All Experiments

Tollens’ test - coat glass with metallic silver

Difficulty	advanced
Time (min)	30
Hazard	high

Rochelle Salt — Crystal Growing and Piezoelectric Microphone

Grow large crystals of sodium potassium tartrate from kitchen chemicals and build a working crystal microphone

Difficulty	advanced
Time (min)	60
Hazard	low

Activated-Carbon Supercapacitor

Build an electric double-layer capacitor from activated carbon and sodium sulfate, then charge, discharge, and estimate its capacitance

Difficulty	advanced
Time (min)	90
Hazard	moderate

Ferrofluid Synthesis

Precipitate magnetite nanoparticles from iron salts and suspend them in oil to make a magnetic liquid

Difficulty	advanced
Time (min)	120
Hazard	moderate

Making Sodium Metal Without Electrolysis

metal

Reduce sodium hydroxide with magnesium metal to isolate real sodium — two documented routes, no electrolysis cell

Difficulty	advanced
Time (min)	480
Hazard	high

Citric Acid Volcano

Classic fizzing acid-base reaction

Difficulty	beginner
Time (min)	5
Hazard	low

Limewater CO₂ Test

Classic test for carbon dioxide in breath

Difficulty	beginner
Time (min)	5
Hazard	low

CO₂ Density Demonstration

Pour invisible gas to extinguish candles

Difficulty	beginner
Time (min)	10
Hazard	low

Elephant Toothpaste

12% hydrogen peroxide erupts into a tower of foam in seconds — a spectacular catalytic decomposition

Difficulty	beginner
Time (min)	10
Hazard	moderate

Iodine from Sodium Iodide

Oxidize colorless iodide ions to orange-brown elemental iodine, then confirm with a starch test

Difficulty	beginner
Time (min)	10
Hazard	moderate

Slime

polymers

Cross-linked polymer demonstrating non-Newtonian behavior

Difficulty	beginner
Time (min)	10
Hazard	low

Tyndall Effect

colloids

Shine a laser through a true solution and a colloid to make the difference between them visible

Difficulty	beginner
Time (min)	10
Hazard	low

Blue Bottle Reaction

Reversible redox reaction that cycles indefinitely

Difficulty	beginner
Time (min)	15
Hazard	moderate

Cobalt Invisible Ink

invisible-ink

Write hidden messages that appear and vanish with heat

Difficulty	beginner
Time (min)	15
Hazard	moderate

Density Column

Layer six immiscible liquids in a tall glass to build a visible density gradient, then float objects at their natural level

Difficulty	beginner
Time (min)	15
Hazard	low

Ethylene and Fruit Ripening

Observe how ethylene gas speeds ripening and wilts flowers

Difficulty	beginner
Time (min)	15
Hazard	low

Flame Tests

spectroscopy

Metal ion identification by flame color

Difficulty	beginner
Time (min)	15
Hazard	moderate

Halide Precipitation

Identify chloride, bromide, and iodide ions by precipitate color

Difficulty	beginner
Time (min)	15
Hazard	moderate

Invisible Ink

invisible-ink

Heat-revealed secret messages with citric acid

Difficulty	beginner
Time (min)	15
Hazard	low

Milk of Magnesia Rainbow

Dramatic color-changing neutralization reaction

Difficulty	beginner
Time (min)	15
Hazard	low

Prussian Blue Synthesis

Create the first synthetic pigment

Difficulty	beginner
Time (min)	15
Hazard	moderate

Vanishing Glass: Refractive-Index Matching

Make a Pyrex rod disappear inside a beaker of glycerin by matching how the two bend light

Difficulty	beginner
Time (min)	15
Hazard	low

Humidity Indicator

Make color-changing paper that responds to moisture

Difficulty	beginner
Time (min)	20
Hazard	moderate

Golden Rain

Dissolve lead(II) iodide in hot water, then watch brilliant golden crystals rain down as it cools

Difficulty	beginner
Time (min)	20
Hazard	high

Instant Ice Cream: Freezing-Point Depression

Use salt to push an ice bath below 0 °C and freeze cream into smooth ice cream in minutes — a tasty demonstration of a colligative property

Difficulty	beginner
Time (min)	20
Hazard	low

Iodine Clock

Two clear solutions combine and stay clear — then suddenly turn dark blue all at once

