Cheese Dreams

Freya’s description of the game doesn’t really explain the appeal.

“Ehh. Well, basically, it’s like Super Mario but you’re a ball of cheese. You have to complete different levels and not get captured by the spacecraft thingies. If you get spiked you fall to pieces and you have to do re-entry. That’s basically it.” Right. I can really see why it’s such a big thing at school.

I love Cheese Dreams too, but my variety were invented by my late Granny Rosa.

Step 1: Make a cheese sandwich

Step 2: Dip sandwich in beaten egg

Step 3: Fry sandwich till cheese melts

Step 4: Enjoy its calorific yummyiness!

If you feel the need to re-create your own fart in a jar, here’s what you’ll need.

What You Need:

• An adult helper, to handle the hot water
• A strong glass bottle (we used a Tesco value brown sauce bottle)
• Some boiled eggs with shell removed
• A bowl containing a little bit of water
• Kettle of hot water

What To Do:

• Shell the boiled egg and leave it sitting in the bowl of water until required
• Carefully pour the hot water into the bottle and leave it to heat the bottle for a few minutes
• Carefully pour the hot water out of the bottle
• Quickly place the egg (pointy end down) over the opening of the bottle
• In a couple of minutes the egg should land in the bottle with a PLOP!

What’s Going On:

Before you start the experiment, the air pressure is the same inside the bottle and outside it.

You heat up the bottle with the hot water and when you pour the water out, warm air fills the empty bottle.

As the bottle cools, so the air inside cools. The cold air now in the bottle cannot provide the same pressure, but no new air can enter the bottle because the egg is in the way.

The air pressure outside the bottle is now greater than the air pressure inside it. The air above pushes down on the bottle and is stronger than the air inside. The egg – as it’s in the way – gets pushed down too causing it to drop in.

Once the egg is through the neck, air rushes into the bottle to equalise the pressure.

I wrote this experiment for my children’s school Family Science Night (more on that at a later date) but it would work really well at a summer fete too, perhaps charging 50 pence a go!

What You Need (per person)

• Plastic cup
• Plastic spoon

What To Do:

Mix the following in your cup:

• 1-2 heaped teaspoons icing sugar
• 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon citric acid
• Enjoy with your liquorice stick!

What’s Happening:

The sugar is there to make the sherbet taste sweet.

The citric acid is there to make it taste tart and also to create the fizzy reaction along with the bicarbonate of soda.

When the citric acid and bicarbonate of soda dissolve in the saliva on your tongue, they begin to react and create the fizzy sensation.

Citric Acid + Bicarbonate of Soda à Sodium Citrate + Water + Carbon Dioxide

It is the carbon dioxide that gives the fizz, forming bubbles directly on your tongue!

P.S. Citric Acid can be difficult to find, I get mine from the local ironmongers within their winemaking section.

Next Time: Fun with Egg in a Bottle…