contents in the milk bottle turn a milky white.

Part B: Each of the glasses turns a different color: red, white, blue, black, green, and amber.

Explanations

Part A: The "water" is made up of water, phenolphthalein, and a small amount of dilute acid. (Phenolphthalein changes from colorless to red in the presence of a strong base.) Before the pouring the "water," the first glass contained H2SO4. The second and fourth glasses contained NaOH. The third and fifth glasses contained water. The milk jug contained a saturated solution of SbCl3 in HCl.

Part B: The "water" is made up of water and ferric ammonium sulfate. The glasses contained KSCN, BaCl2, K4Fe(CN)6, tannic acid, tartaric acid, NaHSO3.

Contributors


Chemical Magic-- Acid-Base Chemistry is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by George Bodner.

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