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Everyone remembers the chemistry experiment that really got their attention in high school. Whether they end with a notable chemical reaction or a bang (or both!), the right chemistry experiments for high school can bring a student’s interest from mild to mesmerized.
Get teens to the edge of their seats with chemistry projects for high schoolers that impress and inform at the same time. Whether you’re focused on ionic bonds, stoichiometry, or good old-fashioned flame labs, you’ll make beakers and funnels their new favorite devices.
Chemistry Classics for Experimental Learning
Our understanding of scientific concepts may change, but the fundamentals stay the same! Use these classic chemistry experiments for high school (and favorite high school science fair ideas!) to equip teens with the basics they’ll need for more complex subjects later in their science education.
- Mentos and Diet Coke: Model how quickly (and explosively) carbon dioxide bubbles can explode into a geyser.
- Lava lamp: Take a trip back to the 60s with an oil-and-water lava lamp that’s groovy to make and enjoy.
- Egg in a bottle: Wow your high school students with an experiment that uses air pressure to suck an egg into a bottle.
- Cereal iron: Extract iron from everyday breakfast cereals with a mortar and pestle, a magnetic stirrer, and an interest in the nutrition you eat.
Scale up atom models and student understanding
Models and atoms are important fundamentals for students to understand, so why not combine them into one helpful lesson? Show students how to visualize atoms with activities that illustrate each part of an atom clearly.
Rutherford Model of the Atom Gold Foil Experiment Lab Activity
By Kelsey Chemistry
Grades: 9th-12th
Subject: Chemistry, Physics
Standards: NGSS HS-PS1-8
Atoms are hard for high schoolers to see — and not just because they need an atomic microscope! Help students visualize atoms with a model activity that demonstrates the empty space within atoms and how they function using styrofoam balls and hula hoops.
Test age-old questions with radiometric dating
How can you tell how old a material is? Combine archaeology, geology, and chemistry in one lesson with activities on radiometric dating and half-life decay rates.
Nuclear Science Chemistry Activity Radiometric Dating Lab “Hands On” Activity
By Bazinga Brown
Grades: 9th-12th
Subject: Chemistry, Earth Sciences
Standards: NGSS HS-ESS1-6, HS-PS1-8
Demonstrate how scientists determine the ages of real-life historical finds with a chemistry lab that explores the fundamentals of radiometric dating. Students apply their understanding of radioactive decay and half-life to paper clip models of parent isotopes and collaborative lab report worksheets.
Electrifying Experiments on Light and Conductivity
Students conduct chemistry experiences on electricity every time they turn on the lights! Show them the relationship between chemistry and electricity with activities that focus on chemical energy and the electrical currents all around them.
- Lemon battery: With copper, zinc, and a lemon, students create a battery that generates real power.
- Pie pan storm: Can students create their own lightning with an aluminum pie pan and thumbtacks?
- Balloon hair: Your students probably already know this one! Chart the ways rubbing a balloon against your hair generates different levels of static electricity.
- Electric play dough: Channel electricity through dough with an electrifying experiment on circuits and conductivity.
Use electricity labs to spark understanding
How does electromagnetic radiation look in different contexts? Have students experiment with spectroscopy with activities and chemical labs that focus on the absorption and emission of light.
LIGHT SPECTROSCOPY – FLAME TEST Virtual LAB SIMULATION (Digital/Printable)
By Science 4 Real
Grades: 8th-1tth
Subjects: Chemistry, Physics
Want to demonstrate light spectroscopy without starting a fire in your chemistry class? Use this virtual spectroscopy experiment to host a flame test lab for high schoolers to further their understanding of wavelength, white light, and spectrum emissions.
Make big connections between tiny concepts
Can your students tell the difference between electrolytes and non-electrolytes? Get to the basics of conducting electricity with experiments that focus on the ways bonded compounds produce ions (or not) in the right situations.
Lab Activity: Electrical Conductivity of Solutions by MsRazz ChemClass
By MsRazz ChemClass
Grades: 7th-12th
Help high school scientists identify electrolytes and non-electrolytes with a lab on electrical conductivity. Made for honors classes but adaptable for all chemistry class levels, this resource includes a three-page lab activity, a teacher prep guide, and post-lab questions for students to reflect on their experience.
Chemical Reactions That Create Real Change
Some chemistry experiments for high school need to be seen to be believed. Use these chemical reaction experiments to show students what happens when they mix two elements together—and whether or not their hypothesis got it right.
- Grow a crystal: Using sugar, boiling water, twine, and an open-mouthed jar, students create the right conditions to grow crystals and model chemical change.
- Chemical traffic light: Take students through a colorful journey with a hue-changing experiment combining potassium permanganate, sucrose, and water.
- Green flame: Combine sulfuric acid, boric acid crystals, and ethyl alcohol to produce an unbelievable green flame.
- Flour combustion: Demonstrate how just a puff of flour and a little heat can cause an immediate combustion (and have safety measures ready!).
Get students thinking about ionic and covalent connections
Chemistry class is a great time to bond! Introduce students to the transfer of electrons between metals and non-metals with lessons that help them visualize this attractive chemical process.
Ionic and Covalent Bonding Unit Chemical Reactions Balancing Equations Activity
By Sunrise Science
Grades: 8th-10th
Standards: NGSS HS-PS1-1, HS-PS1-2, HS-PS1-4, HS-PS1-5, HS-PS1-7; MS-PS1-2, MS-PS1-5, MS-PS1-1
Cover many aspects of chemical bonding and reactions with a thorough three-week unit. Packed with valuable student materials and assessments that discuss counting atoms, covalent bonding, and conservation of mass, this NGSS-aligned resource is a must-have for any chemistry teacher looking to reinforce chemistry fundamentals.
Observe chemical reactions with everyday items
Combine math and chemistry into a key concept with lessons that focus on stoichiometry. Everyday items are on your material lists, along with resources that encourage students to study the relationships between reactants and products in everyday items and substances.
Stoichiometry Lab and Limiting Reactant Making Chalk Labs Percent Yield editable
By ChemKate
Grades: 7th-12th
Standards: NGSS HS-PS1-7
Two versions of an experiment on precipitation and percent yield make this chalk lab a fun addition to your stoichiometry unit. With sodium carbonate, calcium chloride, distilled water, and standard lab equipment, students calculate one mass of reactant when given the first one.
Inspire scientific breakthroughs every day with TPT
Whether you’re planning next week’s chemistry coursework or deciding on activities for National STEM Day, the right chemistry experiments for high school can turn a reluctant learner into a fascinated scientist. Seeing how their lab works helps students learn more about their world and emboldens them to never stop asking questions about what they want to know.
Check out more high school chemistry resources to inspire student scientists in your chemistry class. And if you’re preparing for a chemistry-related holiday coming up in October, don’t forget to pick mole projects for mole day!