In this introductory activity and demonstration, learners are introduced to the concept that different substances react chemically in characteristic ways. First learners compare the way baking soda and baking powder react with vinegar. Then they see dramatic color changes when red cabbage indicator is added to cream of tartar and laundry detergent. From this, learners are ready to identify unknown powders based on their reactive properties. [Activity is publicly available through a web crawler capture on Archive.org. Activity write-up only, images are unavailable.]