WHAT MAKES A LEMON SOUR?

Kitchen chemists should have fun with this easy-to-understand but reasonably detailed study of acids and bases. Beginning with familiar examples--vinegar and battery acid, ammonia and drain cleaner--Haines goes on to a chemistry lesson explaining concepts like atoms, molecules, ions, and salts in simple terms, and introducing experiments using tea and red cabbage water as PH indicators. The energetic, anthropomorphized chemicals in the illustrations work well with the text. Good and basic.