Experiences/The Chemistry Lab/

The Chemistry Lab

There’s chemistry everywhere, all the time. We’re made from chemical compounds and everything that happens in our bodies, even our thoughts, is a chemical process. The Chemistry Lab is where we explore the magic of chemistry.

The Chemistry Lab has a minimum admission age of 3. Children aged 3–9 are welcome if accompanied by an adult.

Chemical reaction.

It is called a chemical reaction when chemical substances form new chemical substances. Some reactions start on their own while others need an addition of energy, such as heat, to get started. Reactions can be fast and powerful as in New Year's rockets or slow as rusting iron.

A real Chemistry Lab!

In The Chemistry Lab you do experiments under the guidance of an explainer. In the program and on the screen outside the lab, you can see what times the labs start.

The Chemistry Lab got room for 32 persons at the same time. Bag your place by taking a ticket from the board outside the lab. The tickets are released 15 minutes before the lab starts.

Here are some of the labs we usually do:

/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/fargstationen_ny_788x480.jpg

Rainbow chemistry

Welcome to a colorful chemistry lab! Put on your lab coat and experiment with fantastic colors.

/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/kemilabbet_laboration_788x480.jpg

Space chemistry

What gives the planet Mars its red color? What is on the poles of Mars? And in what ways are Earth and Mars different? In the Chemistry Lab, we explore some of the challenges of settling on Mars through colorful and smoky experiments.

/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/hemilg_kemi788x480.jpg

Secret chemistry

Write secret love messages that only chemistry can reveal – then give them to someone you like. We also explore how UV light shows things in our environment that are hidden from our human eyes.

Chemistry all around us

Everything is chemistry. Honest! You, for example, are 100% chemicals. Just reading this text about chemistry sets off loads of chemical processes in your body involving different kinds of chemicals. This is where we get to discover some of the fabulous and fantastic things about chemistry!

Our bodies

In your stomach, stomach acid is breaking down the food you just ate. In your cells, energy-packed reactions are taking place to transform the oxygen you breathe in into water, and the carbohydrates you eat into carbon dioxide that you breathe out. And in your brain, your brain cells are constantly exchanging chemical compounds. That’s what makes your thoughts, memories and feelings – everything that makes you you.
Air

The air we breathe mainly consists of two elements – oxygen and nitrogen. Oxygen makes up about 21% of the air and nitrogen makes up 78%. The remaining percentage consists of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CO4), steam, which is water, (H20) and the noble gas argon (Ar).
Hygiene

We wash our hands with soap to make them clean but why? Soap contains sodium salts that lower the surface tension of the water and emulsify the grease that the dirt is often sitting in. Emulsify means that the grease is broken down into tiny weeny fat particles that are enclosed in the sodium salt and can then be rinsed away.
Food

Why does fish last longer if you salt it? Why does meat change colour from red to brown when you fry it? And how does baking powder make cakes rise? As you might have guessed, the answer is chemistry! All cooking is about changing the chemistry of an ingredient.
Rust

You have probably seen a rusty car. But have you ever thought why it went rusty? Rust is the result of a chemical process called corrosion, where iron has reacted with the oxygen and water in the air. The reaction is faster when there is more moisture in the air, which is quite common, especially here by the sea on the Swedish West Coast. If salt water is involved, iron goes rusty even quicker.

Acids and alkalis

Substances can be acidic, neutral or alkaline. Acidity is measured on a scale called pH. In the middle of the scale we find neutral substances, like tap water. It has a pH of 7. At home in the kitchen you can find lots of examples of acidic and alkaline substances. Lemon, yoghurt and vinegar are acidic and all have a pH below 7.

What determines whether a substance is an acid or an alkali is the amount of positive hydrogen ions, protons, in the solution. The more hydrogen ions, the lower the pH. Positive hydrogen ions are very important for all living things. This is why the natural world is very sensitive to changes in pH.

/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/koraller_havsforsurning.jpg

Acidic oceans

The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is increasing. When carbon dioxide is dissolved in sea water, it forms carbonic acid, which results in the pH falling and the sea becoming more acidic. Many ocean organisms such as coralline algae, sea snails and crabs have shells made from calcium carbonate. When calcium carbonate comes into contact with more acidic surroundings, it becomes porous and finally dissolves. This is a problem if you happen to be made from it.

You can test how an acidic environment affects something made from calcium carbonate. Put a raw egg in its shell in vinegar overnight. What happens?