Tornados, Volcanos and Rainbows

Oh the things you can do with a few empty bottles...

And some angularly cut hard plastic that rays of the sun shine through.

And a volcano made of salt dough along with a few various baking items.

Life is good.

Summer Science 1

Musical Glasses We were able to tap out Mary had a little lamb.Burn Or Melt?

They loved this one.

Plastic, wax and ice seemed to be the only things we tried that melted. Everything else burned.
I was so impressed to find Derek and Kooy had made up a game of throwing the water yo-yo into Jeff's shoe. Creative kids at work. (Just don't look to closely at my garage entrance basement floor...or at the stairs that are still not done.)

Science Perrinals I

A few science experiments that we have done on a regular basis because they never get old..

The old Volcano/baking soda/vinegar trick.

I keep the volcano these days. We used to make a new one out of salt dough every time we wanted to do the experiment. Now I just keep it in the closet with the other science stuff. Putting it on a cookie sheet makes it more fun to make a Bionicle or Lego landscape that the lava can overrun. FYI, Model Magic makes a much better volcano than salt dough. It dries a lot better, and doesn't melt with the vinegar. We always make sure to add the red food coloring.

To make things easier for Derek, I pour the vinegar in a bowl so he doesn't have to pour it. He just dips his little measuring cup in the bowl and adds a little vinegar at a time to the volcano. I put the baking soda in a bowl too and give him a measuring spoon to add it in. And I always remind him to keep it all on the cookie sheet.....all on the cookie sheet, on the cookie sheet, on the cookie sheet on the cookie sheet....
Milk and Food Coloring Trick.

I love this experiment too. I never get tired of those swirling colors. The experiment calls for Milk (The fatter the better), food coloring, and dish soap...and toothpicks.

This is why it works. Milk is made of 3 things. Water, Fat and Protein. The Fat absorbs the food coloring, and the dish soap breaks down the fat. Hence, the swirling colors.

And you don't have to swirl the colors around. Just barley touch a drop of color with a dab of soap on the top of a toothpick. The colors explode automatically. It is the perfect activity for a boring day. And like I said, I love to play with it too. That is the best thing about being a mom. Playing. So glad I get to play. I just can't wait until summer so I have the time. It's been a hard year back at work. I know, I know. It's only part time. But I love being home. And I can't wait til I get to be there all the time this summer...except of course when I am at the POOL!!!!!!!!!!

"There's a butterfly in there..."

We ordered our caterpillars from Insectlore.Derek was surprised and pleased to get them. They are so cute and little and black and fuzzy when they arrive. Delaney and Derek named each one....and somehow were able to tell them apart? Lander, Flyer, Cane, Sponge Bob, and Jordan.You can watch the video from our first experience with raising butterflies Here But like so many of my early blog science posts, my photos are horrible. It was before I got my good camera. The video is darling of Derek though. The caterpillars get big and harry quickly. In about 3 weeks, they spin their cocoons. They change and become butterflies in about 10 days. They are Painted Lady butterflies. Very short life spans. But great for watching and observing metamorphosis.
About 10 days after they spun their cocoons, Jeff announced at breakfast: "Hey, there's a butterfly in there..." Derek and Clint jumped from their stools to see the first butterfly that had emerged. That day, the rest also made their appearance in their new bodies. We put flowers sprinkled with honey water in the bottom of their house, along with some orange slices. They spent the first 2 days drying their wings and sucking sugar with long black tongues. They only live for 2 weeks as butterflies, but there was no room to fly in their little house. But it has been so cold outside to let them go.
Finally we had one nice Saturday where it was almost warm. I knew the time had come for them to have to take their chance outside. Derek and Kooy said their goodbyes, and set them free near some dandelions and strawberry flowers in the front yard.
Good luck little butterflies....If you flap your wings fast enough tonight, maybe you won't freeze...

Mystery Powders and Chemical Reactions

1. Take a few wacky mad scientists
2. Add some basic measuring instruments

3. And some science observation platforms

4. Find a few types of white powder...Such as: Baking Soda, Baking Powder, Alum, Cream of Tarter. ( you could also use Baby Powder, Flour, powdered sugar, laundry detergent, borax, or any other white powdered substance you can think of...We just used the first 4. You could also use liquids such as diffrent juices, sodas, milk, shampoo, and determine which are acids and bases. The cabbage juice will turn the bases one color, and the acids a diffrent color...That will have to be our next project I think...)
5. Put diffrent powders in each section...or you could combine them. The options are endless. It is science after all!6. Next comes liquids. You will want to get some kind of a reaction. I knew a few acids that would do something....but you could try any other kind of liquid you want.
7. Some sure fire liquids are vinegar, lemon juice, and red cabbage water (just boil some red cabbage in some water).
8. Use some droppers to drop the liquid into the powders and watch what happens.

9. Discuss

10. Or don't discuss, and just watch what happens.

11. Anything goes!

Lava Lamp

Derek has been bored out of his mind with the cast on his leg...for the past FIVE weeks. We have done some cool stuff to try to help him keep his mind off of it. I hardly post anything cool on my blog anymore. I usually just end up putting my photos of projects out on facebook with no story or point of reference. But I think I am going to try updating my blog and try to make it look like our lives are interesting....

We used a glass vase, and added enough vegetable oil to fill it almost half-way.

Then we added about the same amount of water. It was cool to add the water second, because the oil came right up to the top, and we talked about the whole density thing.

Then just drop in a little food coloring. We used all the colors...I would'nt do that again. It just made the lava lamp look brown. I think I would just stick with 2 primary colors next time. Ahhh Alka-Seltzer. What every science labratory needs. The many things you can do with Alka-Seltzer....

The Lava bubbles up quite nicely, and the colors swirl. It is very exciting. Derek also came up with the brilliant idea to add some diffrent types of liquid to the lamp. We put in some milk, orange juice, and vanilla. I was really hopeing to see some other types of seperation, like maybe the orange juice would all sink because of the sugar, or the fat in the milk would seperate and end up in the middle.

The orange juice didn't do anything, but there was a little fat from the milk that came to the top. And the vanilla just made it a little darker brown. But its all about the experience. And it got Derek to stop thinking about the cast for awhile. 10 more days. Just 10 more days.

Candy Science

Derek and Clint scored some major candy this year. But enough is enough. Especially when I grab something everytime I pass their stashes. I can't help myself. If it's there, I have to take it.

In an effort to go through it and get it out of the house, for my benefit, I talked Derek into doing some science with it. Clint doesn't really go for the fun projects as much anymore...but Derek and I needed his candy. $.10 a piece? It cost me $5 to have him sift through his bucket and hand over all of the non-chocolate items. Not bad.

How does candy react in different situations and with different substances? We didn't know if we would get to many reactions... there is only 1 way to find out.

Nothing reacted with our acids...however, the M&M's make beautifully colored spots when wet and left on a paper towel.

And Tootsie pops melt faster in water than Blow Pops. Pixie Sticks make the prettiest colors in water. And Whoppers float!

We were sure that smarties would melt before sweetarts...and they did.

We were really happy to see that Lemon heads, when melted, did react with our base, and fizzed up quite nicely!

Nothing else did, so we put baking soda and vinegar in the pan and made it fizz ourselves.
And what happens with candy and heat? We tried out the microwave.

And watched the Crabby Patty get HUGE, and everything else melted...except for the Whopper...it didn't even get hot in the microwave. Very interesting.

Gross, but interesting!