Use chemistry to make your own homemade perfume
Suitable For
Grade 5
Difficulty
2
Time Required
<1 Week
Supervision
Advised
What’s it about?
There are few senses that stir up an emotional response quite as easily as the sense of smell. The fragrance of a rose, the scent of old cedar, the heady aroma of lavender; these scents are almost certain to bring back memories for nearly anyone. Perfume making is one of the oldest forms of chemistry, and in this science experiment we will use chemistry to make our own homemade perfume:
Topics covered
Perfume, Ambergris
What will I need?
- 3x SMALL GLASS JARS
- RUBBING ALCOHOL
- COTTON SWAB
- STRAINER
- ROSE PETALS
- LEMON TREE LEAVES
- LAVENDER LEAVES
Procedure (Method)
There are few senses that stir up an emotional response quite as easily as the sense of smell. The fragrance of a rose, the scent of old cedar, the heady aroma of lavender; these scents are almost certain to bring back memories for nearly anyone. Perfume making is one of the oldest forms of chemistry, and in this science experiment we will use chemistry to make out own homemade perfume:
- Use three medium sized glass jars and place some rose petals, lemon tree leaves and some lavender leaves each into a separate jar.
- Crush the samples as finely as you can with a spoon and then add two teaspoons of rubbing alcohol and continue to crush them vigorously to release as much of their fragrance as you can.
- Put lids on all the jars and leave them out in a warm place for about 7 days to ‘mature’.
- After seven days, pour each of the perfume mixtures through a fine strainer to remove all of the crushed plant material, and put the perfumes back into the jars or place it in vials.
- Your perfume is now ready for use, open the lids one by one and use a cotton swab to apply some of the perfume to your skin at the back of your wrist. Allow the spot to dry and then smell it!
How does it work?
In this science experiment the alcohol is used to dissolve the fragrant oils in the plant material and allows the plant’s oils to be removed from the plant tissue. The fragrant oils of the various plants is suspended in the alcohol and preserved in this way. The swab dipped in the ‘perfume’ will have a strong alcohol smell at first, but alcohol has a high rate of evaporation in air and you are quickly left with only the aromatic oil of the plant.
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