Ruby
Auror
I need some help. Are any of you good at chemistry? Can you suggest an experiment that someone could be doing in Victorian England around 1899? At the moment the main character, a girl of 16,( who is a magician) has entered the lab where a young chemistry/apothecary professor is grinding some stuff using a pestle and mortar. She has come to find her father who is working there as she has just been told she has an exam that afternoon to see if she can study at the academy.The young Professor has a beaker containing some blue liquid which he is heating over a Bunsen burner. He adds the powder from the mortar and there is a chemical reaction, sparks of flame and thick black smoke. They have to open the window and leave the room. The MC laughs because the professor has messed up the experiment and offers to teach him how to do it. What could the experiment be? It's a fantasy so I could just make it up; but it would be better if it's scientifically correct. (Later on she discovers he will be on the panel of examiners...)