Silly Science Most of these do not take much time they were part of a challenge run over two hours during which time participants had to complete as many experiments as they could. Bouncy Ball 3 clear cups (5 ounce plastic cups work well) water Borax White liquid glue (PVA) Food coloring 2 spoons Half fill a cup with water and add a spoonful of borax. Stir. (Some of the borax should still be visible at the bottom.) Quarter fill the second cup with glue. Add an equal quantity of water so the 2nd cup is half full. Add two drops of food colouring. Stir. Pour half of the coloured glue and water mixture into the third cup. Add an equal amount of the borax and water mixture to the third cup. Stir this combination together. It will change consistency. Take out the putty, squeeze out the liquid, and roll it into a ball in your hands. Test to see if your ball will bounce when you drop it. Pop Corn Popping corn tea light matches 2 small tin foil dishes (eg Mr Kipling cakes!) oil 2 clothes pegs salt/sugar Place a spoonful of corn in a dish with a teaspoon of oil. Place the second dish on top, and clamp together with clothes pegs. Light candle, hold dish over flame until corn is heard to pop. Eat with salt/sugar. Cinder toffee Shallow tin large pan stove wooden spoon 100g sugar 2 tbsp syrup 25g butter 1 tspn sodium bicarbonate Grease the tin, place it to cool eg in fridge. Place sugar, syrup and butter into pan. Bring to boil, boil for 5 mins DO NOT STIR. Remove from heat when mixture starts to go brown, add bicarb (caution: mixture will start to froth!). Stir thoroughly with spoon, while still frothing pour into cooled tin. When cool break into chunks, dip in chocolate as required!
Ice Cream in a Bag (makes one serving) 1/2 cup milk 1 Tbsp sugar 1/4 tsp vanilla 1 small Ziplock bag, 1 large Ziploc bag 6 tbsp salt Ice Put milk, sugar and vanilla in small Ziploc bag, seal. Fill large Ziploc bag 1/2 full with ice. Add salt to ice. Place small bag into large bag. Seal. Shake for five minutes. Eat out of bag. Candle Clock Blu tak birthday candles cork pins foil dish matches Heat source (large candle, gas stove etc) Use blue tak to stick birthday candle to cork, then cork into foil dish. Use large candle/stove to warm tip of pins. Stick pins into birthday candle, evenly spaced. Light birthday candle. Work out how long it takes for each pin to fall out can you place them so they fall out after exactly 1 minute, or 5 minutes? Water clock Ruler or cane 2 plastic cups sticky tape needle blu tak indelible pen. Make a hole in the bottom of one cup with the needle,. Fix the cup near the top of the cane with sticky tape, fix the second cup near the bottom of the cane. Covering the hole with your finger, fill the top cup with water. Allow the water to drain into the second cup, mark a scale on the side of the second cup eg every 30 seconds. How accurately can you time 5 minutes do you need to change the size of the hole? Slime! Food colouring water cornflour paper cup
spoon Put 2 tablespoons of cold water in the cup, add 2 drops of food colouring. Add cornflour, a teaspoonful at a time until the mixture changes consistency. As you play with the slime it will look and pour like liquid, but you will be able to pick it up in your fingers like a solid. Ball in a bottle Ball of tissue paper approx 1cm in diameter bottle with neck 2cm wide Lie the bottle on its side on a table. Place the ball of tissue paper on the table in front of the open bottle neck and try to blow it into the bottle. It is not possible although it looks empty the bottle is already full of air, you cannot blow this air out of the way to make room for the ball. Bubbles For a good bubble solution add a tablespoon of glycerine to third of a cup of concentrated washing up liquid, and 4 cups of water (ideally American liquid eg Dawn Joy, otherwise a branded concentrated make, not a value product ). Stir gently, without making the mixture frothy. Experiment with different bubble blowers. Ideally leave for 3-4 hours, or even longer, before use. Chromatography Butterfly Filter paper template felt pens/smarties scissors jar of water Cut a butterfly shape from filter paper/blotting paper as per template. Use felt tips, or Smarties to decorate the wings symmetrically (try and use strong colours made of several inks (brown, black, purple, not primary colours). Place on top of the jar, such that the tail is just dipping into the water. Watch and wait! How it works inks are made from a mixture of different pigments which are carried by the water moving through the paper. The pigments have varying degrees of solubility, and therefore flow at different rates, for different distances. Dancing Raisins Glass lemonade/fizzy water raisins Half fill a glass with lemonade/fizzy water. Drop half a dozen raisins in to the jar. Watch as they dance up and down to the surface.
