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Chemical Magic-- Acid-Base Chemistry

  • Page ID
    2975
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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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