White Powders

Today you will be a Forensic Chemist. 

A bag of white powder has been confiscated by airport customs.  You need to find out what white powder it is?

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. Magnifying glass 
2. Sugar 
3. Salt 
4. Baking Soda                         
5. Cornflour 
6. Cardboard  
7. Iodine 
8. Vinegar 
9. Water

Steps

1. Fold card into four squares.
2. Put four different powders on each of the squares. 
3. In each square put the powder into three piles. 
4. Pour the liquids into one of the three piles in each square. 
5. Use the Magnifying glass to see how each of the powders react. 
6. Record the reactions.

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	medium	small	small
Smell (Strong, none)	none	none	strong	none
Iodine	absorbed	absorbed/dried	absorbed/paste	rolled off/hardened
Water	absorbed	absorbed/dried	absorbed	absorber/hardened
Vinegar	absorbed	absorbed/dried	froth/ fizzed	absorbed/hardened

Conclusion:
When we added the Liquids to the Sugar It would always absorb it and stayed wet.
When we added the liquids to the salt it, again absorbed it then it dried out.
When we added the liquids to the Baking soda they all ended up with a different result when we added the iodine it absorbed it then the texture turned into a paste. When I added the water It just absorbed it and the stayed wet. When I added the vinegar It started off by fizzing then it stayed bubbly. When we added the liquids to the cornflour they all ended up the same except when I added iodine it rolled off and then hardened, and with the others, it absorbed it then hardened.