Science Experiments! Created 14 years ago2010-06-19 19:18:40 UTC by Striker

Hey, it's summer! Time for some kickass experiments!

Who doesn't like science?
Boooooo, get out of here we hate science!
Awww, come on, a little bit? A little little little little little bit?

I'd like to discuss about, well, experiments in this thread. Give ideas! Have you ever made something cool? Post the story here!
I'm really bored sometimes, and if we could share ideas on this subject I'd be happy. Please don't come up with suggestions as making a teleporter. Let's stay in the boundaries of practical, possible, home-made experiments.

Some time ago I posted this video about making oxygen. I want to use the same method, but with a little more complex apparatus to separate the liquid(water) into 2 containers(plastic bottles). One will represent the anode(hydrogenbubbling) and one the cathode(releasing oxygen). I'm mainly interested in hydrogen now, I want to collect in a plastic bag or balloon :).

I also discovered a weird, but fun, way to make KNO3([url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kno3]potassium nitrate[/url]). It's a [url=http://www.ssrsi.org/Onsite/PrimNG/chem1.htm]medieval method[/url]. Smelly one I guess :D, as it involves animal waste. But I'd do it our of curiosity. KNO3 combined with sugar is an excellent rocket fuel(actually I wouldn't do this, but KNO3 is very hard to find).

Make a digital clock using a PIC microcontroller

That would be cool, but unfortunately due to financial problems such an experiment is out of my reach :(. I know a bunch of sites where I can buy electronic and robotic equipment, but yeah, money problems :P.
[EDIT] Btw, I'm wrong there, at the anode is oxygen and at the cathode is hydrogen. I'm always confused with anodes\cathodes :D.

There's too many smileys on this thread.

inb4smileyflood

Make a pair of THESE:(Yes, i am a diehard SC fan)

It wouldn't be too hard to make night vision goggles, but it would be relatively expensive, and they wouldn't look as the ones in the pic.

They aren't night vision goggles, they're trifocal goggles with night vision, IR Vision, and 'wave vision'.

EDIT: Or was it EM vision? Donno all the names, whatever, make them (functional or not) and you will be winrar.

Night vision and Infra-Red; Possible, but bloody expensive, and home made ones would weigh a tonne. With EM, very unlikely.

Hey, like i said, they don't have to be functional, but i suppose that completely takes away the point of using it for a SCIENCE EXPERIMENT.

+ striker never said anything about price... C:

But I said

Let's stay in the boundaries of practical, possible, home-made experiments.

It would be pretty practical and home-made. Get a cheap camcorder with night mode, some infra-red diodes, some other easily obtainable items, stick them together on a headstrap and you've got yourself some night-vision goggles.

Create concorde using only a bathtub.

^ Is this silly ideas thread?

Do an experiment involving alot of coke and alot of mentos and film it.

OH IS THIS THREAD SERIOUS? Sorry, my bad.

It would be pretty practical and home-made. Get a cheap camcorder with night mode, some infra-red diodes, some other easily obtainable items, stick them together on a headstrap and you've got yourself some night-vision goggles.

Oh, then you mean something like this?

Yesterday I discovered a faster, simpler way of producing hydrogen without all that electrolysis hustle. I hope I can get my hands on some NaOH tomorrow, because NaOH+H2O+Al=> lots of heat and H2 and other substances that are hard to write(something like NaAl(OH) but I may be wrong). I just put them in a bottle, then cover the bottle with a balloon! How cool is that?

[EDIT] Well, I was at my grandmother today and I found out she had some old NaOH from some time ago when she made soap. It was nearly rock solid, so I could only scratch some NaOH from that rock. I didn't make the above experiment(I plan on doing it tomorrow), instead I made something... "bombastic".

