"Where there's smoke, there's fire"

For long it has been said that where there's smoke, there's fire. That all was
before the age of chemistry. Now its not a hard job to produce some nice
thick white smoke without any fire at all.

You only need concentrated ammonia and concentrated hydrochloric acid

solution. Dilutes will also work. If you do not have access to a laboratory or
chemicals, you can get the hydrochloric acid in the open market as muriatic
acid(cleaning agent) and ammonia in blue print shops.

Soak two pieces of cotton wool in each solution and keep them beside each
other and experience the holy smoke.

What actuallly happens is hydrogen chloride gas evolved from hydrochloric

acid and ammonia evaporated from ammonia solution comes in contact each
other in mid-air and forms fine particles of ammonium chloride, which
constitutes the smoke.

Glittering golden crystals at your disposal

Things you'll require:

1. Lead nitrate
2. Potassium iodide
3. Test tubes and a heat source

How to do it:
Take little amount(1/100th of a teaspoon-full, you get the idea) of lead
nitrate and potassium iodide into two test tubes and add little water to
it(1/10th of test tube). Now pour one solution into another one. You will
instantly notice separation of some yellow solid. Now gradually heat and
shake the mixture using a heat source(gas burner, spirit lamp etc). The
yellow solid dissolves. Now stop heating and let it cool down. Observe. You'll
see tiny golden glittering particles forming in the solution. Cool with tap
water for an instant effect!

Why? Lead nitrate and potassium iodide reacts to form lead iodide, which is
soluble in water at higher temperatures but recrystallizes on cooling.

Caution: Lead nitrate as well as lead iodide is toxic. So handle carefully.

 How to clean old oil paintings

Do you have an old oil painting lying in your backyard which you suspect
looked good many years ago? If you observe those old oil paintings, you'll
find many black spots - they are the black lead sulphide, which is the result
of the reaction between airborne hydrogen sulphide and the paints.

You can easily remove those black marks and get a modestly fair painting
from your old one.

Things you'll require:

1. Cotton wool
2. Hydrogen peroxide solution (Can be found at medical stores)

How to do it:
Soak the cotton wool in the hydrogen peroxide solution and rub it gently all
over the paint. The discolored and black spots will go away.

Why? Lead sulphide is reduced by hydrogen peroxide, which removes the

spots.

This is just a very basic method and should only be used for educational or
fun purposes, never for recovering serious paintings.

The elephant toothpaste chemistry demonstration is a dramatic demo which produces copious
amounts of steaming foam that sort of looks like the toothpaste an elephant might use. Here's how to
set up this demonstration and a look at the reaction behind it.

Elephant Toothpaste Materials

 50-100 ml of 30% hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) solution

 saturated potassium iodide (KI) solution
 liquid dishwashing detergent
 food coloring
 500 mL graduated cylinder
 splint (optional)

Safety

Wear disposable gloves and safety glasses. Oxygen is evolved in this reaction, so do not perform this
demonstration near an open flame. Also, the reaction is exothermic, producing a fair amount of heat,
so do not lean over the graduated cylinder when the solutions are mixed. Leave your gloves on
following the demonstration to aid with cleanup. The solution and foam may be rinsed down the drain
with water.

Procedure

1. Put on gloves and safety glasses. The iodine from the reaction may stain surfaces so you
might want to cover your workspace with an open garbage bag or a layer of paper towels.
2. Pour ~50 mL of 30% hydrogen peroxide solution into the graduated cylinder.
3. Squirt in a little dishwashing detergent and swirl it around.
4. You can place 5-10 drops of food coloring along the wall of the cylinder to make the foam
resemble striped toothpaste.
5. Add ~10 mL of potassium iodide solution. Do not lean over the cylinder when you do this, as
the reaction is very vigorous and you may get splashed or possibly burned by steam.
6. You may touch a glowing splint to the foam to to relight it, indicating the presence of oxygen.

Elephant Toothpaste Chemistry

The overall equation for this reaction is:

2 H2O2(aq) --> 2 H2O(l) + O2(g)

However, the decomposition of the hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen is catalzyed by the
iodide ion.

H2O2(aq) + I-(aq) --> OI-(aq) + H2O(l)

H2O2(aq) + OI-(aq) --> I-(aq) + H2O(l) + O2(g)

The dishwashing detergent captures the oxygen as bubbles. Food coloring can color the foam. The
heat from this exothermic reaction is such that the foam may steam. If the demonstration is
performed using a plastic bottle, you can expect slight distortion of the bottle from the heat.