Chemical chameleon

This is a one very neat trick. I decided to use it this year, on the Researcher's Night in Bulgaria (I am going to give a talk about the science of Zlatka - The Golden Girl. This is a Bulgarian fairy tale - I don't want to write it entirely here, but the most crucial "scene" of it includes a magical river which changes color.

The trick is very simple - you only need potassium permanganate, sodium hydroxide and sugar - they are all obtainable from stores (except for the caustic soda.. I don't know where do they sell it, but in Bulgaria it is still widely used for home soap making by senior people). The scientific explanation is: The sugar is dissolved in water and the base is added to oxidize it. Then, when the potassium permanganate is added the permanganate ions are reduced - there are many steps - it first becomes a manganate turning from purple to green and then it is reduced to manganese oxide - which is yellowish.

Visually - the colors are magnificent. I am sorry for the poor quality of my camera. There are no manual settings for the white balance so things don't look good here.

I just want to mention that the device used for the demonstration (stirring, illumination) is built by me, especially for demonstration purposes.

Sorry for the lack of sound, but anyway... for me, I always listen to my music when watching such clips :)

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Chemical
• Chameleon
• Trick
• Chemistry
• Demonstration
• Colors
• Permanganate

[YellowCakeKid]

why is ur water brown

[BozhidarStefanov]

@YellowCakeKid Because I live in Bulgaria, duh....

[FrozenHaxor2]

Yeah, your "water" is a real chemical.

[MrLol333]

it's a redox reaction. the hydrolyzed sugar reduces the permanganat ion in alkaline environment in the first step to the greenish manganate ion, then it further reacts to manganese dioxide, which is the yellowish colour. But in a acidic environment the permanganate reacts to the colourless Mn^2+ ion.

[nosyarlin]

how long does it take to change color?

[JerryGiesler09]

For those who think this is fake, It's NOT the led's that's changing in color. It's the solution that is changing in color.

[melnadiacillian]

@Fifaboy5433 you said youtubthan was wrong but you are wrong.you get sodiun acetate when baking powder and vinegar are mixed.you just try mixing salt and vinegar and make hot ice.no dont.it does not work

[Fifaboy5433]

@YOUTUBTHAN sodium acetate is a product of salt and vinegar so no, you should use NaOH (lye)

[YOUTUBTHAN]

let me ask you something.... you say to add some sodium base... can you tell me if sodium acetate would work as well????

[szafranizm]

For the first 1.20 min I thought that is instruction "How to prepare tee on your own"

[Swizz884]

Интересно : )))

[Billybob9601]

Sometimes when people do these kind of things without a real explanation, I think they're just changing their lighting