Bill,
This is written up in Chemical Demonstrations by Bassam
Shakhashiri (University of Wisconsin press. 1983. ISBN 0-299-08890-1
for volume 1). This is a multi-volume set of chemical demonstrations
written for chemistry teachers. I recommend it very highly for
demonstration presenters of any stripe. The book clearly states hazards,
disposal, procedure and references as well as a short theoretical
discussion. In my experience, if it is in Shakhashiri, it works.
The demo is in Volume 1, pp. 121-3 as the Photochemical Reaction
of Hydrogen and Chlorine.
I recall that my mother used to do a modified version of this
demonstration for the Dreyfus workshops at Princeton University. She
used a red filter which was placed over the camera flash. The reaction
would not occur when the flash with filter was triggered. Then the
filter was removed and the reaction did occur. Thus showing that the
red light was not sufficiently energetic to initiate the reaction. I
will cc her and maybe she can supply some details.
THO
Thomas O'Neill
o'neill@csvrgs.k12.va.us
Physics
oneill@csvrgs.k12.va.us
C Shenandoah Valley R Governor's School
-----Original Message-----
From: William Beaty [mailto:billb@ESKIMO.COM]
Sent: Friday, June 30, 2000 6:43 PM
To: PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu
Subject: Exploding H2 O2 with light
Here's a question from somebody on my site. Is this a real demo, or is
he
misremembering something else?
Guestbook entry:
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I need info for a science demo for my class. My Chemistry teacher did it
years ago, but I can't remember the chemicals involved. I think it was
a
hydrogen filled balloon with some kind of photo-reactive dust inside. It
exploded when exposed to a bright camera flash. Mad Sci won't answer
this
kind of question and I can't find any references to it on the web.
Thanks.
Richard <rsneed@carolina.net> USA - Thursday, June 29, 2000 at 17:29:08
(PDT)
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