Halloween outfits

Choose your Halloween outfit!

Safe­ty pre­cau­tions

Warn­ing! Only un­der adult su­per­vi­sion.

Equip­ment

  • so­lu­tions of sodi­um car­bon­ate;
  • cit­ric acid;
  • am­mo­ni­um iron(III) sul­fate and potas­si­um hex­a­cyano­fer­rate(III),;
  • bowl;
  • brush;
  • plas­tic back­ing;
  • Hal­loween sten­cils;
  • bleach;
  • spray bot­tle;
  • white short sleeve T-shirt;
  • black long sleeve shirt;
  • “In­fin­i­ty Por­tal” box (MEL Sci­ence sub­scrip­tion).

Step-by-step in­struc­tions

X-ray T-shirt: At­tach and press a sten­cil to a black long sleeve shirt. Ap­ply bleach with a spray bot­tle. Af­ter a while, the im­age be­gins to "ap­pear."

Chest re­ac­tor: Take the in­fin­i­ty por­tal from the MEL Sci­ence sub­scrip­tion. Use straps to fas­ten the re­ac­tor to your chest.

Cyan jack-o'-lantern: Mix so­lu­tions of cit­ric acid, am­mo­ni­um iron(III) sul­fate, am­mo­ni­um car­bon­ate, and potas­si­um hex­a­cyano­fer­rate(III) – this cre­ates a pho­to­sen­si­tive mix­ture. Pro­tect the back of a white T-shirt with plas­tic back­ing and use a paint­brush to ap­ply the pho­to­sen­si­tive mix­ture to the front. Cov­er the area soaked in the so­lu­tion with a sten­cil and leave it un­der a lamp.

Process de­scrip­tion

X-ray T-shirt: Sodi­um hypochlo­rite (NaO­Cl) is most com­mon­ly used in bleach. Hypochlo­rite ions are a strong ox­i­diz­ing agent; they break down the bonds in the dye mol­e­cules, chang­ing their struc­ture and whiten­ing the fab­ric. Wash your shirt be­fore wear­ing it.

Chest re­ac­tor: A semi-trans­par­ent mir­ror­lets in some light and re­flects the rest. The light from the LEDs in­side the por­tal is re­flect­ed in the mir­rors mul­ti­ple times. Each re­flec­tion is slight­ly off­set from the pre­vi­ous one – this cre­ates the il­lu­sion of depth in the im­age!

Cyan jack-o'-lantern: Un­der the in­flu­ence of bright light, the iron(III) ions in the pho­to­sen­si­tive mix­ture be­gin to ac­tive­ly en­ter an ex­cit­ed state. At the same time, they ox­i­dize the ions of cit­ric acid, re­sult­ing in the for­ma­tion of a com­plex mix­ture of or­gan­ic sub­stances and iron(II) ions, with which potas­si­um hex­a­cyano­fer­rate(III) forms an in­sol­u­ble blue com­pound: Fe²⁺ + K₃[Fe(CN)₆] → KFe[Fe(CN)₆]↓ + K⁺ This com­pound is firm­ly fixed in the fab­ric fibers, so when rinsed with wa­ter, the blue pat­tern re­mains!

Even more safe ex­per­i­ments are wait­ing for you in the MEL Sci­ence sub­scrip­tion!

Try it