OneAndOneIs2

I'm still on the mailing list from the science department from the school I was at last year. Yesterday afternoon, I got an email with a link to a useful website - Planet Scicast

I had a quick look through the videos, and saw this one which shows a rather beautiful flame in a bottle.

And the trouble is, whereas you might watch it and say "That looks cool"... I was in a science classroom. With several other budding science teachers. And our response was to yell "Claire? Do we have any big bottles, and where've you put the ethanol??"

Science teachers... possibly the worst people to be given access to a science department prep. room...

We didn't get quite the same flame - I think we needed more ethanol to get more of the air out. Our flame lasted about a millisecond and I was very glad I'd lit it at arm's length with a long splint. Had the bottle been pointed downward, it would have taken out a roof tile or two :o)

Apparently, science teachers are very high on such things as the Piaget scale and are thus likely to have enquiring minds.. but why is it that this seems to mostly find an outing in a fascination with making interesting things happen with fire?

Ever seen what happens when a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and ethanol is ignited and then has potassium permanganate added to it..?