Ammonia fountain
Okay kiddo, have you ever seen a fountain in a park that shoots water up into the air and then falls back down into the pool below? Well, an ammonia fountain works kind of like that, but instead of water, it uses a gas called ammonia.
So, ammonia is a gas that you can't see, but it's all around us. It's made up of three things: nitrogen and hydrogen, which are also things you can't see, and something called an "amino group." That's not important, though.
Now, let's imagine we have a container filled with ammonia gas. If we heat up the bottom of the container, the gas at the bottom will get hotter and start to rise, just like hot air rises. As that gas rises, it will cool down again because it's not being heated anymore. When it cools down, it will start to fall back down to the bottom of the container.
Here's where things get interesting. As that cool gas falls back down, it will pass through a small hole in the bottom of the container. This hole is connected to a tube that comes up from the bottom and curves over, like a candy cane. At the top of that tube, there's another hole that lets the gas come out.
When the cool gas from the container falls down through that hole and into the tube, it mixes with some other stuff that's in there. That makes it start to bubble up, kind of like when you put Mentos in a bottle of soda. As the gas bubbles up through the tube, it pushes some of the ammonia gas out through the hole at the top.
And that's your ammonia fountain! The gas that's coming out the top of the tube is shooting up into the air and falling back down, just like a water fountain. And the bubbles that are coming up from the bottom are helping to make more gas shoot out the top.
Isn't science cool, kiddo?
So, ammonia is a gas that you can't see, but it's all around us. It's made up of three things: nitrogen and hydrogen, which are also things you can't see, and something called an "amino group." That's not important, though.
Now, let's imagine we have a container filled with ammonia gas. If we heat up the bottom of the container, the gas at the bottom will get hotter and start to rise, just like hot air rises. As that gas rises, it will cool down again because it's not being heated anymore. When it cools down, it will start to fall back down to the bottom of the container.
Here's where things get interesting. As that cool gas falls back down, it will pass through a small hole in the bottom of the container. This hole is connected to a tube that comes up from the bottom and curves over, like a candy cane. At the top of that tube, there's another hole that lets the gas come out.
When the cool gas from the container falls down through that hole and into the tube, it mixes with some other stuff that's in there. That makes it start to bubble up, kind of like when you put Mentos in a bottle of soda. As the gas bubbles up through the tube, it pushes some of the ammonia gas out through the hole at the top.
And that's your ammonia fountain! The gas that's coming out the top of the tube is shooting up into the air and falling back down, just like a water fountain. And the bubbles that are coming up from the bottom are helping to make more gas shoot out the top.
Isn't science cool, kiddo?