Footage shows the stunning moment a dynamic colour shift from an iodine clock reaction was captured in China.

University students conducted a chemical kinetics experiment by adding three distinct solutions into a glass container in Shanghai on April 25.

The video shows a student carefully pouring the clear substances and mixing them together.

This triggered the liquid to oscillate between deep yellow and deep blue, with the colours changing multiple times.

The iodine clock reaction is a classic chemical demonstration used to study reaction kinetics. It involves a series of redox reactions where iodine is produced and immediately reacts with starch, forming a starch-iodine complex that creates the visible colour changes.

The timing of the colour shifts depends on the concentrations of the reactants and the reaction conditions, allowing scientists to explore the factors that influence reaction rates.

The solutions used typically included hydrogen peroxide, potassium iodate, and manganese sulfate. Hydrogen peroxide serves as an oxidising agent, while iodate ions are reduced to iodine through a catalytic process involving manganese ions.

This has become a popular experiment for illustrating concepts in physical chemistry and reaction dynamics.