Soapy Cloud Sculptures

Looking for some good clean fun?  This one is for you.  Today, we will create super cool clouds out of Ivory Soap.  This lesson explores buoyancy and how heat affects other objects.

Lab Materials:

§  Ivory Soap (bar form)

§  Microwavable Plate

§  Microwave

§  Knife (for parent use only)

§  Bowl of Water

First, have your scientist describe what the soap feels like.  Is it smooth?  Can you squish it?  If we put the soap in water, will it float or sink?

Now, let’s test their hypothesis.  Place the unwrapped bar of soap in a bowl of water.  It should float.  Part of Ivory’s manufacturing process infuses the soap has more air than other bar soaps.

Next, dry off and quarter the soap into four parts. Don’t worry if some of it crumbles.  Allow the scientist arrange the pieces on the plate any way they wish as long as they are touching.

Lastly, pop the plate in the microwave and turn it on for 3 minutes.  Now normally I would recommend this, but watch what’s going on in the microwave.  It should start growing and bubbling right before your eyes.  You can take it out anytime between 90 seconds and the ding.  By 2 minutes, ours looked like this and was ready to be taken out:

Cool, right?

So, what caused the soap to bubble and grow in the microwave?  Think about popcorn.  The center of an un-popped kernel of popcorn is air and a little bit of water.  When you microwave the kernel the water and air interact and try to escape causing the kernel to POP into fluffy goodness.   Ivory, with its extra air reacts the same way:  when excited (heated by microwave) the air pockets POP into a fluffy soap sculptures (not yummy).

****Note to parents:  The soap is still soap.  It will clean.  We put ours in the shower and break pieces off as needed*****

Slime

Slime Recipe #1

Homemade slime: A favorite polymer experiment of all kitchen scientists, big and small.  This experiment explores how substances interact to create new substances.

Lab Materials:

§  Borax

§  Water

§  Elmer’s or other white glue

§  Mixing Bowl

§  Food Coloring

Lab Procedure:

Common sense caution:  Wash hands after playing with the slime.  Borax is a potentially caustic chemical that should not be ingested.  Conduct experiments with adult supervision!

Pour 4 ounces of glue in a bowl.  What does it feel like?

Add 3-6 drops of food coloring to the glue (Hey, who said slime has to be green?).

In a separate container mix 1 tablespoon of borax into 1½ cups of water (Note that the measurements don’t exact).

This looks gross

 

Slowly pour 1/3 cup of the water mixture into the bowl with the glue & food coloring.  As you stir, the glue will become stringy.  What does it feel like now? Add more water solution if needed.

Feel free to knead the mixture by hand, the more you work it, the faster it will come together.   The end process will look like this:

Ask your scientist what it feels like now?  Try to pull it apart.  Dunk the slime in the left over borax water mixture.  Knead the water into your slime ball and then try to pull it apart.  It should break apart easier and kind of have a snap to it.  The more you dunk it, the snappier it will become (up to a point).

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Thank you!

Oobleck

It's been a long time coming, but I have had oodles of stuff going on.  To reward you for your patience, I present you wit the ewwiest experiment yet! In honor of Dr. Seuss' 108th birthday, we are doing an Oobleck float/sink experiment.

Lab Materials:

• 2 cups of Cornstarch
• 1 cup of Water
• Food Coloring (optional)
• Objects of various weight/density (I used pennies, yarn, toothpick, & a marble)

Steps:

Once more, beware the mess!  :)

First, mix the food coloring into the water.

Next, carefully mix the water and the cornstarch.  You may want to do this in batches, but no matter what you do, the cornstarch will end up at the bottom, creating a kind of quicksand effect.

I recommend that you allow your scientist to play in the oobleck (this gives them an idea of the Oobleck's properties for the next section).  Scoop deep into the bowl and pick some up.  Squeeze it tight in your hand, then open up your hand.  What does the oobleck do?

For the second half of the experiment:  Show your scientist different objects.  Have him/her predict whether or not the object will float or sink.

Next, using their fingers have them "walk their fingers" across the oobleck at varying speeds.  Have them hold their fingers still in one place.  What happens.
Here is a link to one of my favorite oobleck videos:

Have a Seusstastic day!