Thursday, January 10, 2008

Science Experiment--Atoms

Take two copper wires. Attach one end of each to a 9V battery. Put the other ends in a glass of water to which baking soda has been added. Immediately, you will see bubbles around the copper ends of each wire. Click on the picture to see the close-up bubbles around the wires. These are the "freed" hydrogen and oxygen atoms, which occur naturally as gases, but are liquid when combined in water molecules:
After ten minutes, the end of one of the wires is covered in green stuff. So much so, that the water turns green, as well: The green end was attached to the positive end of the battery.
Blackeyed Susan learned that the hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon (from the baking soda) atoms combined to form copper hydroxycarbonate. This is the green patina that forms on copper, as in the case of the Statue of Liberty.
Super cool. Super fast. Super scientific. This chick is happy!

1 comment :

Julie said...

OOooh, sending this to my oldest son, the mad scientist, he'll love it.