How it works Carbon dioxide from the lemonade forms bubbles on the raisin, making it buoyant, when the raisin reaches the surface the bubbles pop and it sinks again. Volcano Small pop bottle Soil/sand/plasticene/modelling clay baking powder vinegar red food colouring funnel old tray Stand the bottle on the tray. Build a mound of soil/sand/whatever round the bottle, right up to the open top of the bottle. Use the funnel to put 2 tbsp baking powder in the bottle. Add a couple of drops of food colouring to 125ml of vinegar. Pour the vinegar into the pop bottle stand back and watch your volcano erupt! How does it work the baking powder and vinegar react together to produce carbon dioxide, this builds up enough pressure to force foam out of the top of the bottle Cartesian Diver Empty lemonade bottle and lid pen top with clip blue tak bucket of water to test in Fill the bottle right to the top with water Seal any small hole in the top of the pen top with blue tak Add enough blue tak to the tip of the clip on the pen top, such that it just floats in the bucket of water Drop the pen top clip first into the lemonade bottle, screw the lid back on Squeeze the bottle and watch your diver dive! How it works The pen top is only just floating, held up by a small bubble of air inside it. As you squeeze the bottle the pressure increases, the air bubble is squashed and is no longer enough to make the lid float. Crystals Saucepan Gas stove salt sugar wooden spoon jam jar cotton twig/pencil/lolly stick Pour half a glass of water into the saucepan, and put over a low heat. Add salt, a tbsp at a time, until no more will dissolve (a saturated solution). Let the salt water cool and pour into the jar. Tie a piece of thread to the twig.
Balance the twig across the top of the jar with the thread hanging into the jar, almost touching the bottom. Stand the jar in the sun til next meeting Repeat with sugar and Epsom salts instead of table salt How it works molecules of salt/sugar start to crystalise out of the solution onto the piece of cotton Morse Tapper 1.5V battery 3x20cm wire clothes peg 2 drawing pins (metal) bulb/buzzer morse code Use a drawing pin to connect a piece of wire to the inside of the clothes peg. Connect the other end of the piece of wire to one side of the bulb/ buzzer. Connect the other side of the bulb to the battery. Connect the third piece of wire from the other terminal of the battery to the inside of the clothes peg. Pinch the clothes peg, as you release the peg briefly, the circuit will be completed and the bulb will light. Sherbert Icing sugar citric acid/tartaric acid (cream of tartar)/ascorbic acid (powdered vitamin C) bicarbonate of soda Mix 7tspn sugar, 3tspn citric acid (or 3tspn tartaric acid or 2.5tspn ascorbic acid and 1tspn bicarbonate of soda) in a suitable container a plastic food bag is good. Eat with the aid of a lolly! As you lick the sherbert (and add water!) the alkaline bicarb mixes with the acid to produce carbon dioxide and fizzes! Make your own stalactites and stalagmites (www.howstuffworks.com) You will need: Two jars Water Epsom salts (available from all major supermarkets) String Small weights (eg stones) Plate Fill two jars with warm water and mix in Epsom salts until no more will dissolve. Wet a piece of string and tie a weight to each end. Drop one end of the string into each jar. Put a plate between the two jars, with the string hanging over the plate. Check your cave at least once a day to see if stalactites and stalagmites have formed.