Valentine's Day Chemistry
Love is in the air for Valentine’s Day! Check out these links for ideas to celebrate it chemistry-style. You can make science-themed valentines, create a borax crystal heart, learn a valentine demo to share with your sweetheart, and more.
- DIY Rocket Valentines
Your valentine can launch this mini rocket for blast of chemistry. - Science Valentine Card
Party favor test tubes have plenty of room for this printable chem card and an experiment along the way. - Chemistry Valentines
Delve into your creative side—design your own valentines with chemistry-related sayings and poems. - Printable Chemistry Valentines
Does your valentine shine like a carbon allotrope? Find this and other free chemistry valentines—ready to print and share! - Goldenrod Valentines
Why send your sweetie an ordinary valentine when you can give them a color-changing one? It’s all courtesy of chemistry.
- Scientific Test Tube Valentines
Make a Valentine's gift with a science twist using plastic soda bottle preforms. - Borax Crystal Heart
It’s super simple to make a beautiful crystal heart. Get ready with a pipe cleaner, borax, and hot water. - Making Bath Fizzies for Valentine's Day
Have fun making bath fizzies, then give them as a Valentine gift! - The Vanishing Valentine
This oxidation–reduction reaction can add some Valentine color to your day. Pink… to colorless… to pink… to colorless… - Hot and Cold Pink Color Change
It’s pink to colorless—take two. Watch what happens when you turn up the heat on this color change demo. - Valentine's Day Periodic Table Wallpaper
Gaze at these elemental hearts as you do your homework and fall in love with the periodic table all over again. - Sciencey Valentine’s Day Gift
Make a valentine with a recyclable plastic container, then shrink it for a mini gift! - Color Changing Heart Bookmarks
Thermochromic paper gives the hearts on this bookmark an extra dash of fun (and chemistry).
- Valentine’s Day Lab (student handout)
Valentine’s Day Lab (instructor notes)
How do you prefer your valentine? Magic? Expensive? Pretty? With a BANG? Use chemistry to create your top choice! - How Love Changes Your Body Chemistry
Feeling a love connection? Find out which chemicals play a role. - Valentine's Day and Love—More About Your Brain
Think your heart has the most pull in matters of love? The brain has something to say about that. - Love Hurts: Brain Chemistry
How does heartache begin? Read about how rodents helped us learn more about the chemistry of relationships. - The Chemicals of Love
These compounds can mean thrill, pleasure, even obsession. What are they? - The Science of Love
It’s your chemical romance explained, with this infographic.
- Smell Like Julius Caesar: Recreating Ancient Perfumes
Make and sample these recipes from a couple thousand years ago, using ingredients you can get today. - The Colour and Aroma of Roses
Give a friend a dozen of these… chemical compounds. - Eternity Roses
These flowers won’t last an actual eternity, but it’s still pretty long. How do they stay looking fresh? - The Sweet Scent of Success
A bottle of perfume takes the right chemistry, but sometimes it also needs a little luck. - Attar of Roses
Give your sweetheart a rose for Valentine’s Day. Or… just buy one for yourself and try this experiment. - Colored Flowers
Let them know you care with flowers. But don’t forget the chemistry twist—color them first using a classic capillary action experiment.
- Magic Color Changing Flower
Can’t decide if your sweetheart would prefer white or pink flowers? Give them both with this color-changing flower. - Scintillating Scents: The Science of Making Perfume
Make your own perfume with Crisco? Give it a try! - Home Perfumery
Make your own perfume distillery at home and preserve the beautiful smell of your favorite plant. - Aroma Compounds in Common Flowers
Put together a lovely bouquet of scent compounds.
- Eat Chocolate in the Name of Science
This easy experiment will test your senses! See how the taste of chocolate changes when frozen. - Toxicity & Aphrodisia—The Chemistry of Chocolate
Here’s a sweet infographic to give you the scoop on two dramatically different effects of chocolate. - Chocolate Crystal Concoctions
Valentine’s Day is a perfect excuse to immerse yourself in a study of chocolate. Get your taste buds ready! - The Sweet Lure of Chocolate
Drool over this site as you learn the history of chocolate and try a hands-on “tempering” activity.
- The Sweet Lure of Chocolate
Drool over this site as you learn the history of chocolate and try a hands-on “tempering” activity. - What You Need To Know About Theobromine
This chemical is the “poster child for Valentine’s chocolate chemistry.” - Chocolate: The Sweet Taste of... Chemistry?
From bean to bar to your brain, there’s a lot of chemistry connected with this confection. - The Poisonous Chemistry of Chocolate
Chocolate—such a delightful treat! But not for everyone… - The Structure and Properties of Chocolate
That glossy look. The sound of the snap. How does chocolate get that way (or not)?
(all sites accessed January 2022)
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