Do you want to dethrone Harry Potter? Become a Bacterium and teach science to your children in the funniest way
1 . The bill that burns ... and does not burn!
Fun reason : Dad! Mom is burning money! fire! money!...
What it teaches: This fun experiment illustrates the combustion process and the flammability of alcohol.
What do you need:
1 glass with water
1 glass with ethanol (pharmacy alcohol)
1 empty glass to make the mixture
3 pieces of paper 'ticket size'.
1 $ 5 ticket (will not be ...)
a pinch of salt
Some tongs (or laboratory if you are more 'pro', the purpose is not to burn yourself when you turn the ticket)
Lighter
Adult supervision.
Steps to follow:
With the help of the tweezers, take a piece of paper and introduce it first in the glass of water. Take the lighter and try to set it on fire. As you will see, there is no combustion. That's because the water prevents the paper from reaching the ignition temperature needed to burn. But what happens if we add a flammable substance to the game?
Repeat the previous step introducing the paper first in the glass of water and then in the alcohol (with the tweezers eh !, we know each other). When you set it on fire you will see that this time it burns. The first thing that turns on is ethanol (ignition at 78ºC) that is flammable. The water is responsible for 'protecting' the paper (prevents it from reaching a temperature above 100 ° C and burns out).
To give more emotion to the matter, use now the empty glass and the € 5 bill. Make a mixture of 50% water and alcohol and add a pinch of salt (so that the flare is more orange and more showy). Impregnate the paper of that liquid, take it with the tongs and fire! The bill should burn until the alcohol is consumed and then remain intact.