Does anyone know where I can purchase camphor? I need it in a solid form, synthetic or natural. It says to ask for over-the-counter cold remedy at your local drug store. I did this and they say they only have the oil. This is for a science experiment.
I actually put it off and it is for todays experiment but I can postpone it. It states to use crumbs of solid camphor. I just found out that in solid form it is a hazardous material. I may just skip this experiment all together. I have a call in to my sil who has already done this book to see what she did.
It is in the TOPS book "Cohesion/Adhesion", the Sonlight program. Zippers 1. Fill a clean glass with tap water and sprinkle pepper on its surface. a. What happens when you drip 1 drop of soapy water down the inner wall of the glass? skipping some - then---- 2. Rinse your glass and set it in a bowl. Fill it higher than the brim with fresh tap water. a. Scrape a tiny speck off a bar of soap with a pin. Drop it on the water and observe carefully. b. Where does this soap speck get its energy? 3. Add a few crumbs of solid camphor (the smaller the better) to a clean glass of tap water. Compare and contrast camphor specks with soap specks. Water is stronly cohesive because its molecules form a network of hydrogen bonds, points of elecrostatic attraction between electro-poor hydrogen atoms and electron rich oxygen atoms. The pepper rapidly retreats from the point where the soay drop first touches the water's surface. The water molecules move closer together when you release one side. Releasing one side of the water molecules model simulates the breaking of hydrogen bonds. Unbroken bonds pull back in response (like tuga-of-war). In a similar manner, soap braks real hydrogen bonds in real water. This creates an unbalanced contraction of hydrogen bonds which pull surface molecules away from the break, and the floating pepper with them. The tiny soap speck twirls and spins on the surface of the water for a few seconds, then slows down. The speck of soap breaks nearby hydrogen bonds wherever it moves and gets carried along by unbroken hydrogen bonds that contract in response. Camphor specks energetically zip over the surface of the water, like the soap speck, only for a much longer time. (The camphor is apparently much less soluble in water, breaking far fewer hydrogen bonds as it moves about. As the density of unbroken hydrogen bonds decreases, these specks gradually slow down. Over time they dissolve.) I left some things out but this is the overall experiment. I know it is loooong.
We did it, just skipped the camphor. My ds was bummed because he really wanted to see it moving around. At least he understood what it was suppose to do.
