Dow Chemical and The Franklin Institute (TFI) have uploaded three videos in what they are calling the “Celebrate Chemistry” series. I suspect they will be adding more in the future. Nothing too novel or innovative, but they have tried to make the videos child friendly.
1. Baking Soda Volcano (Recommended for grades 3-4)
2. In a video for older kids, The Science of Baseball covers the law of energy and conservation, and principles of physics.
If you are interested in the Student Chemistry Cartoon Contest and/or Student Chemistry Video Contest, you’ll need to submit your entries soon. They are due May 31, 2011. The idea is to clearly illustrate a chemistry principle in way that will enhance how chemistry is taught.
If you would like to find activities being held in your region, click on the activities tab and then look for your country. There is also a search box.
On August 13, 2011 Grout Museum District in Waterloo, Iowa will attempt to break the Guinness World RecordsTM Largest Chemistry Lesson. The lesson will start at 11:00 a.m. according to the International Year of Chemistry, but they don’t have it on the museum calendar yet.
If the celebrations inspire you to do some chemistry experiments, here are 10 chemistry books to help give you ideas:
Our science fun this week was inspired by the nonfiction picture book Pop!: The Invention of Bubble Gum by Meghan McCarthy. Kids will enjoy the lively story of how accountant Walter Diemer started mixing this and that ingredient (at the factory where he worked), until he had invented a gum that could be used to blow bubbles. What a sweet tale!
This book just cries out for some hands-on activities.
Activity 1. Which type/brand of gum blows the best bubbles?
Gather:
Several brands of bubble gum and regular gum
Ruler (decide on inches or cm)
Pair of tongs or cardboard bubble caliper (see below)
Volunteer(s) to chew the gum and blow bubbles
Paper and pencil to record the results
The most difficult part of this project is finding a standard way to measure bubbles that are often a moving target. Check this website for a photo of a “bubble caliper” used for measuring record bubbles. Think about how you might build something similar or find a pair of kitchen tongs that might open wide enough to accommodate the largest bubbles. Try to find the widest point of the bubble. Practice on a few bubbles to make sure your system works and is relatively consistent.
Predict which brand will produce the biggest bubble. Now give the volunteer(s) each one stick of each type/brand of gum. Allow them to chew the gum for a few minutes and then blow bubbles. When they are confident that they are blowing the best bubbles they can with that type of gum, have them blow a few more and measure them. Decide how many bubbles of each type of gum you are going to measure in advance, so you record the same number for each test.
When you are done, add up the size of the bubbles for each type, and then divide by the number of bubbles you measured for that type. This will give you an average. You might want to graph your results with a bar graph to easily see the differences between the brands/types.
Activity 2. What happens to the gum when you chew it? Does it gain weight from the moisture in your mouth, lose weight, or stay the same?
Gather:
accurate kitchen scales
gum
wax paper to protect the scale (or the wrapper)
watch or timer
First, predict what you think will happen. Take the wrapper off the gum. Place a piece of wax paper on the scale, and tare or zero the scale. If your scale does not tare, the record how much the wax paper weighs. Next place the dry gum on the scale. Record the weight (subtract the weight of the waxed paper if you did not zero it). Leave the wax paper in place.
Now chew the gum for one minute and weigh again. Record the weight. Weigh again at five minute and then at ten minutes of chewing. What is happening? Did the results follow your prediction? Try to figure out why or why not. Test more sticks and different kinds of gum, and have your friends and relatives try it, too. See if you get the same results.
Activity 3. Make your own bubble gum.
This video shows how bubble gum is made in a factory.
You can find kits and online recipes to make your own bubble gum (for example at Steve Spangler).
Try some other formulas, too. Be sure to write down what ingredients and the methods you use. Maybe with some time and the right ingredients, you could be the next Walter Diemer and discover something thrilling and new.
This weekend let’s try some experiments with water.
1. pH of the Planet
If you are thinking big, why not participate in the International Year of Chemistry’s Water–A Chemical Solution: A Global Experiment? The organizers are inviting students from around the world to check the pH of local water sources and then report them. Take a look at the website for details. If you want to check out the experiment, look at the .pdf file in the right sidebar labeled Worksheet- PH of Planet, which gives details about the methods.
2. Water Temperature and Density
Gather
3 plastic cups
4 zipper top plastic bags
sharpie pen to label the bags
large container to hold water, or sink or bathtub
warm water – about bathtub temperature
cold water
ice cubes
Digital water thermometer (optional)
A. Density and Floating – Do bags filled with warm water versus cold water float the same?
Fill your large container with room temperature water. Place a few ice cubes and some cold water in a zipper top plastic bag. Close the top and let the ice cubes mostly melt, so you have very cold water. Label the bag cold. Fill another zipper top plastic bag with warm water and label it warm. Now place the two bags in the large container. What happens? Do both bags float? Does one bag sink? Why or why not?
B. Playing with Temperature – Does pouring water change its temperature?
Label the plastic cups 1, 2 and 3. Pour some of warm water into the plastic cup labeled 1 (say about 1/2 cup or so) and the same amount into cup 2. Take the temperature of the water in both cups, if you have a digital thermometer. The temperature should be the same in both cups. If it is not, dump the cups and refill with warm water again. Once they are the same, place cup 2 aside to serve as the control.
Now quickly pour the water from cup 1 into cup 3. Pour it back and forth from on cup to the other for about two minutes. End up with all the water back in cup 1. Now take the temperature of the water in cup 1 and cup 2 again. Are the two temperatures still the same? Why or why not?
C. Does air change density with temperature?
If you still have warm water and cold water in separate containers, try this activity with air. Fill the remaining two zipper lock plastic bags with roughly the same amount of air, but it shouldn’t be completely filled. You can blow in the air and then quickly seal it up. Now place one bag in warm water (at least bathtub temperature) and the other in cold water. What happens?
(If you got the right amount of air in, the bag in the warm water should expand noticeably).
If you do these experiments, let me know what you find out. And it have a digital water thermometer, think up some more activities with water. I’d love to hear what you come up with.
Digital thermometers for aquariums are relatively inexpensive.
