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Isabel,
Rather than cupric chloride or cupric sulfate... go with straight
powdered copper. You need a tiny, tiny amount to get the hydrogen
balloon explosion to turn green. A pea-sized amount is WAY too much.
Using one of those narrow chemical spatulas, just a bit of copper on the
very tip is all you need to put in the balloon before adding H2. And my
bottle from Flinn Scientific lists (in addition to the fact that
powdered metals are fire + explosion risk) copper as irritant to body
tissue as dust. With the miniscule amount you need here, it should all
burn up. (Wear gogfgles + follow all safety protocols, of course!)
Also, consider Strontium chloride. You'll need more powder than copper
(still less than a pea-sized amount, though) and may have to crush it up
to get it powdered (it soaks up moisture like a frickin' sponge)... and
it turns the H2 explosion into a brilliant scarlet.
Good luck,
Jonah Cohen
Outreach & Public Programs Manager
The Children's Museum
"Discontent is the first necessity of progress."
-Thomas Edison
-----Original Message-----
From: Informal Science Education Network
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Isabel Van Dyke
Sent: Thursday, July 07, 2011 6:41 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Colored fire from a hydrogen balloon
ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology
Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
institutions.
************************************************************************
*****
Hello all,
I'm doing a magic-themed live science show and I want to make blue- or
green-tinted fire for "dragon's flame." I'm planning to use cupric
chloride
or cupric sulfate. I have those two chemicals in solid form, but the
MSDS
informs me that neither one is flammable as a solid. Thus I need to get
them
in solution, probably in alcohol (though maybe water would work?).
The tricky bit is that rather than sprinkling the copper on an open
flame, I
want to use it with a hydrogen balloon. I've exploded lots of those, so
in
and of themselves they aren't a problem, but I'm a bit wary of adding
alcohol to the Hindenburg.
Can anyone out there let me know the proportion of cupric chloride
and/or
cupric sulfate to alcohol (isopropyl? ethyl?), and any safety tips? I've
seen this done before, so I know it's possible!
Thanks,
Isabel
--
Isabel Van Dyke
Science Activities Coordinator
ScienceWorks Hands-On Museum
Ashland, OR
[log in to unmask]
541 482 6767, ext. 218
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