Archive for the ‘science experiments’ Category

{Ivory Soap Science Experiment} Seattle Area Lifestyle Photographer

February 20th, 2012

It’s monday and not sunday, but I’m still going to call it the sunday science post. I found this cool (and easy!) experiment titled “What Happens When You Microwave Ivory Soap” . I thought, how different could Ivory soap be from other soaps? It was a super fun, easy, clean!, and also preschooler friendly experiment. Here [...]
 

It’s monday and not sunday, but I’m still going to call it the sunday science post. I found this cool (and easy!) experiment titled “What Happens When You Microwave Ivory Soap” . I thought, how different could Ivory soap be from other soaps? It was a super fun, easy, clean!, and also preschooler friendly experiment. Here is what we did.

 

You Need:

  • bar of Ivory soap, quartered. IMPORTANT one of the soaps needs to be Ivory
  • bar of some other soap, quartered
  • microwave (put soap in for 30 seconds at a time)
  • microwave safe dish (we used paper plates)
  • big bowl of water (optional – for playing with the soap)

 

Our Hypothesis: What Happens When You Microwave Ivory Soap?  (This was before we had the cool chalkboards to write stuff down)

Six Year Old: it doesn’t do anything

Three Year Old: it becomes tasty? (heh, he cracks me up)

We started with the Ivory soap

We also used Lever 2000 as our secondary control

We broke the soap in half to see what it looked like inside

The Lever 2000 after we microwaved for 60 seconds

Aannnnnnnnnnnnd…here is what Ivory soap looks like after being microwaved for 60 seconds!

Another before and after shot of the Lever 2000

And a before and after of the Ivory soap

 

CONCLUSION: Ivory soap blows up in the microwave, where the other soap did not.

WHY: Ivory soap is made up of whipped air! When you microwave it, the air expands into the surrounding solid state soap, thus making it “blow up” , aka turn into soap foam.

 

Other cool things to try with Ivory Soap vs. Other Soap:

  • Place a bar of Ivory and your Other Soap in a bowl of water. Does it float? Does it sink?
  • Cut or break off a piece of Ivory and your Other Soap and examine it. Do you see pockets of air? (if you cut non-Ivory soap, make sure you have a strong hand because it will be harder to cut)
  • HAVE FUN!

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{The Bottomless Pit} Seattle Area Lifestyle Photographer

January 30th, 2012

I realize today is monday so technically this isn’t “Science Sunday” but it’s still a fun science project! I got the idea from this wonderful book, The Book of Totally Irresponsible Science by Sean Connolly. This project does need adult supervision, since there is nail polish remover involved, and I would recommend doing this outside, [...]
 

I realize today is monday so technically this isn’t “Science Sunday” but it’s still a fun science project! I got the idea from this wonderful book, The Book of Totally Irresponsible Science by Sean Connolly. This project does need adult supervision, since there is nail polish remover involved, and I would recommend doing this outside, or in a ventilated space because of the smell factor (my kids didn’t like the smell of the nail polish remover).

What You Need:

  • Empty tin or aluminum can
  • Pieces of styrofoam** (packing peanuts work well. we didn’t have any on hand so I broke up a bigger piece). You need a lot, approximately a pile as big as a basketball
  • Nail Polish Remover
  • Stick (we used a chopstick)
  • Rubber Gloves (optional)
  • Goggles (optional)
**Do not use the green recycled styrofoam peanuts, their composition is a bit different than regular white styrofoam.

 

First, we had our hypothesis – how many pieces of styrofoam did we think the can could hold?

Our can, with approximately 1″ of nail polish remover at the bottom. You can use a couple of inches, but one inch was good for our purposes.

 

The box of styrofoam pieces we started out with – note that it’s a full box. Packing peanuts would work better as the pieces are more uniform, but I went with what I had on hand.

 

I had the boys measure out how many pieces they thought the can could hold. This is what they came up with – a pretty good guesstimate based on the can’s size.

 

 

Then, we dropped in pieces of styrofoam until the can “filled up”. My husband was on hand to help and direct.

 

Still dropping in pieces.

 

In the end, we ended up using about half the box. Way more than the few handfuls the boys predicted would fit in the can!

 

A side by side comparison of the before and after shots of how many pieces we were able to “fit” in the can.

 

Our conclusion of how many pieces could fit in the can: MENY! (gotta love creative six year old spelling)

And the explanation behind the experiment. I had the boys squish little pieces of styrofoam between their fingers to see how much “air” was trapped inside, and thus we could explain that the aceton (aka nail polish remover), dissolved the bonds holding the air inside the styrofoam from a big piece to a little piece.

 

The melted styrofoam/acetone mixture can be frozen, then thrown away safely. It was really fun for all parties, including my husband!

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{Walking on Eggshells} – Seattle Area Lifestyle Photography

January 8th, 2012

Besides arts and crafts, my kids and I love a good science experiment as well. I subscribe to the Steve Spangler Experiment of the Week newsletter, and this week’s experiment was walking on eggs. I repeat, WALKING ON EGGS. How cool is that? Since my kids are only 6 and 3, instead of walking we [...]
 

Besides arts and crafts, my kids and I love a good science experiment as well. I subscribe to the Steve Spangler Experiment of the Week newsletter, and this week’s experiment was walking on eggs. I repeat, WALKING ON EGGS. How cool is that? Since my kids are only 6 and 3, instead of walking we settled for what would happen if we stood on eggs. Along with teaching them about the scientific theory, it was just loads of fun. I would highly recommend having someone help you if you are doing this with more than one child, have a towel under the eggs, and a sink nearby in case of egg breakage (raw eggs do carry the risk of salmonella, so please be careful and practice safe hand and feet washing after the experiment).

The basic guidelines I followed for the experiment:

  1. Inspect all of the eggs to make sure there are no breaks or fractures in any of the eggshells. Make any replacements that might be necessary.
  2. It’s important to make sure all of the eggs are oriented the same way in the cartons too. One end of the egg is more “pointy” while the other end is more round. Just make sure that all of the eggs are oriented in the same direction. By doing this, your foot will have a more level surface on which to stand.
  3. Remove your shoes and socks .
  4. Find a friend to assist you as you step up onto the first carton of eggs. The key is to make your foot as flat as possible in order to distribute your weight evenly across the tops of the eggs. If the ball of your foot is large, you might try positioning it between two rows of eggs instead of resting it on the top of an egg.
  5. When your foot is properly positioned, slowly shift all of your weight onto the egg-leg as you position your other foot on top of the second carton of eggs.

At the start of our experiment, here’s what we set out to find: What would happen if you stand on eggs?

 

Hypothesis from the six year old (yes, that is his writing and spelling)

 

Hypothesis from the three year old

 

Our eggs! Here they are starting out before the experiment, safely tucked in their carton.

 

Six year old stands on them and is super impressed that none of them broke.

 

Yes, it was not a trick of the camera, he is actually standing on raw eggs.

 

Three year old tries it out too.

 

We learned that he could actually stand on one foot without breaking any eggs as well.

 

And after the experiment, the eggs still safe and sound in their cartons!

 

 

My six year old really wanted to break an egg, so we decided to see what happens if you stand on just one egg

 

Smushed!

 

Although my six year old did smush the egg, we found out that a single egg in the carton actually withstood the weight of the three year old. He could not break the single egg, no matter how hard he stepped on it. Those egg cartons are quite good reinforcement!

 

I think the following two pictures speak for themselves:

 

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