FREE Shipping on all our products! (Please Note: Orders may experience a delay of a week or more in shipping due to the high volume of orders at this time of year.)

0

Your Cart is Empty

How you can use kitchen science to send a secret message on Valentine's Day

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, I thought it was a perfect time to share with you a kitchen science activity you can use to send secret messages to your loved one!

How to use kitchen science to send a secret message

This is one of our kids' favorite things to do - there’s nothing like getting a blank piece of paper and making a secret message appear!

What you need

To make your secret message you will need the following:

  • A blank piece of paper
  • Lemon juice
  • A Q-tip
  • A heat source (Adults only: A burner in your kitchen or a candle will work well for this).

What to do to make your secret message

Here is how you make your secret message

  1. Have the students dip the Q-tip in the lemon juice and use it to write a message on the paper.
  2. Let the paper dry thoroughly.
  3. Then, let the students watch as you reveal the message. (Adult Only) Hold the paper over the heat source until the message appears.  Remove quickly or the paper will burn.
(Safety Notice: Be sure to take the necessary precautions, such as a hot mat, to make sure that you don’t get burned.)

What should happen

After the paper has been heated up, the message on the paper will turn brown, making it possible to read.

The acid in the lemon juice breaks down the paper a bit, thus weakening it.  The weakened paper burns before the rest of the paper, which is why you must remove it from the heat source just after the message appears or the entire paper will burn.

A few more kitchen science ideas

You can try the experiment again using water, which is neutral.  It should not degrade the paper the way the lemon juice does, so the message won’t appear.  You can also try writing messages with vinegar, orange juice or white wine, which will degrade the paper the same way the lemon juice did.


Also in Homeschool Science Activities

Don’t Be Afraid To Try These 3 Christmas Tree Experiments Right Now

December 07, 2024 3 min read

It's the most wonderful time of the year and these three Christmas tree experiments will make your season even brighter!

It's the most wonderful time of the year and these three Christmas tree experiments will make your season even brighter! Click "Read More" to see them.

Steps For Dissecting A Seed By Felipe Moreno

November 09, 2024 2 min read

The Argentinian folk ballad you didn't know you needed on how to dissect a seed from Sassafras Science.

Felipe Moreno, one of the Sassafras twins' botany experts, shares an Argentinian folk ballad which shares the steps for dissecting a seed.

How to make a Beautiful Fall Leaf Book {A Fall Science Activity}

September 21, 2024 2 min read

Preserve a piece of fall with this leaf book - a FREE download from Elemental Science.

Want to preserve the beauty of fall for science? Click "Read More" to learn how to make a fall leaf book and download the free templates!