Do you know how to perform some simple chemistry experiments with everyday materials? If you don’t, we created a list for you to show you and help you choose your favorite one to impress your family and friends.
Chemistry is a very important science branch because you can find it everywhere in the world. Also, it is in the clothes you wear, the food you eat, the water you drink, in the medicines, the air and literally everywhere. Chemistry is often called the central science because it is connecting other sciences to each other for example the environmental science, biology, geology, and physics. If you are more into physics, you should check our list of 10 Simple Physics Experiments with Everyday Materials.
Experiments are part of chemistry, and without them, the world wouldn’t be the same. With experiments, some of the biggest discoveries happened which significantly contributed to the world’s development in many fields.
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However, according to RSPCA organization, not every test experiment is useful because it is tested on an animal which doesn’t guarantee it will be safe for humans as well. How can we really know how the exact chemical would react on people? This organization is against tests on animals. Today, there are some alternative methods which could help the animals and the humans stay safe.
On the other hand, there are experiments which are interesting and fun and they can’t hurt anyone. The experiments on our list of simple chemical experiments with everyday materials could be done at home or at school. Many experiments like these are helping the children to learn how the things are evolving in the chemistry and how the substances can react when they get in touch.
We sincerely don’t recommend for children to do any of the following experiments without an adult supervision because even though they seem safe, there could be some dangerous consequences. Also, we are recommending for those who will be doing the experiments to use a safety equipment regardless whether they are children or adults.
In order to create our list of simple chemistry experiments with everyday materials, we used a YouTube Video by Troom Troom to see what are the chemical experiments you can make at home as well as 3P Learning as our source. After we collected the information from our sources, we sorted our list by the experiments position. The higher one experiment was ranked in each source, the higher it was ranked on our list of simple chemistry experiments with everyday materials as well.
10. Rubber Egg
Materials Needed: Two glasses, egg, and vinegar.
For the rubber egg chemical experiment, the first step you need to do is place an egg in a glass. After you place the egg in the first glass, pour vinegar into the other glass. Next, add the vinegar into the glass with the egg. Let the egg soak in the vinegar for two days. When you pull out the egg from the vinegar, you will see it is soft and the shell is reduced. Peel off the remained shell on the egg and enjoy playing with your rubber egg. Keep in mind that if you pop the egg with something sharp, it will spoil and you can make a huge mess.
9. Burning Money
Materials Needed: rubbing alcohol, a lighter, a towel and a jar.
The burning money experiment number 9 on the list of simple chemistry experiments with everyday materials is not recommended for children to do without an adult supervision. Put the towel into the jar and fill it with rubbing alcohol. The next step is to pull out the towel which was in the rubbing alcohol with something like scissors, don’t touch it with your bare hands. Light the towel on fire and you can see that the fire is actually pink and it is amazing. After you watch it burn for a couple of seconds, you will notice that the towel isn’t burning at all, if you touch it with your hands while it is not on fire it will have the feeling of a laundry dry. Make sure to wear your safety glasses during the whole experiment.
8. Colorful Volcano
Materials Needed: Color, soda, dishwasher and vinegar.
If you want to create something amazing for your children, you can try with the colorful volcano experiment. The first step while doing the colorful volcano experiment is to put different colors in different small glasses. After you do this, put a little bit of a dishwasher in each glass and mix it. The next step is to add one teaspoon of soda in each glass and fill it with vinegar. While you are filling it with vinegar you will notice that the experiment will start reacting immediately.
7. Water Stacking Sugar Density
Materials Needed: Four cups, sugar, and food color.
The most important thing in this experiment number 7 on the list of simple chemistry experiments with everyday materials is the fact that you can try it with different detergents, the result will be the same because the most important thing is their density. The first step is to add sugar in each cup. Add one spoon in the first cup, two spoons in the second cup, three spoons in the third cup and four spoons in the fourth cup. After you finish this step, add 60 ml warm water in each cup and stir it well. You can also microwave the cups for 30 seconds to make sure the sugar is dissolved in the water. Stir them again when you take them out of the microwave and add food coloring into each cup. If you try to put them all together one by one in the same cup, the colors won’t mix because they have different densities and they will create their own layer.
