Slime

Playing catch up here - this science project was done on Jan 25. We've been working our way through a book on the Periodic Table with bunches of fun experiments to do, some are better then others.  This one was a success and involves Boron.

Boron is commonly seen today in the form of Borax, a laundry enhancer.  There is a story about 20 mule teams used to haul Boron from the mines, across the desert.

You take some borax, boil it in some water then let it cool.

After it is somewhat cool, take a cup (disposable is good) and add half water and half gel-type glue.

The 1 tablespoon at a time, add the borax mixture to the glue mixture and stir.

It gets goo-ier the more you add the borax mixture.

 and goo-ier

until there is not much of the glue-water mix left. It looks like this:

and this:

 We decided to add some color:

It took a little while for it to mix in completely.

It, in the end, became a lovely shade of blue-violet and it lasted for a couple of weeks.

Amazement Square (again) and Civil Rights

15 January 2010 - We ventured back to Amazement Square in Lynchburg, VA this time with our History Group and to focus on Civil Rights. Amazement Square is a four story building near the James River.  In the center is this amazing climbing structure.  The entrance is on the second floor.  Kids can climb down to the first or up to the fourth without using the stairs (which are amazing in themselves) or the elevator (which opens on both sides.

 

A new exhibit that opened up since we were there last time is one on accessibility.  The guide talked to us about various disabilities and the tools used to help people with those disabilities.

 

The kids got to try on different goggles that demonstrated what it was like to have different vision impairments. There was a children's book in braille and a braille machine.  They also talked about hearing imparements. 

There was a wall with different smells and another wall with different textures.  There was a short bowling alley with a device to help aim the ball.

 

Athletic wheelchairs were tried out to experience wheelchair basketball.  What are the rules about dribbling and carrying the ball?

 

Then we went upstairs to a classroom where the teacher talked to us about significant people in Virginia history.

 

Everyone listened intently.  Everyone had a chance to participate.  The rocket ship was an outline of important people and times in Virginia history.

 

C., C., D. & J. were in the part about native residents in Virginia and the early settlers.  J. & D. are holding early boats.

 

J., B., D. and K. participated in talking about the Revolutionary War in Virginia and significant Virginians.

  

J. had a revolutionary war soldier. B. had George Washington and D. is holding the Declaration of Independence 

 

This group talked about the Civil War and Reconstruction.  C. has the Emancipation Proclamation. R. got to be Abraham Lincoln.

 

R. as A. Lincoln

 

This group talked more about reconstruction and what happened afterwards.  One person they mentioned was a Maggie _____________ who started a separate bank for freed slaves in Virginia who otherwise could not get a bank loan.

 

The last person they talked about was Arthur Ashe and his experiences as a black athlete breaking the race barrier in tennis.

 

Here are a few view of the incredible climbing structure.  The elevator and stairs run near the structure and cameras are strategically placed so parents can check to see where their kids are in the structure.

 

B.

 

  

  

  

There are tubes to slide down, ladders to climb up and even a zip line.

The zip line cleverly pulls itself back with the help of a weight.

Other exhibits included - heart health and exercise

 

A model of the James River and

 

working models of locks with wooden boats the kids can float on the water.

 

C. and J. Completing electric circuits.

 

D. & J. doing experiments with ping pong balls and forces.

 

Nintendo rock band.

 

A glass room to paint on the walls in.

 

The awesome stairs light up as people step on them (and break the electric light beam). The climbing structure is to the left.

 

The newest member of our homeschool group in the arms of our senior homeschool person.

 

Group photo in the lobby of Amazement Square.  The panels list donors and they are actually on buttons, one letter per button, that can be pushed in to create patterns and shadows.  When done there are handles to the side to pull out and make everything level again.

It was a nice enough day to picnic outside (if you sat in the sunshine - it is January).   

Acids and Bases

12 January 2010 - Did you know if you take some purple cabbage and boil it with water (a few minutes in the  microwave) and save the juice you don't need those little papers that turn pink or purple for testing acids and bases.

 

So here we have diluted lemon juice on the left, water in the middle, baking soda in water and on the right is the purple cabbage juice.  Lemon juice is an acid and baking soda is a base so this should show which way the colors go.

As you can see, acids turn pinkish and bases turn bluish. It said to add just a couple of drops, but they came out pale so we added more drops of the cabbage juice to help the colors stand out more.  

 

We tried a few more liquids to see if they were acids or bases.  On the acid side was apple juice and vinegar.

 

Another base was dish soap.  the purple is water.

Here is the full color spectrum of the Ph testing.  Bases can be added to acids until the color reverses.  It is entertaining to watch and see what kind of concoctions you can make and what color they will be.

Lead Crystal

We've been doing more experiments related to the periodic table.  If you want a fun video and song check out this one called "The Periodic Table Song."  So this experiment was really taking lead crystal and making it ring.  Lead is what made it possible to make glass really thin and strong so you can make the pretty sounds.  We found several glasses in our collection in storage and tried several shapes.  Bell shapes worked better then other shapes.  If I ever figure out how to upload a video again, I will put it on and you can hear the lovely tones of one of the glasses in particular.

We even managed to not break one.  We were extra careful and kept the glasses on a soft surface on the floor, just in case.

The third glass from the left made the best sound. The one to the right of it made the next best sound.

Ice Cream

We've been working our way through a fun book about the Periodic Table called "Fizz, Bubble & Flash" by Anita Brandolini which explores elements and atoms in a hands on way. The first section is on Hydrogen and the Alkali Metals family which is what leads to ice cream. Sodium and its relatives in the Alkali Metal families are highly reactive to water and/or air. We checked out some fun and interesting videos showing what happens when bare alkali metals are exposed to air and water.

The first thing we did was to mix up a simple ice cream mix. 1/2 heavy cream, 1/2 milk, a little sugar and a little vanilla - seal in a bag. This bag is placed in a larger plastic bag with ice. Shake for about 10 to 15 minutes and observe that the ice cream mix is colder but not ice cream.

Next add salt to the ice and start shaking again. Shake for about 10 to 15 minutes. It is definitely colder - using an oven mitt or a kitchen towel helped. Also the bag had a lot more condensation on it. In short order we had ice cream!

Yum!

A close up on the ice cream in the baggie.

To further demonstrate the effect of salt on water we had also frozen plain water and salt water. It took a lot longer to freeze the salt water. Salt (sodium chloride) lowers the freezing point of water. In fact it didn't quite freeze all the way. Also the salted water was blue. As I was browsing around the the book I noticed that it said that Iodine usually evaporated. My guess is that the iodine was trapped in the frozen salted water. When we thawed the water out the blue color remained but was gone the next day.