So for what seems like forever now Simon has been after me to let him start a club. A “Man Science Club”. So this summer I finally let him do it. He and 5 buddies have been meeting every other week to conduct science experiments.
Seeing how science isn’t really my thing I wasn’t sure how this was going to go.
Fortunately it’s been really, really fun.
Here are a few of the things that we did our first week:
We were talking about reactions…items that repel & items that attract…
We started with oil and water…
They repel.
Then we added drops of food coloring…
The food coloring and oil will repel…and the coloring stays in cool little droplets as it falls down through the oil. However, as soon as it touches the water…it explodes as they attract and mix.
(It’s really fun to watch.)
Next we tried seeing if we could force 2 repelling substances to mix. So everyone took turns shaking their bottles of oil and water…a lot…really hard…
…but after a few seconds the oil and water repels and separates…every time…no matter how hard it was shaken.
After that we dropped some Alka Seltzer into our water and oil concoctions…
…the Alka Seltzer releases carbon dioxide which attracts the water and helps it rise through the oil.
Once the carbon dioxide reaches the surface it gets released into the air and the water sinks back down to the bottom…like a make shift lava lamp…without the light…
(The boys were soooooo into this…and I have to admit…I kind of was to. We did this trick for days afterward.)
Then finally, after all our science talk and hypothesizing and whatever we decided to end our day with a big reaction. So we went with the standard Diet Coke and Mentos trick:
It never fails to cause a reaction.
A really big reaction!
And the best part of the club is all the supplies cost less that $5…I already had the water, oil, food coloring, and Diet Coke. The only items we had to buy were the Mentos and the Alka Seltzer.
Cheap scientific fun. Who could ask for anything more?
-liZ
Linked Here: Tatertots and Jello
Science is the best, so fun, mostly easy & tons of internet resource. 🙂
I have never seen the mentos and diet coke in action–WOW! You are such a good mom:) I love the pic of the boys wide eyed behind the mixture just waiting to see what happens.
Awesome. I love these ideas. My son is TOTALLY into science experiments too. I hope you’ll feature more of these! 🙂