So this is what I did: Placed NaOH in a 0,5l glass bottle half-filled with warm water, then quickly added some aluminium foil. Shaked the bottle a little bit and the reaction started immediately. It started making a lot of H2 and foam, but it wasn't sufficient for what I wanted(I placed only a small quantity of NaOH)- a continuous flame coming from the mouth of the bottle.
So instead I placed a cover on the bottle's mouth- hydrogen built up inside. After about 1 minute, I took the cover and came near with a match.

I wasn't expecting that: it exploded into a flame about 20 cm high(the flame could be seen even inside the bottle) with a loud bang. It really scared the shit out of me, and I wonder what would've happened if I let the hydrogen build more in quantity... I really feel lucky that bottle didn't explode.

So anyway, tomorrow I'm going to buy some balloons and fill them with hydrogen.

ITT some kid kills himself doing 'experiments'.

Yeah, don't blow yourself to smithereens...

Well, today(ehm, yestarday, 12:04 now :D) I filmed it. Again, wasn't what I expected, I was left a bit dissappointed. I tried to lift balloons into air but it seems those balloons were just too small.
Oh well, maybe another time I'll buy bigger ones and do it again on a greater scale in my grandmother's backyard.
I still made the balloon explode though.

So here's the video posted on my blog.

Remember the Hindenburg? It ran on Hydrogen.

There's a reason why they're using it as a replacement for fossile fuel.

I doubt anyone of us REMEMBER Hindenburg

It ran on Hydrogen.

There's a reason why they're using it as a replacement for fossile fuel.

1) It used Hydrogen to stay aloft.
2) They're NOT using it as a replacement yet, though with the proper materials and design for an engine, It would be a great source.

Striker, blow up something else!

1) It used Hydrogen to stay aloft.

And that's why it ended up the way it did.

Good reason to handle the big H with care.

There's a reason why they're using it as a replacement for fossile fuel.

Space Rockets do :>

Other than that, it's just too unsafe to use in a common vehicle. At least until a better solution is found. I hear they made quite a good motorcycle prototype which runs on hydrogen. Cant provide the source tho

The company i worked for over the summer had a Honda Civic That ran straight off hydrogen.

@Madcow. Who told you it's too unsafe? The oil companies? I thought so. Cars run on gasoline not vinager. Isn't it just as unsafe? Yet it has worked just fine for a century. I'm almost sure that the only reason we're not all driving Hydrogen cars right now is that the large oil monopolies are pushing it back.

Remember the Hindenburg?

How old are you?

Space Rockets do :>

Isn't liquid oxygen the more common rocket propellant?

And that's why it ended up the way it did.

Yeah, but it didn't run off hydrogen as a fuel. Minor correction that has no real bearing on anything.

I'm almost sure that the only reason we're not all driving Hydrogen cars right now is that the large oil monopolies are pushing it back.

I am completely sure of that.

Isn't liquid oxygen the more common rocket propellant?

Nope. it's the oxidant. Oxygen doesn't burn, it simply facilitates burning.

@Jeff - the point was that had it run on Helium like modern dirigibles do, it wouldn't have faced the same fate.

Also, the skin of the Hindenburg was coated with a rocketfuel. At least that's the conclusion of the Mythbusters.

I made a fishing reel out of knex. A big gear span a smaller one giving it about a 2.5 to 1 ratio I think. Kinda more mechanical than scientific but really cool. I'll post a pic later.

@DiscoStu: If you've ever experimented with hydrogen than you'd know that it ignites much easier than gasoline. And it releases much more energy.
Also, it's a gas, making it harder to handle.
Even tho what you are saying probably is correct, if it werent for the oilcompanys we'd probably use an alternative fuel, I have to say that hydrogen isn't anywere near as safe as gasoline. At least that's my opinion which is somewhat based on experience

Also, it's a gas, making it harder to handle.

Knowing the fact that it's lighter than air, you can manage the handling pretty well... Umm, at least in small home experiments

Another possible future fuel, besides hydrogen, is methanol. But it's highly toxic because of the way it is decomposed in our body, so it's not a viable solution.