Our new MEL Chemistry box arrived, containing tons of color fun! We have already tried two experiments. In the Color changing milk experiment, the soap touches the milk creating a very thin film of soap on the milk’s surface and causing the colors to spread along with it, producing a mesmerising effect. Molecules of soap and other similar substances lower the surface tension of different liquids and thus are called surface-active agents (SAA). Simon took it a notch further and created antibubbles that glide on the film of soap:
We thought this one looked like a nuclear explosion:
The second experiment we did was called Magic Liquid and felt like performing a magic trick: a yellowish liquid poured in five different cups turned five different colors, almost all the colors of the rainbow! The secret was putting a tiny bit of a different chemical substance on the bottom of every cup beforehand. The yellowish stuff was actually Thymol blue, also known as thymolsulfonephthalein (chemical formula C27H30O5S ), a pH indicator, and changed color according the acidity of the substances that were already in the cups. The larger the quantity of protons H+, the higher the acidity of the medium, while the OH– ions are responsible for the basic medium:
Thymol blue molecule visible on the iPad screen:
We also checked the pH of the substances using indicator standard teststrips:
The pH rainbow:
Simon had already been busy with colors for a few days, revisiting his Magformers collection to build this gorgeous color wheel:
We later repeated the MEL Science demos for Simon and Neva precocious friend:
Geeks out of the box 