6. Cabbage Chemistry
Materials Needed: red cabbage leaf, water, blender, bowl and a long cylinder to pour the ingredient in it.
Put the red cabbage leaf in a blender full of water and grind it. After you finish blending it, you need to strain it out in a bowl. What you just poured in the bowl is an acid-base indicator. In order to make the cabbage chemistry experiment, you will also need a long cylinder to pour the ingredients in it. After this, you will add a base to it and if you stir it you will notice the water color has changed. Add one piece of dry ice into the cylinder and you will see how the colors will start changing. It is absolutely amazing.
5. Snot Jiggly Slime
Materials needed for our list of simple chemistry experiments with everyday materials: Liquid starch, 2 bowls, water, clear glue (PVA), food color by choice and soda.
Pour a little bit of liquid starch into a bowl and add water. Stir the water and the liquid starch before adding the clear glue into the mix. Stir the ingredients and slowly add a food color by your choice. Stir them until the ingredients blend together and you get a snot jiggly slime. In another bowl firstly add soda, then warm water. Stir the soda and the warm water and let it cool off. Put the previously made colored slime into the bowl with soda and water and take it out after a few seconds. Let it dry and you can enjoy playing with it.
4. Magnetic Fluid
Materials Needed: Laser jet toner, rare-earth magnet, vegetable oil, a cup, small jar
Pour about 50 ml toner into one cup, after this, you need to add about two tablespoons of vegetable oil into the same cup. After you are finished with these two steps, you need to stir the ingredients until you get two thin consistency, however, keep in mind not to make it too thick because it won’t work properly. After you are done stirring, transfer the ingredients into another, smaller jar. The following step is to test the experiment. Take the earth magnet and put it in the bottom and as you probably already noticed the liquid magnetizes and it is creating small needles which pop out. And now, let’s see top three on our list of simple chemistry experiments with everyday materials.
3. Homemade Lava Lamp
Materials Needed: Jar, water, food color, vegetable oil salt,
The first step in this chemical experiment is to fill the jar about ¾ with water and add food color by your choice in the jar. After you finish with this step, add vegetable oil into the jar and salt. Keep in mind that the more vinegar oil and salt you are adding, the most bubbling the experiment will be. This experiment is cheap and very easy, you can make it in order to entertain your children or to make your chemistry class more interesting for the students.
2. Instant Ice
Materials needed for the number two on our list of simple chemistry experiments with everyday materials: Unopened bottle of water, a bowl of ice, clean glass
Let the bottle of water freeze in for about 2 hours and 45 minutes. After taking them out you can see that the water isn’t completely frozen. All the water needs in that moment is a sharp joint to the bottle and you can see the water freezing. You can also do something even more interesting with a bowl of ice. You need to open the bottle gently and pour the water into the bowl which will immediately crystallize and you can create your own ice sculptures. If you want to impress your friends, you can pour the water into a clean glass and drop a little ice right in the center and you can see how the ice crystal begins to grow and it fills the glass completely.
1. Colored Fire
Materials Needed: potassium nitrate (salt substitute) for violet, alcohol (hand sanitizer) for blue, boric acid (roach killer) for green, sodium chloride (table salt) for yellow and a mix of salt and strontium nitrate for orange, and for red, strontium nitrate (red emergency flare).
Keep in mind that you won’t have to use all of the listed materials above in order to do this experiment. Sprinkle the chemicals on a fire-proof surface, add fuel on them and light them on fire. If the colorants are not burning, that means you need to add more fuel if you want to enjoy the rainbow effect. If you want to try this experiment, use with safety equipment and we would recommend you to have an adult supervision.
This was our list of 10 simple chemistry experiments with everyday materials. Keep in mind that you need to have an adult supervision if you want to do them for your own safety.