Difficulty	beginner
Time (min)	20
Hazard	moderate

Iron Gall Ink

Make the ink of Leonardo da Vinci and the Magna Carta

Difficulty	beginner
Time (min)	20
Hazard	moderate

Stoplight Reaction

Indigo carmine cycles through yellow, red, green, and blue as glucose reduces it and oxygen reoxidizes it — reversible on demand by shaking

Difficulty	beginner
Time (min)	20
Hazard	moderate

Water Softening

Remove hardness from water using sodium carbonate and compare soap lather

Difficulty	beginner
Time (min)	20
Hazard	low

Anthotype: Photographs from Plant Pigments

Print an image using nothing but crushed petals, berries, or turmeric and weeks of sunlight — photochemistry with no darkroom

Difficulty	beginner
Time (min)	30
Hazard	low

Copper Reduction — Metal Displacement

Displace copper from solution with a more reactive metal, from a quick iron-nail demo to complete replacement with aluminum

Difficulty	beginner
Time (min)	30
Hazard	moderate

Kitchen Emulsions: Mayonnaise, Butter & Vinaigrette

colloids

Build a permanent oil-in-water emulsion, watch an unstable one separate, and break an emulsion apart into butter — all with an emulsifier’s help

Difficulty	beginner
Time (min)	30
Hazard	low

Gallium: The Metal That Melts in Your Hand

metal

Melt a metal at body temperature, then watch a drop of it crumble aluminum foil into confetti

Difficulty	beginner
Time (min)	30
Hazard	low

Menthol Crystal Patterns

Grow dendritic crystals from molten menthol and feathery sublimation needles on a cold surface

Difficulty	beginner
Time (min)	30
Hazard	low

Oil Film — Measuring a Molecule

surface

Estimate the length of an oleic acid molecule by spreading a thin film on water

Difficulty	beginner
Time (min)	30
Hazard	low

Paper Chromatography

separation

Separate the hidden colors in markers and food dye by letting solvent wick up a paper strip

Difficulty	beginner
Time (min)	30
Hazard	low

Sulfur Crystal Polymorphism

Grow monoclinic sulfur needles from the melt, quench plastic sulfur in cold water, and compare all three physical forms of the same element

Difficulty	beginner
Time (min)	30
Hazard	moderate

Sulfur Dioxide: Bleaching & Preserving

Release SO₂ from a spoonful of powder to fade a flower, then stop cut fruit from browning

Difficulty	beginner
Time (min)	30
Hazard	moderate

Surfactants: How Soap Actually Cleans

surface

See surface tension break, grease emulsify into micelles, and soap fail in hard water — the molecular machinery behind every cleaning product

Difficulty	beginner
Time (min)	30
Hazard	low

Kitchen Gels: Gelatin, Agar & Pectin

polymers

colloids

Turn liquids into solids three ways — a protein gel, a seaweed polysaccharide gel, and the sugar-acid-pectin gel of jam — and see why each sets differently

Difficulty	beginner
Time (min)	45
Hazard	low

Denaturing Proteins: Cheese, Ceviche & Milk Plastic

Use acid and agitation to unfold and re-network proteins — curdling cheese, ‘cooking’ fish without heat, whipping meringue, and moulding milk into plastic

Difficulty	beginner
Time (min)	45
Hazard	low

Homemade Battery Cells

Build a progression of galvanic cells — lemon, salt-water, and the classic Daniell cell — and measure how the electrochemical series…

Difficulty	beginner
Time (min)	45
Hazard	low

Dissolution Thermochemistry

Systematically measure which salts heat or cool water — and calculate why

Difficulty	beginner
Time (min)	45
Hazard	low

Natural pH Indicators from Plant Pigments

Extract red cabbage, hibiscus, beet, and turmeric pigments, map their colours across the whole pH scale, and dry your own indicator paper

Difficulty	beginner
Time (min)	45
Hazard	low

Chemical Garden

Colorful silicate growths that look like plants

Difficulty	beginner
Time (min)	60
Hazard	moderate

Cyanotype Photogram

Make camera-less photographs using sunlight and iron chemistry

Difficulty	beginner
Time (min)	60
Hazard	moderate

Limescale Removal — Acids vs. Minerals

applied

Compare how different acids dissolve calcium carbonate — the chemistry behind descalers

