Fun with Science...
May. 15th, 2012 10:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fiberaddictChemistry, actually. Today is Science day, but we're not starting the next book yet, so...what to do?
Simple. A while back I acquired the Smithsonian X-5000 Chemistry set (or something like that. It's off the market now, because it's "dangerous". It's CHEMISTRY, of COURSE there is a bit of danger. Duh!), but we hadn't done anything with it yet.
Until today. :lol:
First thing, you have to add water or alcohol to the element samples. It calls for you punching a tiny hole in the bottle seal, then using a cheap pipette to drip the liquids in. It....wasn't working. I have vet supplies, so I pulled out a 5cc syringe (you had to add 5 ml to each bottle..ml = cc, so we're good), a 16g needle, and went to town. Worked a treat! And was easy-peasy.
Then we did the first 4 experiments. We learned about surface tension (and you can do this at home, too!) The kit has a "micro table" - a clear plastic tray with wells in it - a bunch that have a diameter of about .25", and 12 with a diameter of about .5". Anyway, you take some water and add 2 drops of "metholated blue"....looks like blue food coloring to me, but what to I know? Put 8 of those drops in 6 of the small chambers, and look at it from all angles. Then, flip it upside down. What happens? NOTHING. The surface tension of the water is stronger than gravity, and the water sits.
Now fill 3 of the larger wells....do the same thing. The water spills out, because the area is too large.
Then you do the same thing, only add 1 drop of dishwashing soap to the blue water. It breaks the surface tension, and ALL the water falls out.
Mix up another batch of water and dye, but add 20 drops of alcohol. It makes the dye darker, AND screws up the surface tension. Water flows out again.
It was cool - the look on the kids' faces when the water didn't pour out was worth every penny I paid for the Chemistry set. :lol: We'll be doing more with this - it's a fun kit!
We then sat down and watched the first Meteorology lecture. The guy is good, but kinda boring...still, we learned a lot, and will be watching 1 lecture every day. Or, that's the plan....
Simple. A while back I acquired the Smithsonian X-5000 Chemistry set (or something like that. It's off the market now, because it's "dangerous". It's CHEMISTRY, of COURSE there is a bit of danger. Duh!), but we hadn't done anything with it yet.
Until today. :lol:
First thing, you have to add water or alcohol to the element samples. It calls for you punching a tiny hole in the bottle seal, then using a cheap pipette to drip the liquids in. It....wasn't working. I have vet supplies, so I pulled out a 5cc syringe (you had to add 5 ml to each bottle..ml = cc, so we're good), a 16g needle, and went to town. Worked a treat! And was easy-peasy.
Then we did the first 4 experiments. We learned about surface tension (and you can do this at home, too!) The kit has a "micro table" - a clear plastic tray with wells in it - a bunch that have a diameter of about .25", and 12 with a diameter of about .5". Anyway, you take some water and add 2 drops of "metholated blue"....looks like blue food coloring to me, but what to I know? Put 8 of those drops in 6 of the small chambers, and look at it from all angles. Then, flip it upside down. What happens? NOTHING. The surface tension of the water is stronger than gravity, and the water sits.
Now fill 3 of the larger wells....do the same thing. The water spills out, because the area is too large.
Then you do the same thing, only add 1 drop of dishwashing soap to the blue water. It breaks the surface tension, and ALL the water falls out.
Mix up another batch of water and dye, but add 20 drops of alcohol. It makes the dye darker, AND screws up the surface tension. Water flows out again.
It was cool - the look on the kids' faces when the water didn't pour out was worth every penny I paid for the Chemistry set. :lol: We'll be doing more with this - it's a fun kit!
We then sat down and watched the first Meteorology lecture. The guy is good, but kinda boring...still, we learned a lot, and will be watching 1 lecture every day. Or, that's the plan....
aNNa says:
Date: 2012-05-16 02:10 pm (UTC)http://adventuresofmommyness.blogspot.com/search/label/Science%20Sunday
And YouTube Science:
http://farrarwilliams.wordpress.com/2011/11/15/youtube-science/
We haven't used them - we're still on the Discover & Do DVD series (it and SotW are like the ONLY expensive things I've gotten for our school). But I've got 'em bookmarked!!