Put A Shine On It (Creative Chemistry Experiments)

You will need:

1. Tarnished piece or
   pieces of silver
2. Pan or dish (should be
   deep enough to immerse
   the silver completely)
3. Aluminium foil to cover
   the bottom of the dish
4. Hot (nearly boiling) water
   (to fill the dish)
5. Baking soda (add ½ cup of
   baking soda for 8 cups of
   water)

Next time, your mother takes the household silver to the jeweller to get it polished, surprise her by shining the silver at home. Follow this experiment to find out.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Take your dish and line its bottom with aluminium foil.
2. Place the tarnished silver directly over the aluminium foil. Remember, the silver should be touching the foil.
3. Take your boiling hot water and keep it in the sink. This is because as soon as you add the baking soda to it, it will bubble and might spill over.
4. Once the baking soda has mixed into the water, pour the water into the dish in which you have placed your silver.

RESULT

As soon as the baking soda and hot water solution is poured into the aluminium lined dish, the tarnish on the silver which is nothing but silver sulphide starts to disappear, returning the silver to its previous shine!