Chemistry. . .

I have fallen hopelessly behind on my blog and would probably not even try to catch up but, you see, I have all these pictures that I've taken and there are all these things that have happened that are running around in my brain along with this weird (pathological?) need to blog chronologically so it may take me awhile to get current and start posting one picture a day. (Who am I kidding? I have yet to post just one picture a day consistently since I started this blog!!)


Anyway, sometime last week Zach gave me a list of items he needed for his next Chemistry experiment. The list simply said: Vinegar, Red Cabbage, Powdered Drain Cleaner. I'm sure I've noted here before that science has never been my strong suit so I delivered the items on the list and waited to see what would happen.

The (clear) vinegar was poured into a beaker and weighed on Zach's handy mass scale. . .



The (purple) cabbage was boiled on the stove, left to cool for a few minutes and then the cabbage water was poured into another beaker. (I can honestly say that I have never purchased or boiled cabbage. There may have been a stray cabbage in my pre-packaged bag of salad but it would never have been a conscience decision).


When the beaker containing the boiled cabbage water was cool to the touch, it was transferred into the beaker containing the vinegar.


The result was instantaneous and very cool. I didn't read all the reasons why this happened because that would be Zach's job but some chemical reaction caused the solution to turn this pretty red color (there's a reason I got a "C" in chemistry) Another weight measurement was taken on the mass scale:

The final step in the experiment was to add the Drano crystals that contained Lye to the solution . . .

Zach slowly poured the crystals into the vinegar/cabbage water mixture. . .

. . . and stirred it up with his stirring rod . . .

. . . and it eventually turned from the pretty red color to this kind of putrid yellow. The solution was measured again and the mass weight was exactly the same as it was before the chemicals were mixed:

The point of the experiment really had nothing to do with the color changes but was a proof for The Law of Mass Conservation. If you're still reading at this point, and, honestly, if this were your blog post and I was reading it, you would have lost me back at the boiled cabbage picture BUT in case you're still interested, this is what the textbook says about THE LAW OF MASS CONSERVATION:

"Matter cannot be created or destroyed; it can only change forms. Thus, when you burn wood in the fireplace, the matter in the wood is not destroyed. Instead, it changes from wood into other substances. Today, we know that those substances are carbon dioxide, water, and ash. . . If we measure the mass of the wood and the oxygen before a fire starts, and we trap all of the carbon dioxide and water produced by the fire after it starts, we will find out that the mass of the wood and oxygen used by the fire is exactly equal to the mass of the ash, water vapor, and carbon dioxide produced by the fire." (Exploring Creation With Chemistry, p. 70)

I'll take math over chemistry any day. . .