Chemistry for Kids: Lesson 6

Materials:
bag of rocks and shells
jar of rock powder
jar of shell powder
HCl acid with dropper
wet paper towels to clean up messes
glass pie plate

Separate the rocks from the shells.
Put several rocks in the glass pie plate.
Test each with a drop of HCl.
What happened?
Wash the rocks and the pie plate. Dry thoroughly
Put several shells in the glass pie plate.
Test each with a drop of HCl.
What happened?
Wash the shells and the pie plate. Dry thoroughly.

How can you use the information from this experiment to determine which jar contains ground rock and which one contains ground shell?

Get approval for your experiment.

Do your experiment.

Which jar contained the rock?
Which jar contained the shell?
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For the parent: This experiment sometimes works with vinegar. If you would rather use vinegar than HCl, do the experiment ahead of time to make sure that it works. Also, I never leave my children alone in a room with chemicals. While I don't hover, I am doing something that I can drop immediately if there is a problem. Train your kids to always put the dropper back in the bottle and twist the cap on securely between EACH use of any chemical.