Colorful Chemistry
Chemistry colors your world! Visit these links and explore the ways that it does. It could be the rainbow glow of lightsticks. It could be how tattoo artists create their colorful effects. It could be how a chameleon changes its skin color. It could be using food materials to dye eggs. All these and more!
- The Flame Test
Metals and salts add their own rainbow to a flame. This version makes it safer.
- Chemistry's Rainbow
It starts with a colorful demo, then moves into hands-on as students neutralize acids and bases.
- The Blue Bottle
First blue, then… what color will it turn?
- Rainbow Connection
These acid–base indicators take you on trip across the rainbow. - Color Changing Flower
Can’t decide whether you prefer white or pink flowers? You can have both with this color change demo! - Opening Day Signs
This colorful demo could kick off your school year. Show that chemistry can be a chemystery, and not chemisery.
- Color Changing Milk of Magnesia
We promise—this demo won’t give you heartburn. But it will help you learn how antacids work in your stomach. - Dry Ice Color Show
This large-scale demo brings together dry ice and a rainbow selection of indicators for colorful results. - Color Mixing Using Light Sticks on an Electric Drill
Sure, you can use a spoon to mix something in the kitchen. But what if you want to mix light?
- Lose the Blues with CO2
Can you blow the blues away with your breath? - Dissolving M&Ms
What do these colorful candies do when they’re put in different liquids? - Colors on the Mooooove!
Try this swirling and twirling milk demo yourself. Then moooove on and share it with a friend. - Chemical Mystery: Out of the Blue
Red, white, and blue. It’s a mystery for you. What’s the chemistry behind what you see?
- A Multi-Colored Equilibrium Experiment
It’s complex chemistry. Well, the chemistry of complexes. This copper colors it up.
- Photochromic Glue and Spring Decorations
Head to the school & office supplies aisle at your local store. There’s chemistry to find there. - Berries Are Red, Berries Are Blue...
This breakfast bowl of berries is ripe for an experiment. - Color Changing Coke and Mentos
Put a twist on this soda explosion as you add universal indicator. What does it reveal about the pH?
- Reaction in a Bag
Mix it up and observe the colors it reveals. Then find out why. - Bubbling Lava Lamp
You won’t be able to take your eyes off these bubbling bursts of color. Make your own homemade “lava lamp” using household materials. Ada Twist's Color Changing Lemonade Lab
Butterfly pea flower tea takes this lemonade recipe to the next level.
- Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie
Link the suspenseful tale (based on a true story!) from the children’s book Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie with the colorful glow of lightsticks.
- Afterimages
Ah, a lovely image of the American flag—yellow, blue and black. What? Find out how your eyes can turn them into red, white, and blue. - Dyeing Yarn with Kool-Aid
An icy-cold glass of Kool-Aid can quench your thirst. But did you know you can also use the powder to color wool yarn? Mix up a batch! - Natural Easter Egg Dyes
Shopping list: cranberry juice, beets, carrot tops. Ingredients for a wacky dish? Nope. Just a way to add pizzazz to white hard-boiled eggs. - Revealing UV with Color Changing Beads
SPF 100+? SPF 80? Do they make that much of a difference beyond, say, SPF 50? Investigate with color changing beads!
- Celebrating Chemistry—Chemistry Colors Our World (English)
Celebrating Chemistry—Chemistry Colors Our World (Spanish)
This publication is packed with a palette of activities and info aimed at elementary and middle school students.
- Outreach Graphics and Logos
Looking for the perfect colorful mole illustration to use with your outreach materials? This collection should be first on your list. - International Year of Light
Go beyond the visible spectrum! The chemistry of color can include other wavelengths of light. See what the International Year of Light folks have to offer. - Open for Discussion: Tattoos
Think ink! Learn more about the science it takes for tattoo artists to create their colorful effects on skin. Tattoo Colourants and Concerns
How does a tattoo design get its color? These are some of the compounds you’ll find.
- What Do We Know About Fireworks?
Where do the colors of those “ooh” and “aah” moments come from? Find out using the reading activities in this emergency lesson plan.
- The Bluer the Banana, the Better
Not sure when your banana is at peak ripeness and ready to eat? Just look for that beautiful blue glow!? - ACS ChemClub Calendar—Lightsticks
Looking for some fun and colorful chemistry for your wall? This ChemClub calendar page about lightsticks is a great choice! - Food Coloring
A blue slushy? Green ketchup? Orange cheese curls? Where do these colors come from? - Chameleons’ Color-Changing Science
A chameleon changing its skin color looks like a neat trick, but what’s the chemistry behind it? - This rainbow range of gems comes from chemical compounds.
- What Gives Gold Nanoparticles Their Color?
This gold doesn’t look gold. Why not? - Hot Topic for Spring: Thermogenesis of Eastern Skunk Cabbage
The heat gets turned on in this plant. Visualize it using the colors of an infrared camera.
(all sites accessed May 2021)
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