Dancing flames
An experiment with an eerie green flame which really provides a wow factor
When teaching the reactivity series, aluminium’s protective oxide layer can make it difficult for students to see its true reactivity in the context of metals reacting with aqueous solutions.
A demonstration involving mercury(II) chloride is described in Classic chemistry demonstrations and can be found on the Practical Chemistry website. That experiment shows how removing the protective layer causes the aluminium to react with air. However, this demonstration shows its reaction in solutions that students are likely to have already met. With a little practice, it has the added wow factor of burning with an eerie green flame that dances in the vessel as hydrogen is evolved.
The primary objective here is to show students how reactive aluminium is.
With an accompanying video, Declan Flemming guides you through the dancing flames experiment, from preparation to demonstration, and discusses how to avoid common problems.
Thanks for using Education in Chemistry. You can view one Education in Chemistry article per month as a visitor.
Register for Teach Chemistry for free, unlimited access
Registration is open to all teachers and technicians at secondary schools, colleges and teacher training institutions in the UK and Ireland.
Get all this, plus much more:
- unlimited access to resources, core practical videos and Education in Chemistry articles
- teacher well-being toolkit, personal development resources and online assessments
- applications for funding to support your lessons
Already a Teach Chemistry member? Sign in now.
Not eligible for Teach Chemistry? Sign up for a personal account instead, or you can also access all our resources with Royal Society of Chemistry membership.