Chemistry is happening all around you, in your kitchen, your first aid kit, and your campfire. This badge lets you do safe, hands-on experiments to see how it works. You'll never look at cooking or cleaning the same way again.
Why it's worth it
Chemistry explains why toast turns brown, why soap beats plain water on greasy hands, and why a campfire needs air to keep burning. This badge has you run real experiments in your kitchen and at camp, then connect them to the jobs chemists do: making safer medicines, cleaner water, and plastics that don't last forever. You'll learn to read a safety label like a pro, and you might discover you like the lab coat and goggles more than you expected.
Start this week
- Pick one cleaning product under the sink with a parent, read its warning label together, and look up its safety data sheet online.
- Ask your Scoutmaster for the name of a Chemistry counselor, and send them a short message with a parent copied to set up a first meeting.
- Get a pair of safety glasses or goggles to use for every experiment in this badge.
- Start a lab notebook: for each experiment, write the question, what you did, what happened, and what you think it means.
Stay safe
- Do every experiment with an adult, wear eye protection, and never taste, mix, or heat chemicals unless the instructions and your adult say to.
- Never mix household cleaners, especially bleach with ammonia or acids; they can release toxic gases.
Requirements · 8
Every official requirement and part, numbered to match Scouting America, in plain language. Sign off against the official wording (opens in a new tab).
Note: Finish requirement 1 (chemical safety) before starting requirements 2, 3, and 4.
- Requirement 1
Chemistry and safety
Tips for this section: Start with the safety data sheets for sugar, rubbing alcohol, and a waterproofing spray, and read them with a parent. Always wear eye protection when doing experiments.
Example for this section: Read the safety data sheet for rubbing alcohol with a parent. Find the hazard pictograms, protective gear, first aid steps, and storage advice, then compare them with the sheets for sugar and a waterproofing spray. Check that chemicals at home are in their original containers and that bleach and ammonia cleaners are stored apart.
- Requirement 1a
Get the SDS (safety data sheet) for sugar (sucrose), rubbing alcohol (isopropyl), and a waterproofing spray; compare their properties, hazards, handling, disposal, and toxicity, and discuss with your counselor
- Requirement 1b
Discuss with your counselor which personal protective equipment (PPE) each SDS recommends and why, and how PPE needs change with toxicity and the way a chemical can enter the body
- Requirement 1c
Look over the pictograms in Section 2 of every SDS, then discuss with your counselor what they mean and where you see them in your community
- Requirement 1d
Discuss with your counselor how to store chemicals safely and how that applies at home, at school, in your community, and to the environment
- Requirement 2
Chemistry and first aid (after requirement 1)
Tips for this section: Try simple experiments with soap and rubbing alcohol under adult supervision. Think about why they help clean wounds or hands.
Example for this section: Rub cooking oil mixed with a spoonful of cocoa powder on your hands, rinse with plain water, then wash with soap: the soap lifts the oily mess the water couldn't. For the yeast test, mix yeast into two cups of warm sugar water, add a little rubbing alcohol to one, and compare the foam after 20 minutes.
- Requirement 2a
Talk with your counselor about why soap and alcohol might be used to clean cuts and scrapes, and how you could test your ideas
- Requirement 2b
Coat your hands in cooking oil mixed with a nontoxic powder like sand or cocoa and wash with plain water; repeat using soap and water, then discuss the difference with your counselor
- Requirement 2c
Do an experiment with baker's yeast showing how rubbing alcohol affects microbial growth, and discuss the results with your counselor
- Requirement 3
Chemistry and cooking (after requirement 1)
Tips for this section: Experiment in the kitchen with an adult, like browning bread or testing pH with red cabbage juice.
Example for this section: Make a pH indicator by having an adult help steep chopped red cabbage in hot water. Add a few drops to plain water, lemon juice, vinegar, baking soda water, and soapy water. Record the colors from pink (acid) through purple (neutral) to green or yellow (base) in a table.
- Requirement 3a
Carry out a Maillard (browning) reaction, then discuss with your counselor whether the change was physical or chemical and what happened to the food's molecules as it cooked
- Requirement 3b
Make red cabbage indicator and use it to test the pH of 5 common household liquids, including water; discuss what you saw with your counselor
- Requirement 4
Chemistry and camping (after requirement 1). Choose 2 of 4
Tips for this section: Pick the two camp activities that interest you most, like testing waterproofing or flame tests. Flame tests and making nylon need your counselor or an adult they approve.
Example for this section: For a camp-themed choice, test two kinds of waterproofing: outdoors with an adult, treat one square of old cotton cloth with a waterproofing spray and rub wax into another, then drip water on each and time how long it takes to soak through. Decide which you'd use on a tent and which on boots, and explain why.
