Carolina Chemonstrations®: Blue Bottle Kit

Introduce your students to redox indicators and astonish them with a display of reaction kinetics. Students predict what will happen when you combine and shake a solution of dextrose, potassium hydroxide, and methylene blue. The challenge for students is to explain on a particulate level why the solution turns blue when shaken and colorless when left undisturbed. This demonstration requires approximately 5 min and materials are sufficient to prepare 5 bottles.