A Color Symphony!

Materials: 

1. A flat tray (like a cookie baking tray)

2. Food coloring (at least 3 different colors)

3. Whole milk- low fat milk will not work for this experiment

4. Liquid soap used for washing dishes

What To Do:

1. Carefully pour the milk into the tray so that it just covers the bottom. 

2. Add about 6-8 drops of different colored food coloring onto the milk in different spots. 

3. Add about 5 drops of the liquid soap onto the drops of food coloring and watch the show!

4. Make it an experiment! To make this project a true experiment, try to answer the following questions:

        1). What liquid dish soap works the best?

        2). Does the shape of the tray affect the reaction?

5. To clean up, simply pour the colored milk down the drain. (don't drink it!)

How Does It Work?

So you know where the color comes from, but why milk and liquid soap? The main job of dish soap is to go after fat and break it down. Usually the fat is on dishes from the food we eat, but fat is also in whole milk. When you drop the liquid soap onto the tray, it tried to break down the fat in the milk. While it was doing that, it caused the colors to scatter and mix creating a very colorful display. Have fun!

Design Your Own Foil Boat

The Challenge:

Design your very own foil boat and see if it will float!

Materials:

- Aluminum foil

- Drinking straws

- Scissors

- Pennies

Instructions:

1. Brainstorm: Draw out a few ideas, and look at pictures of boats for inspiration.

2. Build: Use your creativity to make a boat out of the materials you have. You can do it!

3. Test - With a parent’s supervision, put your boat in a container full of water to see if it floats.

4. Try Again - If the water didn’t float your boat, try a different design. Keep on experimenting!

5. If your boat floats, try putting a penny inside to add more weight.

6. Keep adding pennies until it can’t float anymore.

7. Write down how many pennies it holds, and see how many pennies different designs can support.

So How do Boats Float?

Think about what happens when you get into a full bathtub-- the water level rises.

When you (or a boat) get into the water, you push down on the water, and the water pushes back.

If there is enough force in the water pushing back, then the boat floats!

The force of you pushing down on the water is from gravity, which is what makes us fall back down to earth when we jump in the air.

The force of the water pushing back is called the buoyant force.

Happy boating!

Inspired by: http://thehomeschoolscientist.com/foil-boat-engineering-challenge/

Boat image: http://boatsafe.com

Candy Corn Science

Materials

• 10 pieces of candy corn
• Small glass bowls
• Liquids
• Water
• Vegetable oil
• Vinegar

Instructions

1. Form a hypothesis: what do you think might happen when you put the candy corn in each of these liquids?
1. Here are some things to consider:
1. Will the candy float or sink?
2. Will the candy change color?
3. Will the candy dissolve?
2. Pour ¼ of a cup of each liquid into a separate bowl or glass.
3. Carefully add two pieces of candy to each container of liquid - making sure not to splash.
1. After this step, you should have two pieces of candy left over. Keep them away from the liquids!
4. Observe what happens to the candy in each liquid 10 minutes, 15 minutes, and 1 hour after you put the candy in the liquid.
5. Remove the candy from the liquids. Compare them to each other as well as to candy that was not placed in one of the liquids. What changes do you see? Do they match the hypothesis you made in step 1?

Understanding what happened

The candy reacted differently to some liquids than others because the liquids have different levels of acidity.

Some liquids are more “acidic” than other liquids. A liquid that is very acidic can dissolve things faster than other liquids. That’s why some of the candies dissolved more easily than others. They were in more acidic liquids!

Making a Marshmallow Catapult

Materials:

1.      Skewers

2.      Rubber band

3.      Masking tape

4.      Plastic spoon

5.      Large marshmallow

Procedures:

1.      Form a triangle as the base by using 3 marshmallow and 3 skewers

2.      Use 3 more skewers and 3 more marshmallows to create a pyramid

3.      Use the masking tape to secure the plastic spoon on a skewer

4.      Take the rubber band and make a loop around the topmost marshmallow

5.      Insert your spoon skewer into the base of the marshmallow and also through the rubber band loop.

6.      You can play with this after you construct it, but it is advised to be fragile with the device. For an even stronger catapult, you can wait overnight for the marshmallows to harden, so your device will not break so quickly.

The Science Behind It:

Projectile motion:

- Whether you’re throwing a football or baseball up in the air, all these objects will undergo projectile motion. Projectile motion of an object means that the object will travel in a curved path only under the act of gravity. Gravity is the downward force that keeps everything on the ground, and objects would fall at a rate of 9.8 m/s2. The curved path is a mathematical type of curve called a parabola, which is a symmetric curve. This means that the trip downward for a projectile is a mirror image of the trip up. For you to launch the farthest distance, it is advised to launch at a 45 degree angle.

Energy:

- Elastic potential energy: Think of a time when you pulled a rubber band. The rubber band was very stretchy and elastic. As you pull harder, there is more tension in your rubber band. When there is more tension, there is more elastic potential energy involved. In the case of the catapult, you are pulling the rubber band back to gain enough energy for the launch to occur.

- Kinetic energy: When you are walking or running, you are in motion. In order for this motion to occur, you need kinetic energy. Kinetic energy is the energy that is associated with motion. When the projectile is flying through the air, it starts to gain kinetic energy since it is moving in the air. There was a conversion of energy from the elastic potential energy of the rubber band to kinetic energy.  

- Gravitational potential energy: Have you had a time in which you were on a huge roller coaster? Well, at the highest point on your roller coaster ride, you would have the maximum gravitational potential energy. Gravitational potential energy is the energy that is related to an object’s position. With the catapult, when the projectile is at the highest point of its motion, it has the highest GPE. After gaining that GPE, the energy converts back to kinetic energy when it falls back down to the ground.

Reference:

http://www.itsalwaysautumn.com/2013/5/31/easy-marshmallow-catapults-summer-fun-for-kids.html