What a candle needs to burn

Here is our second video and the first under the title of "Khemistry kid"

It was really interesting to Matthew start to think about why we can't fill the glass up and how that relates to how much oxygen is in the air. I have also noticed that he still remembers what combustion is a few months later....

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Learning about chemistry with purple cabbage

We started a series of video looking at acids and bases. Fittingly we used purple cabbage as our pH indicator. What I love about the first video is that Matthew eats the cabbage during it - this really highlights the important point that everything is made up of chemicals (currently a very 'dirty' word).

Dry ice and pH

I have to admit that the colour change was not a pronounced as I was hoping for with carbon dioxide dissolving to form carbonic acid. In the past I have used other pH indicators which give a much bigger colour change. This is due to the relative high pKa of carbonic acid ~ 6 in contrast to acetic acid in vinegar (pKa ~ 4). I’m keen to repeat this using a different indicator and possibly just blowing into a solution using exhaled carbon dioxide to change the pH. This is a very important demonstration as it simply shows the effect that our carbon dioxide emissions have on the pH of the ocean. Acidification of the oceans is a topic that has not really been raised in the climate change debate but a very serious problem that is looming...

The begining of khemistry kid

This was the first video we made. It really was inspired by #RealTimeChem week and was very spontaneous. I was washing up the dishes watching the oil moving around and changing when I added the dishwashing liquid. I thought - hey I could make a video of this with my son.... Interestingly at first I wasn't going to use the dialogue between me and my son. My wife told me I should and that gave birth to the khemistry kid :-)

Reflections of a chemical dad

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