Australian Geographic Forensic Science Lab; Find The 'Poison'

 Show: Find The 'Poison'

Hi everyone! Today we are going to have fun with poison!

It all starts with some sodium bicarbonate. Sodium bicarbonate is a harmless chemical found in baking soda and is what makes cakes rise. When sodium bicarbonate mixes with some water, it doesn't do anything. Only the effect with universal indicator paper is different.

Now another thing we need is some citric acid. Again citric acid  is another harmless chemical found in citrus fruit. 

Both of these aren't real poison, but if we mixed real poison, that would be too dangerous for kids.

When Sodium Bicarbonate is mixed with indicator paper, it turns into a greeny/ bluish colour. This means it is alkaline, which is from colour no. 8-14.

But when Citric acid is mixed with indicator paper, it turns into a reddish/ yellowish/ greenish colour. This means it it acidic, which is from colour no. 1-6.

However, when water touches indicator paper, it turns into a lightish green colour. This indicates Neutral, which is about no. 7.

This experiment is very interesting because you can discover some new ways to know which poison is which. I learnt from the experiment that the pH scale and indicator paper that you can measure how strong acidic or alkaline it is.

This is the video to my experiment:

How to make the Poison experiment:

You will need:

-3 sample tubes

-Universal indicator paper

-Citric acid

-Sodium bicarbonate

-Water

-Gloves/ Tweezers

Cut the indicator paper while holding on with gloves/ tweezers. Do not use hands, microbes on human skin can effect the paper.

Instructions:

1. Add half a tablespoon of citric acid to one sample tube, half a tablespoon of sodium bicarb to another.

2. Leave the third tube empty.

3. Three quarters fill all the tubes with water.

4. Shake all the tubes with the lids on, until all the crystals have disappeared.

5. Get 3 pieces of indicator paper out, and dip each in the tube, and pull out immediately. Wait 10 seconds to let the colour to develop.

Review of: Dairy of a wimpy kid, #16 Big shot

Title: Dairy of a wimpy kid, Book #16 Big shot

Main Charcter: Greg Heffley

Author: Jeff Kinney

Greg Heffley Hasn't liked sports very much in his life, or does he?

His mom, Susan Heffley, has never gave up to make him play sports. She says it's healthy for kids to play outside. But Greg has a different thinking of what his mom says.

Tomorrow is field day at his school, and he's actually taking it seriously because the home prize is a day off school. His brother Rodrick Heffley said last year's field day prize was free Ice-cream, but they raised the stakes this year. So that's why he's lately been going to the gym with his dad, Frank Heffley.

His mom keeps persuading him to do a sport, but all the time Greg has to think is the only skill he has ever done was shooting a napkin into a moving glass from a distance of 7.62m (25ft). So he thought he had some skill in basketball. 

That got her really excited, Because she said when she played basketball at his age, she said he team was really good. Maybe the basketball skill runs in the family.

Greg was glad his mom was excited, but there was another reason Greg picked basketball. There are only 2 teams, with 10 players in one. If you don't make a team, you get cut.

So when he is at tryouts that night, he is surprised to see that he made it. 

When everything is on the line and the ball is in Greg's hands, will he rise to the occasion? Or will he blow his big shot?

I like this book because the book idea is cool. I especially like the part when Greg throws a backward shot in a game, and everyone watches it go through the hoop at the end.

When he was finished, he and his teammates were very happy and celebrating. That taught me a very valuable lesson; If you just look at something and don't actually do it, you won't know if you like it or not. You have to try it to know how it is like, and if you like it at all. That's what happened in the book. He celebrated in the book because he finally tried, and when he did it, he realised he actually liked it. This book is very good, so I give it a big 5/5!