Showing posts with label Science. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Science. Show all posts

Ooze!

I found this recipe for making Ooze on ehow and we decided to give it a try.

1 Cup water
Food coloring
2 Cups cornstarch

Pour 1 Cup water into a bowl.

Add food coloring.

Mix.

Add cornstarch 1/4 cup at a time and stir each time, scraping along the bottom of the bowl.


Once you are at 2 cups...OR when the mixture appears solid, you can play!

It will appear solid when you pick it up.

And then turn to liquid in your hands...so hold it over the bowl!

The recipe also recommended laying down newspapers first...smart!

"I'm a zombie!"

 "Zombie brains!"

And it washes up easily with just water.

Rockets!

Adel has been saving a model rocket since his college days and finally decided it was time for lift off.

During assembly, Isaac asked, "What makes the rocket go up?"

This started a physics lesson on Isaac Newton's third law of motion: "To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction."  We marked a spot on the ground where the rolling chair started and then Isaac gave it a push so we could see how far the equal and opposite reaction would carry Abby.

Then we put both of them in rolling chairs and did the test again.

Surprise...Abby went farther.  Why?  According to Adel, because the mass was not equal (Isaac is heavier than Abby), the equal and opposite reaction of the push moved the object with less mass (Abby) farther than the object with more mass (Isaac).  

And, of course, he got out the white board to explain with equations and illustrations.  They can probably both now teach physics at a college level.

 Time to launch!




5, 4, 3, 2, 1...

Lift off!


Run and get it!


For the second launch, Abby decided she was brave enough to press the button again.  Isaac decided he would rather stand back and cover his ears.
 

"Parachutes are out.  Oh no!  The wind is carrying it toward the school roof!"

"Doh!"

 "Hmmmm..."

Isaac (Lagoy's) fourth law:
Ladder + Broom

= Rescued.  

Taste Test


Last night we had our family night (#11).  According to my cousin Robin's instructions, I assembled a plate of bitter, sour, salty, and sweet foods.  The rule was, everyone had to taste everything.  If you liked it, you could eat as much as you wanted.  The kids did a fantastic job tasting everything.

Before we ate, we talked about how we were going to try foods from four different taste groups.  We started with bitter.  That's cold coffee, steamed broccoli, walnuts, and unsweetened chocolate.
Abby couldn't wait to get her hands on that chocolate.  I felt a little cruel, but I did warn her that it wasn't sweet like she was used to.  She sucked on a huge hunk happily (to our surprise) for an entire minute.
Then, as the taste slowly sank in, she learned the meaning of bitter.
Poor baby!  We hurried on to the sour plate.  That's grapefruit, an orange pixie stick, pineapple puree, and vinegar (wish I had a lemon!).
Isaac was a champ tasting the vinegar.
When I pulled out the salty plate, I knew they would like it.  That's pistachios, pretzels, tortilla chips, bacon, and salted boiled eggs.
Abby happily ate several eggs.
Isaac enjoyed chomping the bacon.
And, of course, no one complained when I brought out the sweet plate (even though we started with carrots!).  Besides, carrots, that's sweet corn, banana, semi-sweet chocolate, and pop tarts.
Not much of a meal, but what a great family night!

Mad Scientists


Last night we had our "Mad Scientist" family night (#13).  We used the beakers and experiments that we got from Chick Fil-A (paraphrased below), but you could follow the experiments without an "official" beaker too.  Daddy enjoyed teaching the kids a little bit of science.

Experiment #1 - Protective Pressure

What you need: 
Your Beaker * Bowl * Sheet of Paper * Water

What You Do:
1. Push paper into beaker
2. Sink upside down beaker into bowl of water
3. Rest rim on bottom of bowl, hold for 10 sec.
4. Remove beaker from water
5. Is paper wet or dry?

What's Going On?
Air takes up space.  Turning the beaker upside down traps the air inside so water cannot rush up and fill the beaker.

Experiment #2 - Ice Fishing

What You Need:
Your Beaker * Piece of Yarn * Ice Cube * Timer * Water * Salt

What You Do:
1. Place ice cube in beaker
2. Wet yarn and lower one end onto ice cube
3. Sprinkle salt on part of yarn that's touching ice cube
4. Wait 2 minutes and try to remove yarn.  What happens?

What's Going On?
The yarn froze to your ice cube.  When salt is sprinkled on the ice cube, it lowers the freezing point.  As the ice cube continues to melt, the salt water becomes more diluted, causing the freezing point to rise back up.  At this point, the water refreezes, attaching the string to the ice cube.


Experiment #3 - Paper Clip Float

What You Need:
Your Beaker * Dish Detergent * Paper Clip * Fork * Water

What You Do:
1. Fill beaker with 200mL water
2. Place paper clip flat on fork and gently lower into beaker
3. Does paper clip sink with fork or does it float?
4. Without touching the paper clip, remove fork from beaker.  Add 1 drop of dish detergent.  What happens?

What's Going On?
The water's surface tension can support a paper clip! The fork helps you lower the paper clip without breaking the surface tension.  Adding dish detergent disrupts the water molecule order.  They no longer line up from positive to negative.  This means the surface tension is no longer strong enough to support the paper clip's weight.  So the paper clip falls.

THANKS DADDY!