Chemical Garden

By Sadiqe Rahman 9M

And Zamil Hussain 9M

Safety Precautions

Make sure you wear goggles and gloves because the sodium silicate is irritating.

Equipment

Beaker Spatula Goggles Pipette

Chemicals

Sodium Silicate Copper Chloride Cobalt Chloride Calcium Chloride Iron Chloride Aluminium Chloride Dilute Water

Sodium Silicate

Sodium silicate is the common name for a compound sodium metasilicate, Na2SiO3, also known as water glass or liquid glass. It is available in aqueous solution and in solid form and is used in cements, passive fire protection, refractories, textile and lumber processing, and automobiles. Sodium carbonate and silicon dioxide react when molten to form sodium silicate and carbon dioxide:

Na2CO3 + SiO2 → Na2SiO3 + CO2

(source: www.wikipedia.org)

Method

First you carefully pour 100 ml of Sodium Silicate into a beaker.

You then add another 100 ml of dilute water into the same beaker.

Method

Next you get any chloride of your choice and sprinkle it into the solution.

Use more than one chemical to make it look better.

Method

Observe the reactions.