Cheap Chemicals 4 - Amonium Bicarbonate

This one is interesting. A container filled with 30 grams of ammonium bicarbonate for a couple of bucks found at a grocery store. Apparently its used in baking as a replacement for baking soda. This should be useful in creating ammonium salts by reacting it with the corresponding acid. While house hold ammonia, ammonium hydroxide, also would give an ammonium salt, this has the added benefits of having a built in indicator of when the reaction is complete (it stops bubbling), and coming in smaller, less reactive, quantities, for people who don't like storing large amounts of chemicals.

Cheers, Coolsciencetech

Cheap Chemicals 3 - Aluminum and Zinc

Zinc anode

The aluminum pipe

While away on vacation I picked up some more metals for my chemistry lab. Both of these samples were being thrown out so I decided to keep them. The long rod is a chunk of aluminum which was originally part of a telescopic boat hook. The hook broke off, and after repairing it, I was left with a little over a foot of aluminum pipe. The shiny part is where i buffed the oxide layer off with a dremel. Also found was a zinc anode about the size of my fist. These are used to protect motors from damage in salt water and was somewhat corroded when I found it. I found it on the ground at a marina and picked it up, as it wasn't being used.

So far, I've used the aluminum pipe to create aluminum chloride by reacting it with HCl. I have yet to use the zinc for anything but it should be useful for making zinc salts.

Cheers, Coolsciencetech

Diy $10 Condenser

My attempt at a design

While watching youtube videos on how to make concentrated nitric acid, I noticed that many people had condensers to turn the nitric acid gas into a liquid. While I don't plan on making concentrated nitric acid anytime soon, I did like the idea of having a condenser. I checked online to see how much a condenser was and it turns out that they can be quite expensive! This was way to much for my $100 home chemistry lab budget so I got to thinking. In one of my older posts I explained that I bought 20 ft of vinyl tubing four $6 at home depot, so I decided to incorporate this into my condenser. Vinyl appears to be resistant to most chemicals although I certainly wouldn't use it for anything too advanced. By running it through a piece of PVC pipe, and then adding two end caps with holes drilled through them, I can create a line for the vapors to run through and a chamber to hold the water. By adding two outlets to my PVC chamber I can attach a pump to circulate the water around. Given that PVC is fairly cheap, this shouldn't cost more than ten dollars in materials!

Cheap Chemicals 2 - Hydrochloric acid

BEFORE USING HYDROCHLORIC ACID, TAKE APROPRIATE SAFETY PRECAUTIONS. USE OUTSIDE OR IN A FUME HOOD AND WEAR GLOVES AND GLASSES IN CASE IT SPILLS.

My Hydrochloric acid - 31.45% concentration

Today I went to my local pool store specifically to pick up some muriatic acid. This is basically just an old name for hydrochloric acid and is used to reduce the pH of a pool. I bought a four liter jug of it for $10, and while I'm no experienced chemist, I do think that it is a little over priced. It was well worth it though, as HCl is used for many chemistry labs you can do at home. The jug I bought says 20 baume. This is a measure of concentration, and is equivalent to 31.45% HCl. This is fairly concentrated and so for simpler uses, I will be diluting a portion of this to 10% HCl, just because it is safer to handle. The bottle I bought was also sold in a clear plastic jug, so I was able to see if there were any impurities, which in my case, the acid seemed very clear. This brings me to my next announcement...

I will be filming more videos for my Coolsciencetech youtube channel, dealing with chemistry experiments, setting up a home lab, and chemistry theory so stay tuned!

Cheers! Coolsciencetech

Cheap Chemicals 1 - Coins

Coins separated into metals. (Top right-copper, bottom-nickel, 

top left-zinc)

As part of my $100 home chemistry lab goal, I am required to stock my lab with chemicals. So I thought to myself, metals are necessary to have in a home chemistry lab, but where could I find these metals and more importantly, where can I find them with a high purity? Then I remembered the hollow penny experiments where the copper coating on a penny is partially removed to expose the zinc core which is then reacted with hydrochloric acid to leave behind an empty shell of copper. So I got to work looking at the compositions of other coins, and as it turns out there are many different metals that will be of use to my home chemistry lab. In Canadian nickels and dimes of certain years, there is 99% to 99.9% nickel metal. I plan on using this metal for crating nickel salts, useful in electroplating. Copper metal at 95% can be found in American pennies older than 1982, and at 98% in Canadian pennies between the years 1942-1996. Zinc can also be found in Canadian pennies from 1997-2000 as well as in some non magnetic ones from the 2000's. All American Pennies (newer than 1982) will have a zinc core as well.

Stay tuned for mare posts about building a $100 home chemistry lab as well as posts on where to get cheap chemicals!

Cheers! Coolsciencetech

Test Tube Rack - $100 home chemistry lab

The four pieces all cut out

1/2 inch holes and indentations

The finished product

Alright this is the second part to my $100 home chemistry lab articles. As of yet I have not purchased any chemicals, mainly due to the fact that I would like to have all of the hardware I need first. I've had the idea of building this test tube rack ever scince I bought my test tubes. Then as it happened, I found a pile of scrap, half inch thick, pieces of wood. I cut the pieces I needed out and then drilled half inch holes through one of the longer pieces to create a place to slip the test tube into. After that I used a smaller drill bit to create indentations in the other long piece of wood for the base of the test tube to rest in, preventing them from moving around. I nailed it together using some nails I found and my test tube rack was born! More articles to come as I keep improving upon my lab, and possibly more videos on youtube. Also a website (hopefully) to go along with this blog as well as the youtube channel.
Cheers! Coolsciencetech

Building a Home Chemistry Lab - for $100

My purchases excluding the glass and plastic tubes

I have wanted to have a home chemistry lab for quite some time now, and I have finally gotten around to making one. My goal is to build one, and stock it with chemicals for only $100 , and so far its coming along well. I purchased two flasks, one of 250ml and another of 100ml. For each of these I bought one rubber stopper with one hole and another with no hole. I also purchased 5 test tubes, a 400ml beaker, two feet of flint glass tubing and a glass stir stick. This cost about $32 and along with 20 feet of chemically resistant plastic I bought at home depot for $6 should allow me to build several setups for distilling, gas generating etc. So far I have spent less than $40 dollars and already have most of the equipment I will need. Meanwhile, I am collecting jars of all sizes to be used for storage of chemicals, and searching a local site, where people can sell their stuff, for a cheap (or free) hot plate.
As I make more progress with my lab, I will update my blog so keep coming back for more!
Cheers! Coolsciencetech