Mad Scientist Day Junior 2015
SOME MAIN ATTRACTIONS
Fireworks
Fireworks helps explain the concept of polar and nonpolar substances. Oil and water do not mix. When students add drops of food coloring to a cup of oil and stir the cup, the droplets are dispursed throughout the oil. They do not color the oil as food coloring would color water. When this oil/food coloring mixture is poured on top of a layer of water, the food coloring droplets slowly sink until they hit the water layer. At this point the droplets spiral into the water solution creating streams of color that look like fireworks!
Slime!
Kids can make their own slime, and then take it home. They can learn how molecules link together to form long chains called polymers. This is what causes the ingredients we use to make slime go from being liquids to gooey fun!
Milk Tie-Dye
Students can learn about the idea of surface tension as they create ribbles of color in milk with the touch of a finger!
SNOW!!!
Students make snow that is not cold and doesn't melt! What makes this better? They can take the snow home in a zip lock!
Elephant Toothpaste
How much toothpaste does an elephant need? - A lot.
Hydrogen peroxide slowly oxidizes overtime breaking down to form oxygen and water. The rate of this reaction can be increased by the use of a catalyst. In this case we add soap into the mix before adding the catalyst. This creates a lot of bubbles filled with the oxygen produced by the oxidation (similar to a baking soda vinegar volcano). We call this reaction elephant toothpaste because the bubbles filled with oxygen spill out of the container like toothpaste squeesed from a tube!
