Science Matters: 3 Cool Fire Experiments you can Perform at Home
Do you have a science fair coming up? Are you bored and you just want to do something really cool? Well down below are 3 cool, and easy experiments you can do, with fire. Remember when experimenting with fire to keep some sort of substance to put out a fire, if you do something wrong. Some of these experiments are outside, and some of them are inside ones. The 3 experiments I will be writing about are The Fire Seesaw, The Black Snake experiment, and Green Fire. CAUTION: remember when using or experimenting with fire not to try to change or manipulate the experiments. Some of these experiments can become extremely dangerous if you try to change or alter the experiment. Perform the experiment the exact way it says. Don’t forget to grab something like a fire extinguisher, a bucket of water, a garden hose, anything that would put out a fire. Also remember to only perform the experiment with ADULT SUPERVISION! So put together the experiments and watch the amazing results.
1: The Fire Seesaw
For this experiment, you will need two plastic cups, a nail, a candlestick, and a lighter. First, you poke the nail through the middle of the candlestick. Then you put out the two cups and place the nail on top of the cups. Next, you take the lighter and you light both ends of the candle (if you light both ends at the same time, the experiment will not work right). You might want to lay something under the candle like a couple pieces of paper or something so that it will catch the wax when it drips from the candle. Now, how does this experiment work? Well, according to stevespanglerscience.com, “the rotational action of the Candle Seesaw comes from the changing mass of the candles—potential energy that gets turned into rotational kinetic energy” (www.stevespanglerscience.com). As the candle wax drips, the candle starts to lose energy.
2: The Black Snake Experiment
Do you ever buy the boxes of black snakes from firework tents around the 4th of July? Well now, you don’t have to wait a full year to do it again, you can make your own black snake at home. If you don’t want pieces of the snake in your house, maybe this would be a better outside experiment. So, here are the materials you will need. You will need some sand, baking soda, sugar, and some isopropyl alcohol (find at Walmart, click link to view details), a lighter, and a plate or a plastic pie tin from Walmart. You also need a few measuring cups, you will need 2 tablespoons, a spoon, and some sort of cup. First, you mix 4 tablespoons of sugar with 1 tablespoon of baking soda. Then, you pour some sand into a plate, pie tin or some other flat container, and you want to put the sand in a mountain shape. After that, you take a spoon and turn the tip of the mound of sand into a dip (picture..). After that, pour some of the isopropyl alcohol on the sand. Next, you pour the cup of the mixed baking soda and sugar into the dip in the sand. Then, you take the lighter and you ignite the mixture. Now, you watch as a black snake emerges from the sand. According to the text, “When baking soda is heated to a specific temperature carbon dioxide gas is released. The pressure created from the release of the carbon dioxide gas causes the snake to grow. The snake gets its black appearance due to the sugar being caramelized by the heat.
3: Green Fire
What you will need to make green fire is a liquid measuring cup, some Heet gas-line antifreeze & water remover (click for details on which one to buy), Borax, a lighter, a spoon, and 1 tablespoon. First, measure out a tablespoon of Borax and dump the tablespoon of Borax in the liquid measuring cup. Then, pour some of the antifreeze into the liquid measuring cup. Then take the spoon and stir up the mixture. Before you light the mixture on fire, consider turning off the lights so that you will see it better. Now all you have to do is take the lighter and light the mixture. Now how exactly does this experiment work? Well, instructables.com says “Because, Boric Acid is a boron containing compound… Any boron-containing compound will cause flames to emit a green colour. When boron compounds are heated, electrons absorb a certain amount of heat energy that causes them to jump to higher energy levels” (www.instructables.com).
So, the next time your science teacher tells you it’s time to do another science experiment, try one of these cool experiments and see if it blows your teacher’s mind. Besides, lot’s of people do the same experiment like Coke and Mentos and sometimes your teacher may get tired of the same experiments over and over. If you do a popular experiment that everybody does than your teacher will already know what will happen and they will not be as impressed. However, if you do a different experiment like one of these, maybe you will surprise your teacher and they might even learn something that they didn’t know. Although if you are going to do one of these experiments, make sure you know why it turned out the way it did. For more information about these experiments, go to the following youtube links: