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Anne Marie's Chemistry Blog

By Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D., About.com Guide to Chemistry since 2001

Let's Make Invisible Ink

Thursday July 17, 2003
When you get right down to it, there are a lot of substances that can be used as invisible ink. Some invisible inks work by causing slight damage to the paper, so that heating the paper burns the weakened areas to make the writing appear. For other invisible ink, you can write with a chemical that is invisible by itself, but which becomes visible when a second chemical is applied. Here are how-to's for some easy-to-make invisible inks:
You can even make ink that is invisible until it is held under a black (ultraviolet) light. If you have a black light, try writing a secret message using kerosene as an ink.

Comments

February 6, 2008 at 2:50 pm
(1) BECCA says:

I am doing a science fair project on invisible ink and i want to thank you for posting it on the web.
-Becca

March 18, 2008 at 2:11 pm
(2) Lydia says:

im doing a project on invisible ink and this info really helps!!! thanks!!!!!!!

January 7, 2009 at 11:40 am
(3) Emma says:

I am doing a scince fair project and this is perfect! Thanks for posting this on the web!

February 21, 2009 at 3:52 pm
(4) gabby says:

thanks alot for posting this..the nformation is very helpful for my up coming science fair

September 16, 2009 at 1:58 pm
(5) Stephanie says:

Hey! Thanks for posting this, it really helps when you have no idea what to do for a project. Thanks!

November 10, 2009 at 7:06 pm
(6) NOBEL says:

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU OMG, LOL, JJB, ABC, MSA, HSA

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