Chemistry Experiment!

This weekend we completed our third chemistry experiment. The first was making ice cream on the first day of school. The second was watching 2 cups of water over a 3 hour period to see which would freeze faster, the one with salt or the one without. I didn't take any pictures since there wasn't much to see and it was a bit anti-climatic for a child who lives in upstate New York and helps spread salt on the ice in the winter. So we were excited to see the directions for the third experiment which involved electrolosys. First Principal Dad stripped some insulation off copper wire while Maddie and I put some water in a glass jar and taped "lead" from 2 mechanical pencils to the side of the jar.

Then we hooked the wires to a 9volt battery and the ends of the "lead".

We sat back and waited a minute. Then we noticed that little bubbles were forming next to the "lead" in the jar. One had quite a bit more than the other. We concluded that must be the side that had hydrogen and the other oxygen since there is more hydrogen than oxygen in water. Later we found this experiment explained and it said that the hydrogen would be attracted to the negative side of the battery so now we have to hook it up and try it again. Here is the best picture I could get of the bubbles....you might be able to see them if you look carefully.

When we were done Maddie wrote up her summary and conclusions.

It was a lot of fun and we are looking forward to the next experiment! I must say that some things (read Chemistry and long division) are easier the second time around as an adult who has to teach it!