Difficulty	beginner
Time (min)	60
Hazard	moderate

The pH Landscape

Map the full acid-base spectrum using natural indicators and household chemicals

Difficulty	beginner
Time (min)	60
Hazard	low

Yeast Fermentation

Watch yeast produce CO₂ and alcohol

Difficulty	beginner
Time (min)	120
Hazard	low

Stain Removal Testing

applied

Systematically compare cleaning agents on different stains — enzyme action, temperature, and oxidative bleaching

Difficulty	beginner
Time (min)	180
Hazard	low

Sugar & Heat: Caramel, Maillard & Honeycomb

organic

Brown sugar two different ways — pure caramelization versus the Maillard reaction — and aerate molten sugar into honeycomb candy with baking soda

Difficulty	intermediate
Time (min)	30
Hazard	moderate

Hard Water Titration

Measure water hardness using EDTA chelation

Difficulty	intermediate
Time (min)	30
Hazard	moderate

Spherification

polymers

Molecular gastronomy gel spheres

Difficulty	intermediate
Time (min)	30
Hazard	low

Water Electrolysis

Split water into hydrogen and oxygen gases

Difficulty	intermediate
Time (min)	30
Hazard	moderate

Copper Electroplating

Drive a redox reaction backwards with a power supply to deposit a bright, even copper coating onto a metal object

Difficulty	intermediate
Time (min)	45
Hazard	moderate

Fractional Crystallization

separation

Separate two salts by exploiting different solubility curves

Difficulty	intermediate
Time (min)	45
Hazard	moderate

The Many Colors of Permanganate

A single compound spans five oxidation states — track the color changes as pH and reducing agents drive manganese from deep purple to green, brown, and colorless

Difficulty	intermediate
Time (min)	45
Hazard	moderate

Caffenol Film Development

Develop black and white film with coffee, vitamin C, and washing soda

Difficulty	intermediate
Time (min)	60
Hazard	moderate

The Many Colors of Copper

A tour through eight distinct copper compounds, from brick-red metal to vivid green malachite

Difficulty	intermediate
Time (min)	60
Hazard	moderate

Growing a Large Single Crystal

The seed-crystal method for growing one big, gem-like crystal from alum, copper sulfate, or other salts — plus how to pick a compound

Difficulty	intermediate
Time (min)	60
Hazard	low

Instant Ice Crystallization

Hot ice from supersaturated sodium acetate — trihydrate and anhydrous routes

Difficulty	intermediate
Time (min)	60
Hazard	low

Weighing Water in Air — Gravimetric Humidity

Use calcium chloride as a desiccant to capture and weigh the water vapor in a known volume of air, calibrated against a known mass of water

Difficulty	intermediate
Time (min)	60
Hazard	low

Indigo Vat Dyeing

Redox dyeing - watch fabric turn blue in air

Difficulty	intermediate
Time (min)	60
Hazard	moderate

The Many Colors of Iron

A tour through seven iron compounds — from grey metal to blue-black ink and orange rust

Difficulty	intermediate
Time (min)	60
Hazard	moderate

Metal Ions and Plant Pigments

Use natural pigments to detect iron, mordant-dye fabric, and map how metal ions shift the whole pH–colour response

Difficulty	intermediate
Time (min)	60
Hazard	moderate

Titanium Anodizing

Grow a controlled oxide layer on titanium using voltage — and dial in vivid interference colors with no dyes or pigments

Difficulty	intermediate
Time (min)	60
Hazard	moderate

Van Dyke Brown Print

A 19th-century iron-silver printing process that turns sunlight into warm sepia images on plain paper

Difficulty	intermediate
Time (min)	60
Hazard	moderate

Glauber’s Salt — Thermal Energy Storage

Sodium sulfate decahydrate as a phase change material: retrograde solubility, supersaturation, and latent heat

Difficulty	intermediate
Time (min)	90
Hazard	low

Salted Paper Print

Make photographs the way Fox Talbot did in 1834 — silver chloride printed out by sunlight

Difficulty	intermediate
Time (min)	120
Hazard	moderate

Simple Distillation

separation

Separate pure water from a colored salt solution by boiling and condensing the vapor

Difficulty	intermediate
Time (min)	120
Hazard	moderate

Make Soap — Saponification

React vegetable oil with sodium hydroxide to produce real soap and glycerol

Difficulty	intermediate
Time (min)	180
Hazard	moderate

Pinhole Box Camera