The Purple Bottle

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Materials

1 Large Bottle of Purple Liquid

1 Tube of Vitamin C

1 Squeeze Bottle of Copper Sulfate

1 Tube of Destaining Powder

Instructions

STEP 1

2:06

Reach into your kit & pull out the bag that says Experiment 16. Take everything out of the bag and place it around your white mat.

STEP 2

2:25

Grab the bottle of purple liquid and place it in the center of your mat. Take off the cap and add the entire container of Vitamin C.

STEP 3

4:18

Next, give the bottle a little swirl to dissolve the Vitamin C powder.

STEP 4

4:35

Put the cap back on the purple liquid bottle and give it a good shake for 3 seconds.

STEP 5

4:43

Next, uncap the bottle and slowly add in the entire bottle of Copper Sulfate. Gently squeeze in a little bit at a time.

STEP 6

5:35

Put that cap back on the bottle of liquid, and make sure it is really tight. Then, shake the bottle quickly for 3 seconds.

STEP 7

5:48

Now watch closely to see the chemical reaction happening. We see the liquid turn dark purple, but wait, it starts to change back to clear again!

STEP 8

6:11

If you shake the bottle again 3 times you can create the chemical reaction over and over again.

STEP 9

7:07

What happens if you shake the bottle upside-down? Does it react the same? Next, try shaking it really hard to make it super dark purple.

STEP 10

9:23

If you end up having stains, All you have to do is empty the container of destaining powder into a cup with 1 cup of water and stir.

STEP 11

9:52

Next, gently pour the destaining liquid onto the stain. Let it sit for about 10 minutes. Once the stain has disappeared, remember to wash the item.

How It Works

In this experiment, we used a purple liquid and Vitamin C powder, but there was another ingredient that allowed this reaction to happen. Air. The bottle is half-air, and in that air, is oxygen. When we shake the bottle, some of the oxygen mixes with it. Since we have a special dye that changes colors around oxygen, that is why the dye becomes dark purple.

We call this oxidation from the word oxygen. But when we let it sit long enough, the Vitamin C in the water does the opposite and undoes the oxidation. We call Vitamin C an antioxidant. This process happens slowly but it reverses the color reaction completely. This cycle can repeat about 10 times before all of the Vitamin C is used up.

The Purple Bottle

Materials

Instructions

How It Works

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Experiments in The Kit

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Experiment

The Purple Bottle

Materials

Instructions

How It Works

Back to AllExperiments in The Kit

Watch NextExperiment

Back to All
Experiments in The Kit

Watch Next
Experiment