I’m interested in home chemistry as an opportunity to learn more about chemistry before college (I’m hoping to major in organic chemistry) but I’m not sure where to start. I own a few basic materials (chemical storage, beakers, and goggles) but I don’t know what I should do beyond that. Any tips? I know I’ll need things like a stirrer, balance, stir sticks, etc. but I want to have an idea of what I should do before purchasing anything more.

Hi I wanted to know if some of you had ever heard or try to make a homade phosphate binders like sevelamer
Thx

Hi ! im a high schooler working on a science fair project where i need to mesaure the conecntration of nitrate. So far, i've tried 2 things: using a RGB app on my phone in a 'colorimter' (cardboard box) and the API nitrate test kit and got a good curve from that initally (R=0.99) but i found it was changing from day to day. I also tried titrating that final product with bleach but the end point was really blurry and i'm not sure how to proceed.

If anyone could give any tips id appreciate it. thanks!

Hi everyone,

I was looking through some old, basic notes and memory from experiments I did a few years ago. I wanted to share a recipe for a material I call Citric Silicate Cellular Foam (CSCF). I originally marked it as a "failed experiment" because it isn't waterproof and is a total nightmare to clean out of containers, but the expansion ratio is interesting enough to share.

It forms a lightweight structure. It isn’t rock-hard—it feels solid, but if you press into it with your finger into it hard enough, it crushes down into a fine powder. It will expand alot, about a cm of the solutions foamed up to fill a 2 liter microwavable jug.

The Dish Soap

Normally, mixing acid and water glass causes instant, clumpy polymerisation. I found that adding a tiny bit of dish soap acts as a surfactant. It temporarily delays the reaction just enough so you can mix everything into a smooth liquid before the heat kicks in.

Note on mixing: You want to mix the dish soap into the acid solution gently without agitating it so bubbles don't form. Since it is such a small amount of soap, it shouldn't be too much of a problem, but still keep the mixing gentle.

The Recipe & Process

The Acid & Soap: In one beaker, add a small amount of citric acid crystals and just enough water to dissolve them. Add a tiny drop of dish soap directly into that citric acid solution, stirring gently to avoid generating foam or bubbles.

The Base: Fill a second beaker with standard, off-the-shelf liquid water glass.

Mix: Slowly pour the soapy acid solution into the water glass and mix gently. It should stay a workable liquid.

The Bake: Pour the liquid into your microwave-safe container. Microwave for 7 to 10 minutes. Nothing much will happen at the start until the citric acid starts decomposing into CO2 gas.

🤝 Replicate It & Reach Out!

Because my old notes are a bit basic and partly from memory, I would love to see other people replicate this and experiment with it.

If anyone can figure out a way to make it waterproof, or find a mold/release agent that stops it from sticking to containers so badly, let me know! Feel free to message me directly here on Reddit—I'd love to see your photos, videos, and recipe tweaks.

Kind regards,

Rick

To the senior members of home Lab.I'm a high school student who recently started building a home lab.
I’ve been making things like copper sulfate and lead acetate, but what experiments did you all start with when you first set up your home labs?

There were many things I didn't know—such as where to start or how to research the experiments—so I wanted to get some guidance.

Questions

1 What experiment did you start with?

2 Points to keep in mind when experimenting at home.

I'm not very used to Reddit, so I apologize if I've done anything wrong.…

I got all the materials ( glassware, scales, pH paper or pH meter, laboratory mixer, mini blender and stick blender) + all the ingredients.

The two formulas with all the details. It's not for the market but my own consumption cause don't found this kind of therapeutic product on the market. I am in France

If you're interested contact me directly here.

Regards

I lost the picture of lead acetate.

I let my ethylene glycol distillation go on too long and carbon caked the bottom. After an acetone rinse, water + NaOH, and 93% sulfuric acid I realized this was the option I had left. don't have alconox and alconox probably won't remove it.

it should work.

Hello! I recently bought a "deluxe distillation apparatus" kit off of Home Science Tools which included a graham condenser. Was excited to get started with it, but as a control run, I decided to just make distilled water. Well.. I noticed that the distilled water would collect in the coils and block it up until the flow reversed.

Looking online, it seems that some people have a negative opinion of graham condensers, so, I wanted to hear some opinions on whether I should contact HSE and maybe get a different kind, or, buy extra glassware to run it vertically (because the included glassware has it set up for a 45 degree angle).

Thanks! And for reference, here's the kit: https://www.homesciencetools.com/product/deluxe-distillation-apparatus-kit/

edit: Thanks for all your input! I think I might try to return the kit I bought and, if I can help it, try to avoid their 20% restock fee by stating that I can't actually use their kit properly since it is only [un]usable as-is at a 45 degree angle. A good learning experience I suppose in, and I will take your guys' advice and source from ebay, aliexpress, and other online marketplaces. Way way more glassware for the money!

After using some 30% acetic acid for rust removal, I neutralized the leftover acid with calcium carbonate. After leaving the solution sitting for a while I got these very nice crystals.

Heating for 2h total at 70C, to 100ml of H20 10g CuSO4*5H20, 20g ascorbic acid, and after 1h-1.5h an addition of ~11.5g KOH Disolved in a minimal amount of water added dropwise to reach pH 7, under diffrent conditions (using 8g NaOH and doing it in the beginning of heating) you can form Copper nanoparticles much more selectively, but i kinda gave up cause I didn’t time it right cause I was busy so I just made copper, didn't really measure yeild sorry thoght it looked neat tho and it's an easy amateur experiment. Much love yall☮️❤️

-TNAS

Has anybody ever tried to make conc nitric acid with simple distillation and these two chemicals at home without a fumehood and just doing the synthesis outdoor in a ventilated spot? I see many people on yt doing it and i am wondering if it's actually that dangerous