Okay, let’s dive into what I did today with some chemicals. This is part three, so you can imagine I’ve been messing around with this stuff for a while now.
I started my day by grabbing all my gear. I pulled out my containers, some measuring tools, and a few different chemicals I wanted to play with. The main goal today was to see how different substances react when you mix them together. Nothing too crazy, just some basic reactions that you might have seen in school.
First, I measured out some baking soda and poured it into a small beaker. Then I added some vinegar. Man, if you’ve never seen this, it’s pretty cool! It fizzed up like crazy, almost overflowing. I made a mental note to use a bigger beaker next time or maybe just use less of each substance. That was a simple acid-base reaction, nothing too fancy.
Next, I wanted to see what would happen if I mixed salt and water. I took a spoonful of regular table salt and stirred it into a glass of water. It dissolved pretty quickly. I kept adding more salt until it wouldn’t dissolve anymore. This was to see how much salt the water could hold before it became saturated. I even jotted down the amounts in my notebook so I can compare it with other solutions later.
- Mixing baking soda and vinegar.
- Result: Lots of fizzing!
- Observation: Need a bigger container.
- Mixing salt and water.
- Result: Salt dissolves.
- Observation: Water can only hold so much salt.
After that, I decided to try something a bit different. I took a piece of magnesium ribbon and lit it with a match. Now, this is where things get interesting. It burned with a super bright light. I made sure to wear safety glasses because you really shouldn’t look directly at it. Once it cooled down, the magnesium turned into this white powdery ash. It’s a completely different substance now. That’s a chemical change for you – the magnesium reacted with oxygen in the air.
Things I Noticed
I observed that not all reactions are the same. Some are fast and flashy, like the magnesium burning. Others are slow and subtle, like salt dissolving in water. The baking soda and vinegar thing was somewhere in between. I also learned the hard way that you should always be prepared for a mess and use the right-sized containers.
I wrapped up my experiments for the day by cleaning everything up. Safety first, you know? I made sure all the chemicals were stored properly, and I washed all the containers. It’s important to leave things tidy, especially when you’re dealing with chemicals.
Overall, it was a fun day of experimenting. I didn’t discover anything groundbreaking, but I got a better understanding of how different substances behave. There’s something satisfying about seeing these reactions with your own eyes. Plus, I have a bunch of notes for my next round of experiments. I’m thinking of trying something with copper sulfate next time. We’ll see how that goes!
