Household Chemical Reaction

Etching your own circuit boards is tons of fun, but etching requires strong chemicals to dissolve the copper plating on blank circuit boards. The normal ferric chloride solution works well, but can be expensive and leaves permanent stains. Luckily, we can whip up our own etcha ...more

Taking apart batteries is one of those things that every adult you've ever known has warned you against. Today, we break the taboo and dive into a lithium battery. Lithium has some pretty cool properties—it burns instantly in water and glows blindly bright under flame. And wit ...more

Glow sticks, a popular favor at parties and outdoor events, and a must-have on Halloween, can be traced back to the United States Navy in the mid-1960s. The military desired improved visibility during night operations, and glow sticks, with their small-size portability and lac ...more

Impossible, right? Ahh, well science says fire and ice can and do coexist. The Science of this experiment:Dry ice at -109ºF, is frozen carbon dioxide (CO2), not water (H2O). Dry ice is also much colder than a freezer ice cube. To be exact it is almost as cold as Earth's cold ...more

In this guide, you'll learn how to make your own boric acid from borax and other common chemicals to produce a green flame when mixed with methanol. Video: . Green Fire Safety Information Boric acid is a relatively safe household chemical. This is an outdoor project. There is ...more

Why? Tricks the eye into thinking the impossible is as simple a single chemical reaction. Categorizing this tutorial is one of the great challenges for an internet librarian: magic trick or science experiment? Our crew made our own hot ice lab, which in effect ruined the ki ...more

Fist full of pennies weighing you down? This will certainly make your pockets lighter. Watch this chemical reaction as the zinc core of the penny dissolves without destroying the copper outer shell. It's illegal to do in the U.S. on American coins, so use a Canadian coin. ...more

Video: . ?The following are 5 practical jokes you can set up on your friends and family, All these pranks involve sodas so make sure you have a few handy if you want to try out these pranks. Just a little warning, 4 out of the 5 pranks showcased in this intractable are pretty ...more

A fire snake, also referred to as a black snake or sugar snake, is a classic science experiment you can do right in your own kitchen using a baking soda and sugar mixture and a fuel to ignite the reaction. When the baking soda gets hot, it makes carbon dioxide gas. The pressu ...more

Foodies and big-time chefs like Thomas Keller go crazy for fleur de sel. This finishing salt appears in fancy eateries and cookbooks the world over, and in the early 2000s, it was not uncommon to see diners in a high-end restaurant sprinkle a pinch of fleur de sel on their pla ...more

This one starts out pretty tame with the water prank. But rest assured, the second round pen prank satisfies. We very much appreciate the 'safety' of adding water to the pen body in case the flame gets out of control. Nobody laughs at third degree burns. NextRaker is one of o ...more

Want a to make any drink into a delicious semi-frozen drink called a slushy? Usually this means putting your desired drink in the freezer and waiting until it reaches the desired state of being frozen. However, with this awesome method you can have a frozen slushy drink in jus ...more

There's nothing worse than biting excitedly into your indulgent restaurant-style burger only to find a soggy mess of a bun on your plate. The conundrum of keeping a patty moist but bun dry has perplexed home cooks and chefs alike, and even top burger joints are guilty of soggy ...more

If you're careless and tend to leave your knives lying around or in the sink, chances are you've struggled with rusty blades. Water, as it turns out, is enemy number one when it comes to keeping your knives in mint condition. To be more specific, leaving water on them for a p ...more

Ramen has always been a go-to meal for frugal foodies, college students, and anyone else who loves a soothing, cheap, and easy meal. And while instant ramen is delicious (and can easily be improved), making a simple homemade ramen is even better, and nearly as easy. Most peop ...more

It's a shame that one of the world's tastiest foods can be such a pain to prep. Most cooks are familiar with this conundrum: chopping or crushing garlic releases a pungent liquid that causes bits of garlic to stick your knife and hands, creating a messy affair. So what is goin ...more

Things smell, and whether or not those things smell good or not is up to you. For lingering food odors on your hands, try using stainless steel or coffee grounds to remove the stench. To de-stink smelly jars, use mustard and water. For cutting boards, use lemons and salt, and ...more

The Great Barrier Reef in Australia is the largest living system on the planet. Yet more than 90% of the reef is bleaching because of the loss of a tiny algae that lives within the coral. After three serious bleaching events in 1998, 2002, and 2016, the Great Barrier Reef is ...more

Caramel is delicious, but it can be a tricky flavor to incorporate into baking. Traditionally, caramel is a liquid, and that doesn't always suit dessert preparation since adding extra liquid to baked goods can ruin them. So how do you get that buttery, toffee-like flavor? Ent ...more

