100 Days of Science #51-- Color Changing Iodine Experiments

I had purchased this tincture of Iodine off of Amazon to go along with an experiment in our science book. 

 However, when it came time to do the actual experiment the boys and I were not interested in it at all.  The experiment had to do with how our bodies break down food and called for chewing up pieces of food and spitting it back out on paper.... ugh! No thank you!

So I searched around Pinterest looking for a few experiments we could do using the iodine.  We found this fun one that dealt with color changes and chemical reactions and decided to give it a try.  

It was just perfect for a continuation on our chemistry unit! 

For the experiment we needed:

Clear cups

Iodine

100 mg Vitamin C tablets 

Hydrogen Peroxide (3% household variety)

liquid starch

warm water

measuring spoons and cups

First we crushed up a vitamin c tablet until it was pretty fine. 

We added the vitamin c with 2 ounces of warm water until it was mostly dissolved.

We set aside cup #1 and turned to cup # 2.  In cup two we added 2 ounces warm water and 1 TEASPOON of our first solution.  The first time we tried the experiment we accidentally used 1 Tablespoon of the watered down vitamin c and our experiment failed.

Our third cup we mixed together 2 ounces warm water, 1 Tablespoon hydrogen peroxide, and 1/2 teaspoon of the liquid starch.

With our three cups all ready and mixed we set to work to watch the color changes.  First we mixed one teaspoon of iodine into our second mixture (the doubly watered down vitamin c).  We  barely had time to register the iodine going into the cup before it disappeared!

The iodine and the vitamin c molecules mix together and create Iodide which is colorless!

We then took this very same solution and added all of cup number 3 (the one with the peroxide and starch).  After mixing for a bit we had a deep purple solution.  It took quite awhile to see the color change and we actually thought the experiment had failed and we started over a second time.  We may have gotten a bit impatient and added more starch than was necessary...

Then boom like magic it turned a really dark purple! (You might get more of a blue color we added a bit more starch to our solution and so we ended up with a very dark purple).

The iodine is reacting with the starch which creates the dark blue/ purple color.  It takes so long for the color change to take place because the iodide has to be broken down.

If you add cup #1 (or more vitamin C) to the purple solution it will begin to turn clear again.  We could see how enough vitamin c would reabsorb the iodine and create another clear solution but none of the boys felt like crushing another tablet to turn it completely clear.

We had lots of fun with our magical color changing solutions.

Others in this series:

1. Bernoulli's Principle
2. Ecotarium Trip 
3. Air Molecule Experiment
4. Kitchen Science
5. Corn Maze Field Trip 
6. Birds of Florida 
7. Making Static Music
8. Un-Make It Monday
9. Wind Tunnel Experiment
10. Biomes Field Trip
11. Disappearing Coin Trip
12. Snuffing out a Candle With Baking Soda
13. Making Plastic from Milk
14. Friction Experiment 
15. & 16. Snow Experiments
17. Making an Iceberg
18. Floating Eggs
19. Pond Water Under a Microscope 
20. Planting Eco Plant Pals
21. & 22. Cotton Candy Experiments
23. Springfield Science Museum Trip
24. Signs of Spring
25. Color Changing Slime
26. Growing Our Own Tickle Plants
27. Learning About Soil Sampling
28. Making Bouncy Balls
29. Exploring the Shoreline
30. Color Changing Flowers
31. Roger Williams Zoo Trip
32. Edible Silly Putty 
33. Raising Tadpoles
34. More Microscope Fun 
35.  Homemade Ice Cream
36. How Plants Breathe Experiment 
37. Save The Bay Exploration Center Trip
38. Making Fresh Peach Preserves 
39. Making Solar S'mores
40. Growing a Crystal Garden
41. & 42. Making Jolly Rancher Candy Apples & Lollipops 
43. Volcanic Lemons
44. Oozing Pumpkins
45.  Growing a Germ Farm
46. Germs Under a Microscope
47. & 48. Making Model Molecules Two Ways
49. Kitchen Chemistry
50. Fall Leaf Chromatography 

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