Magic Potion: A Chemistry Story Booth prepared by Benjamin Tee

1. Objectives:
The objective of the science booth is:

To spark the audiences interest towards science

To improve students understanding that science relates directly to daily lives
To develop students soft skills for the working environment through
presentations, teamwork and communication skills

2. Time and Venue:

Time: Every 30 minutes from the opening ceremony, there will be a science
experiment to be conducted by students
Venue: Hall

3. Party involved:
The team who won the science exhibition experiment in the Academic Carnival will
be selected to prepare for the Open Day

4. Experiments
Golden rain experiment, turning water into different juices, Frozen Let It Go, Flying
balloon and Chemistry Rocket
5. Apparatus and Materials

Apparatus: 3 250 ml Conical flask with rubber stopper, 1 pipette,1 kettle and 1 large
beaker for water bath, 1 500ml beaker, 1 basin, 4 50ml beaker, aluminium foil, 5 X
plastic water bottle, a packet of balloon

Chemicals: [0.3g lead nitrate, 0.3g potassium iodide, a few drops of 1M hydrochloric
acid, 200cm3 distilled water], [sodium hydrogen carbonate, phenolphthalein, barium
chloride, potassium dichromate, hydrochloric acid], [lithium, sodium, potassium with
water], [aluminium foil, concentrated sulphuric acid], [hexane, coke, water]

6. Methods

a) Golden rain
1. Dissolve the solids each in 100 cm3 of distilled water. The potassium iodide is in
excess to maximise the chances of precipitating lead ions out of solution and
reducing the possibility of washing away dissolved lead during disposal. The
addition of a few drops of 1M HCl is useful lead carbonate formed in impure
water has a very low solubility and the haziness of its precipitate can ruin the effect.
Demonstration
2. Gather the students around closely or set up a visualiser. Slowly adding the lead
nitrate solution to the potassium iodide solution produces beautiful yellow swirls
that dissipate and redissolve as the lead iodide spreads and dilutes.
3. Next, quickly add the remainder of the lead nitrate. The tiny crystals of lead iodide
that form swirl beautifully in the flask and the concentration gradients combine to
generate an effect that looks like the atmosphere of a glittering gas giant. It really
is impressive to see.
4. The precipitate can be recrystallised to form more homogeneous crystals. Place the
flask in some water at 6070C and all the crystals should dissolve any traces of
cloudiness can be removed by the addition of a few more drops of acid. As the
water cools, stunning golden hexagonal crystals of lead iodide begin to crystallise
to give the golden rain effect. This process can take an hour or more, so return to
the flask later in the lesson or have a pre-prepared sample to hand. The crystals are
best viewed under a collimated light source, such as an overhead projector.

b) Turning water into different juices

1. In beaker A, dissolve sodium hydrogen carbonate into water in excess. Add until
dissolve.
2. In another beaker B, add a few drops of phenolphthalein
3. In yet another beaker C, dissolve a spoonful of barium chloride salt with water
4. In also another beaker D, add potassium dichromate with a few drops of HCl.

Demonstration
5. Pour the content of beaker slowly step by step from A to D to see colour changes.
c) Frozen Let It Go

1. Fill a beaker with water

2. Add lithium into the water and observe the reactions
3. Repeat the procedure for sodium and potassium

d) Flying balloon

1. Soak up acid with plenty of aluminium foil in a plastic water bottle

2. Attach balloon and fill the gas from the bottle.
3. Tie the balloon and set it free to fly.

e) Chemistry Rocket

1. Add hexane into a half-filled coke bottle.

2. Turn the rocket up-side down and set it free to fly.
3. [warning] students need to wear lab coat and goggles and also safety mask and
cap.

7. Cost
Material Cost per unit Unit Cost
Balloon RM 0.20 20 RM 4.00
Coke Rm 2.00 10 RM20.00
Others Available in lab

8. Conclusion
Fundamentals of Chemistry will be mastered by the presenters and hopefully to be
conveyed to the public during the open day.