Red Cabbage Indicator

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Anthocyanin, which is found in red cabbage, is a natural indicator that can be easily extracted.

Lemon Fizz

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When basic baking soda (NaHCO3) is combined with acidic lemon juice (mainly citric acid, H3C6H5O7) an acid base reaction occurs. The reaction releases CO2 which can be captured using dish soap to form bubbles.

Dry Ice in Universal Indicator

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Universal indicator goes from red (pH 4) to violet (pH10) as the pH of a substance changes. Adding NaOH to water starts the solution off at pH 8-9 (blue). When dry ice is added to water it forms carbonic acid, and lowers the pH, which is the reason for the color changes. The “fog” that we see is condensed water vapor though, not carbon dioxide gas.

Disappearing Ink

This demo uses acid base chemistry and an indicator to make an ink that will appear or disappear depending on the solution added to it. Phenolphthalein, which is clear, reacts with a base, and then turns pink.

Chemistry Pop Guns

This demo harnesses the reaction of baking soda and vinegar to blow a cork off a test tube.

Blue Bottle Demo

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Under basic conditions glucose is oxidized while methylene blue is reduced, changing from blue to colorless. The reduction reaction can be reversed by shaking the flask which forces oxygen into solution, which oxidizes the methylene blue, thus turning it back to blue. If the flask is let sit, the oxygen will come out of solution making the solution colorless and ready to shake again.