- Requirement 4a
Design and run an experiment comparing at least 2 kinds of waterproofing, then discuss with your counselor which you'd choose for your tent and which for your boots, and why
- Requirement 4b
Describe the 4 classes of fires and the 4 classes of fire extinguishers, and discuss with your counselor how each extinguisher class, sand, and baking soda put out fires
- Requirement 4c
Supervised by your counselor or a knowledgeable adult your counselor approved ahead of time, do flame tests on at least 5 elements with a kitchen or propane torch
- Requirement 4d
Supervised by your counselor or a knowledgeable adult your counselor approved ahead of time, make nylon (a kit is OK)
- Requirement 5
Describe how chemistry can help lessen the environmental harm of single-use items like water bottles, bags, straws, or batteries
Tip: Look at single-use items like bottles and bags and think about how chemistry helps make better or reusable options.
For example: Pick a single-use item like a plastic water bottle. Explain what it's made of, why it lasts so long, and one way chemistry helps: recycling it into fleece, designing plant-based plastics, or making a refillable bottle that lasts years.
- Requirement 6
Name 5 fields of chemistry, briefly describe each, and tell how each one relates to your life and how the fields connect with each other
Tip: Look up different fields of chemistry and find an everyday example of what each one makes possible.
For example: Five fields with everyday examples: organic chemistry (medicines and plastics), inorganic (batteries and cement), analytical (testing drinking water), biochemistry (how your body digests food), and physical chemistry (why ice packs get cold).
- Requirement 7
Name 3 government agencies that regulate or guide chemical use (personal, drug, commercial, or industrial), and discuss their history and duties with your counselor
Tip: Look up which government agencies keep people safe from harmful chemicals and what each one does.
- Requirement 8
Chemistry at work. Choose 1 of 3
Tips for this section: Ask a science teacher or parent to help you connect with a lab or chemist. Prepare questions about their job.
- Requirement 8a
Visit a research lab, talk with a chemist or chemical technician about their research, and find out what education and training they had
- Requirement 8b
Visit a business or plant that produces chemical products or relies on chemical processes; find out about its work and talk with an employee about their job, education, and training
- Requirement 8c
Name 3 chemistry careers; research one's training, education, certification, experience, costs, job outlook, starting pay, and advancement, and discuss with your counselor whether it interests you
Places to visit
Ask an adult to set it up, and go with your family, den, patrol, or crew.
A water treatment plant
You'll see chemistry at work making water safe to drink, from adjusting pH to removing particles and killing germs.
How: Have an adult call the city or county water utility and ask whether they offer tours for Scout groups. Many do with advance notice.
A university or community college chemistry lab
Professors and students can show you real equipment and experiments and explain what they're researching.
How: An adult contacts the chemistry department and asks about outreach events, science nights, or a short tour for a small group of Scouts.
Where it can lead
- ChemistDevelops new materials, medicines, and products in research and industrial labs.
- PharmacistPrepares medicines and helps patients use them safely; requires a pharmacy degree.
- Chemical technicianRuns tests and keeps lab equipment working; often a two-year degree.
- Water treatment operatorUses chemistry daily to keep drinking water safe; trained on the job with state certification.
- Food scientistStudies how cooking and storage change food and develops new food products.
- Forensic scientistAnalyzes evidence from crime scenes using chemistry.
Ask yourself
- What's something around your house you've always wondered about that might have a chemistry answer?
- Which experiment surprised you most, and why do you think it turned out that way?
- What did you do when an experiment didn't work the first time?
- How has reading safety labels changed how you use products at home?
- If you could invent one new material or medicine, what problem would it solve?
Good questions to ask a chemist, pharmacist, or chemistry teacher
- What's an everyday product that involved more chemistry than people would guess?
- What does a normal day in your lab or workplace look like?
- What's the most important safety habit you follow every day?
- What problem in the world do you think chemistry will help solve next?
- Which classes should I take in high school if I'm interested in chemistry?
Helpful reads
- Earning a merit badge, step by step, From picking a badge to getting the final signature: how to find a counselor, set up meetings safely, work the requirements, and keep your progress., Youth · Families · 6 min read
- Contacting counselors, experts, and organizations, Email and phone scripts, who to ask for, how to follow up, and how to say thanks, with a parent copied every time., Youth · Families · 7 min read
- Choosing your next merit badge, How to pick a badge you'll actually finish: start with what you care about, balance Eagle-required and just-for-fun badges, and make the most of camp., Youth · Families · 6 min read
For leaders & parents
- Host a kitchen chemistry night with simple, safe experiments and eye protection for all.
- Connect scouts with a local chemist, pharmacist, or high school chemistry teacher.
People & places that can help
- Merit badge counselor — Talk with them early; they can explain what's expected.
- American Chemical Society (opens in a new tab) — Chemistry activities and career information.
- School science teacher — Can help with experiments and safety.
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (opens in a new tab) — Information about chemical safety and the environment.
- PubChem (opens in a new tab) — A free database from the National Institutes of Health with safety and property facts for millions of chemicals.
- Science History Institute (opens in a new tab) — Stories of the chemists and discoveries that shaped modern life.
- OSHA (opens in a new tab) — How safety data sheets and chemical labels protect workers.
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration (opens in a new tab) — One of the agencies that regulates chemicals in food, medicine, and cosmetics.
Pairs well with
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Tips, examples, and questions are ideas from experienced leaders, not extra requirements. Your unit leader or counselor decides when a requirement is complete.