Chemistry at Home: Crayons

Show Notes

Bonus Episode: Chemistry at Home 11

Here's another bonus episode dedicated to teaching a specific chemistry experiment you can do at home. This month, we see what happens when we combine crayons, paper, and water.

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What is Chemistry For Your Life?

A podcast that helps you understand the fascinating chemistry hidden in your everyday life.

Have you ever wondered why onions make you cry? Or how soap gets your hands clean? What really is margarine, or why do trees change colors in the fall? Melissa is a chemist, and to answer these questions she started a podcast, called Chemistry for your life!

In each episode Melissa explains the chemistry behind one of life’s mysteries to Jam, who is definitely not a chemist, but she explains it in a way that is easy to understand, and totally fascinating.

If you’re someone who loves learning new things, or who wonders about the way the world works, then give us a listen.

Melissa: 00:09

Hey. I'm Melissa.

Jam: 00:11

I'm Jam.

Melissa: 00:11

And I'm a chemist.

Jam: 00:13

And I'm not. And welcome

Melissa: 00:14

to chemistry for your life.

Jam: 00:15

The podcast helps you understand and do chemistry At home in your everyday life, once a month.

Melissa: 00:22

Okay, Jam. Mhmm. Did you do your experiment this month?

Jam: 00:25

I did do my experiment this month.

Melissa: 00:27

It feels like it has been a long time since we've done this because we've had a whole winter storm, and you've moved, and lots of life has happened since the last time we did our experiment with Stephanie.

Jam: 00:38

Yeah. Definitely very true. Ryan. Yeah. I remember filming the other one in my old kitchen.

Jam: 00:45

It's, like, kinda weird.

Melissa: 00:47

Yeah. You know? But Feels like Forever.

Jam: 00:50

Yeah. Seriously does. So it's nice that that now it just happened, and that we were already to a point where I could pretty easily film another one here. But it was kinda funny feeling like, oh, yeah. I haven't filmed 1 in here yet, so I can set it up a different way or whatever.

Melissa: 01:08

So all of you guys can see what Jam's kitchen looks like now, his new kitchen.

Jam: 01:12

Well, I kinda did it on the dining table. So anyway, Spoiler alert. But

Melissa: 01:17

Okay, Jam. Well, tell us what you did for your experiment this week.

Jam: 01:21

So Melissa told me to grab some crayons, which we actually had some, which is cool. And I drew, on a piece of paper, 2 Erlenmeyer flasks. The cool little triangular kind of seeming cone shaped and then, You know, flasks that we all associate with chemistry.

Melissa: 01:45

Mhmm. So

Jam: 01:45

I drew 2 of them, and one of them I colored completely front and back with crayon, and then I cut them out. That way it's just, like, a lot easier to just make sure you really get it when it's not Yeah. This thing is cut out and has odd edges to it.

Melissa: 02:01

Mhmm.

Jam: 02:02

So I cut them out, and then I just ripped some Water on them, on the colored one and the non colored one.

Melissa: 02:13

Mhmm.

Jam: 02:15

And on the no crayon one, the water soaked in so fast just like we'd expect.

Melissa: 02:26

Mhmm.

Jam: 02:26

On the one that I had completely colored, it, the water beaded up on top.

Melissa: 02:33

Okay.

Jam: 02:34

But I noticed that so I left them there for a little while. I'm just kinda watching them. And it did sort of start to soak in to the paper, but not very fast. It was, like, very slow. And so when I picked them back up, the droplet actually fell off of that.

Jam: 02:51

That the crayon colored Erlenmeyer flask.

Melissa: 02:57

Sorry. Nice. Okay.

Jam: 02:59

So I did that according to your instructions, and then I very quickly dunked them in water. Just in and out. And Okay. The one that was had no coloring on it soaked up water super fast. Became very, very flimsy.

Jam: 03:15

And, you know, just like we'd expect. And then, the other one did not Soak up very much water. It did soak up some. I think partly I was thinking because the edges, of course, aren't colored.

Melissa: 03:29

Yeah. Yeah.

Jam: 03:30

There's still ways for water to get in, but, for the most part, it still had a structure to it. It didn't get, like, really floppy as much.

Melissa: 03:38

Yeah.

Jam: 03:38

And So I kind of just observed that, and I'd talk about that a little bit on the video as well. And then I put them in and left them for, like, about a minute or so into the water and then pulled them back out. And the non, crayon colored one Got super flimsy then and just was like wanted to fall apart.

Melissa: 04:04

Falling apart. Yeah.

Jam: 04:05

Yeah. And the Crayon color bun was it did soak up more water, but still retained some some structure to it. And in general, just like when you pulled it out, it just felt still more solid to it. It didn't feel Nearly as soaked. So and that was it, I guess.

Melissa: 04:30

Okay. Great. That was exactly what I was hoping would happen. So the chemistry here is that the crayon is made of wax, and when you're coloring, you're just literally transferring wax to the paper.

Jam: 04:41

Mhmm. Mhmm.

Melissa: 04:42

And wax is nonpolar, and water is polar. And things don't like Things wanna be with other things like themselves. So water, which is polar, and oil or wax, which are nonpolar, don't like to mix together. You've seen that. So that's what happens when you're coloring this, and that's why the it sort of waterproofs, quote, unquote, paper when you coat it with crayon.