Step aside, ginger ale; ginger beer is here, and it's delicious. Ginger beer is made by fermenting a combination of ginger simple syrup, yeast, and water, which gives it its robust flavor and sparkling quality. It's extremely simple to make, but you do have to wait a bit for ...more

In the perpetual search for a renewable and convenient energy source, our bacterial friends have once again stolen the limelight. Since bacteria multiply so fast, they are the ultimate renewable resource. And since they are living organisms, their metabolism produces by-produ ...more

For so many of us, bakeware is bakeware. As long as it's oven safe and able to tolerate the high heat, it's fine to bake in, right? Wrong! Don't Miss: 7 Must-Know Guidelines Bakers Swear By There's more to bakeware than we realize: the different casserole pans, baking sheet ...more

How do I get rid of these zits?! Whether its pimples, blackheads, or whiteheads, the name is the same, and the name is acne. If you have acne, you are not alone. According to the American Academy of Dermatology, about 50 million people are impacted by acne vulgaris each year. ...more

If I were to write a snickerdoodle FAQ list, the top question would undoubtedly be "Do I really need to use cream of tartar in my snickerdoodle cookies?" Don't Miss: 5 Baking Substitutions Every Home Cook Should Know I dug deep into the baking science world to find out why ...more

The headline above may have some spice addicts shaking their heads, but, believe it or not, there are people out there who either don't like or can't handle a ton of spice. And even heat lovers sometimes add more spice to a recipe than intended—so check out these handy method ...more

Minor mishaps occur all the time in the kitchen, whether you cut your finger while dicing an onion, scorched your hand in a grease fire, or burned the roof of your mouth because you were to eager to taste-test your killer pasta sauce. While the old standbys of ibuprofen, band ...more

Two slices of whole-wheat toast with lots of butter. Two eggs, poached to a firm yet custardy texture. The yolks should absolutely not be hard-cooked and the whites should be tender, not rubbery. That's my idea of the perfect breakfast. A golden, runny-but-not-liquid yolk, cre ...more

Bioluminescence — the ability of an organism to produce and emit light — is nature's light show. Plants, insects, fish, and bacteria do it, and scientists understand how. Until now, though, we didn't know how fungi glow. Now, thanks to research led by Zinaida Kaskova in the I ...more

One of the only things I remember from watching Nickelodeon as a kid is the epic green slime. Looking back, I don't know what was so great about it, but every kid my age thought that being drenched in slime would be the coolest thing on earth. Of course, the first thing I did ...more

Garlic: almost every cuisine in the world considers it a staple, and for good reason. Its pungent flavor gives depth and character to food. Dishes made without it seem bland and forgettable. And on top of all that, it's been studied for its potential anti-cancer properties (an ...more

Keeping apples or avocados from browning after being cut is impossible; within minutes of being exposed to air, these fruits (yes, avocado is a fruit) begin to brown. No matter what you try—adding lemon juice, keeping the pits in place, immediately sealing the produce in an ai ...more

Scientists are constantly on the search for new organisms, species, and other types of life. A special group of these researchers, calling themselves "bioprospectors," dive deep into mines to find unique lifeforms with special properties not found anywhere else. Recently, a s ...more

One of the coolest things about chemical reactions is that they can be so unexpected. I mean, who would think you can make water explode? Another common kitchen ingredient that produces a surprising reaction is corn flour. When you touch a flame to a spoonful of corn flour, i ...more

The only thing better than successfully pulling off a new experiment is doing it with household materials. You get to laugh in conceit as professional scientists everywhere spend all their grant money on the same project you just accomplished with some under-the-sink chemicals ...more

Home chemistry is great, but what happens when you forget to label your chemicals? How do you know if you turned a clear glass of ammonia into a clear glass of unobtainium? Chemists have a tool for just that. Litmus paper are small bits of filter paper saturated with a reacti ...more

Glass is one of the least reactive substances known to chemistry. It is the standard container material for almost all lab chemicals because it's so inert. But there are a couple of substances that have strong reactions with glass. Sodium hydroxide, aka solid drain cleaner or ...more

What can't coconut oil do? This edible oil, extracted from the copra or meat of a coconut, has done what most other food, beauty, and health trends have not: demonstrated real lasting power. Indeed, the "superfood" continues to make headlines, with its many uses the subject of ...more

If there ever was a day to eat green candy, St. Patrick's Day would be it. But is there something better than the banality of green candy swarming the streets on St. Patty's Day? Yes—glowing green candy, and Instructables user BrittLiv wants us to show you how it's done. She ...more

The last few months of WikiLeaks controversy has surely peaked your interest, but when viewing the WikiLeaks site, finding what you want is quite a hard task. Despite rumors of easy access via the Kindle and iTunes App Store, there currently is no way to view the leaked docum ...more