Home Chemistry: What is that white powder?

Aim: To learn about the makeup of different white powders.



There are a number of different white powders in our everyday life. Some of these are harmful and others are not. Test the four white powders listed to see which one has been found at the airport.

You will be given a small amount of 4 white powders on your cardboard. On the black cardboard using a magnifying glass look at the powders.

Look at them under your magnifying glass and record what you see. 

These are the four powders we will be using. Upload a photo of each powder. 

1.  Cornflour
2.  Baking Soda
3.  Salt
4.  Sugar 

Before you add the iodine, vinegar or water you will need to divide each powder into 3.

Materials

1.  Cardboard/Paper
2.  Magnifying Glass
3.  Pipette
4.  Sugar
5.  Salt
6.  Corn Flour
7. Baking Soda
8. Vinegar
9. Water
10.Iodine
Steps

1. Gather, paper, magnifying glass and Pipette. 
2. Split the paper into four sides. 
3. Then add some sugar, salt, cornflour and baking soda to each side.
4. Then using iodine add three drops to each one. - Examine closely what happens to use a magnifying glass for each one. 
5. Then using a pipette suck up some vinegar and add three drops to each one. 
6. Again using the pipette add three drops of water to each one and look closely on what happens. 

Findings:

Words to use: Absorbed, spread, frothed, fizzed, melted, blob,

	Sugar	Salt	Baking Soda	Cornflour
Appearance (White)	White	White	White	White
Grains (small, medium large)	Large	Large	Medium	Small
Smell (Strong, none)	None	None	None	Strong
Iodine	Absorbed	Spread slowly	Dried, looks like ear wax, solid	Dried onto the grain
Water	Absorbed	Absorbed	Dried	Spread out on grain
Vinegar	Absorb	Absorb	Fizz Up	Rolled Off and Dried

Write a conclusion about your findings. ( 4 plus sentences)
Use the Hexagon activity to give you some more ideas.

The sugar......
The Sugar is a white powder and has no smell. The grain is large and when
you add Iodine it absorbed it. When you added to water it absorbed it and when you add Vinegar it absorbed it. It also smelt very bad. 
The salt.....
The sugar is a white powder with no smell. The grains are quite large and if you add iodine it spread slowly and the colour disappeared lightly. If you add water it just absorbed it. When you add vinegar it slowly absorbed it. 
The Baking Soda......
The baking soda is a white powder and has no smell. It's grain's are medium sized. When you add iodine it dried up in and it looked it like ear wax. When you add water it dried. When you add vinegar it fizzed and dried after a few seconds. 
The cornflour.....
The cornflour is a white powder and has a strong smell. It has tiny grains. When you add iodine it dried into the grain. When you add water it spread out on the grain. Lastly, we added vinegar it rolled of the grain and dried. 


Do all the same experiments on the mystery white powder. What is it?

Baking Soda