Jam: 05:07

Right. Right.

Melissa: 05:08

These are big words for a little kid. So the way and I would say the reason why I really like this experiment is because young kids Probably don't know inherently, while a lot of adults do, that crayon makes paper sort of Repel water.

Jam: 05:26

Mhmm.

Melissa: 05:26

You know, I feel like a lot of us adults sort of know that that's gonna happen. Kids probably won't, so they might be pretty surprised, and It lets them do some art. You know? They get to color a shape. They could color a heart.

Melissa: 05:38

They could color a triangle. Whatever they like, they could do. You know? So that makes it fun. You can also tie in questions like doctor Ryan talked about when she came on our episode and ask, Is this water a solid, a liquid, or a gas?

Melissa: 05:54

What about the crayon? Solid, liquid, or gas? What about the paper? And so they can be thinking about those different States of matter. Mhmm.

Melissa: 06:02

And then before you drip the water onto the paper, ask them What they think will happen.

Jam: 06:09

And then

Melissa: 06:10

I would drip it onto the paper without the crayons and let them see the results, and then have them do the same thing for the one with the crayon. And that will basically be prompting them to hypothesize and then test their results.

Jam: 06:24

Right.

Melissa: 06:25

And then do the same thing when you have them dip it in water and then when you just leave it in water. Mhmm. The other thing you can do to adapt this experiment is try to color it with other things. Do light crayon. Do heavy crayon.

Melissa: 06:40

Do marker. Do colored pencil. And, see, I think the marker could be cool because I think it might start to dissolve in the water when you leave it there.

Jam: 06:48

Uh-huh. Uh-huh.

Melissa: 06:49

Because most markers are water soluble.

Jam: 06:52

Mhmm.

Melissa: 06:53

That could be pretty cool. And if you wanna get really crazy and you don't mind a mess, pull out some oil and see What happens when you put oil there?

Jam: 07:02

Mhmm. See

Melissa: 07:03

if the oil sticks on that crayon better. That could be really fun too.

Jam: 07:08

Dude, nice.

Melissa: 07:10

So that's just a way to take a really simple thing most parents have around the house, some crayons, some paper, and get your kids Thinking scientifically and to spend a fun afternoon doing art and science together with very minimal effort, And it'd be just fun, quick, and easy.

Jam: 07:26

Yeah. One thing I did at the end just to see this is not very scientific, but I took The one that I that didn't have any crayon on it at all and just put my fingers on either end of it and just kinda pulled to see how easily it would pull apart? It was, like, so easy. And then the one that had crown and I I tried the same amount of force. Now that's, like, not very scientific, but I just tried to feel it out, and it definitely stayed together better.

Jam: 07:57

Though Wow. It still started to want to tear, It was, like, so easy with the other one. So I think that was kinda interesting because it at least showed like, oh, yeah. This one got way more water soaked in it, and It's it was wanting to fall apart, and the other one was a little harder to to pull apart.

Melissa: 08:14

Yeah. And the reason I think some water does still is, like you said, the edges don't have a wax on them. Mhmm. But also, probably at the molecular level, the crown isn't a complete Coding. You know, you can even see that when you draw.

Melissa: 08:27

There's, like, some gaps in it. Mhmm. And so if you there was a girl online who makes Drawings out of Crown, that's, like, totally solid. They you just cannot see any white at all. It looks like

Jam: 08:38

Mhmm.

Melissa: 08:38

It was printed. Mhmm. And, I think if you could go that route and get it completely covered in crown, which is unlikely for a child, it would be very Waterproof. Mhmm. I think it would be pretty impressively waterproof at that point.

Jam: 08:53

Yeah. Yeah.

Melissa: 08:55

Do a little one around the edge after you cut it out or something.

Jam: 08:58

Mhmm.

Melissa: 08:58

So alright. Cool. Well, thanks for coming and doing science with us this week, Jam.

Jam: 09:03

Due date and time. Hadn't colored in a long time, so Really brought him back. You know?

Melissa: 09:08

Was it a little trip down nostalgia lane, like and relaxing and bring you to a place of calm and joy or something?

Jam: 09:15

I guess it would have been if I ever liked coloring. Oh. I always liked art, but to me, the I was getting a little stressed about, like, oh, you gotta keep this in the lines and stuff, and this is pre decided for you. I always loved drawing, though.

Melissa: 09:32

So Mhmm.

Jam: 09:33

I guess I did drop my own flasks. So that was a little more nostalgic.

Melissa: 09:37

Yeah.

Jam: 09:38

But, yeah, it was. Just in the smell in the smell of crowns too. You know, you You got that distinct smell? I had not smelled that in a long time.

Melissa: 09:44

Yeah. That distinct smell is really brings you instantly back to childhood.

Jam: 09:49

Totally. But it was fun.

Melissa: 09:51

I'm glad it was fun. Thanks for coming and learning with us this week.

Jam: 09:54

Anytime. This episode of Chemistry For Your Life was created by Melissa Cleany and Jam Robinson. And we'd like to give a special thanks to E Robinson who reviewed this episode.