Experimental MumScience + Children = Fun + Mess

I’ve got a new toy piece of kit for my science workshops, a cool USB digital Microscope.

With x200 magnification it captures photo and video images. I got it here for £25.

Erynn's scratch

Yesterday morning the girls and I spent about an hour magnifying everything nearby.

I stuck to household objects, they mainly magnified themselves!

Erynn found a teeny, weeny scratch on her leg, you could barely see it. The magnified healing skin looks pretty amazing, if slightly gross!

So here’s wee quiz for you.

Below are 3 objects I found in my handbag, can you tell what they are?

It’s pretty easy – answers tomorrow!

The Bang Goes the Theory team are conducting the biggest brain training experiment ever undertaken. They want to discover can you really improve your brain function by carrying out a series of simple exercises 3 times a week.

If you are over 18 and can spare 10 minutes, 3 times a week for 6 week, why not try it out. I’m looking forward to seeing the results.

Have you been watching Bang Goes the Theory?

It’s a 10 part BBC1 series of putting science to the test with extreme experiments.  The girls and I really enjoy the show and I definitely plan to try the frying an egg in a newspaper experiment!

It reminds me of a sciency version of Blue Peter. The next episode is on Monday 7 September BBC1 7.30pm and the first five episodes can be downloaded from iplayer.

To complement the show is the super cool website and roadshow or you can take part in the interactive science challenge. Check it out, I’m sure your kids will love it!

Here are some recipes for making homemade bubble mixture and bubble wands.

Small quantity in a disposable cup.

• 20mls washing up liquid
• 150mls water
• 1 teaspoon glycerine

Large quantity for bigger bubble making.

• 1 cup washing up liquid
• 8 cups water
• 2-3 tablespoons glycerine

Homemade Bubble Wand

You’ll need 2 drinking straws per bubble blower, string or wool, baking tray

1. Drop the string down through each straw.
2. Tie the ends of the straw together.
3. Pull the knot into one of the straws so the frame has four smooth sides (two strings, two straws).
4. Hold the bubble frame by the straws. Dip the wand (both straws and string) and your thumbs and fingers into the bubble mixture. Dry hands burst bubbles!
5. Bring the straws together and make sure that the string is totally submerged.
6. Lift the wand slowly from the baking tray. Pull your hands apart until the string is taut. Let extra solution drip back into the tray.

You can use the bubble frame to make:

• Small Bubbles – hold the bubble frame by opposite sides of the loop of string and stretch it out. This will make a very long, narrow film of soap. Blow gently while moving the film from right to left in front of your mouth.
• Medium Bubbles – holding the frame as a square, blow into the middle of the soap film.
• Large Bubbles – hold your arms apart and swing the bubble frame through the air. A bubble starts to form out the back end of the bubble frame. To set it free, bring your hands together.

Photo Credit: Glenn Loos – Austin

Here’s a cool experiment, where you get to see the bits that make you, you.

What You Need:

• Water, Salt, Dishwashing Liquid, Ice, Purple Methylated Spirits
• Bowl, Jug, Glass, Spoon
• You

What To Do:

• Add the ice to the bowl and sit the bottle of methylated spirits in the ice. Leave it to cool for a couple of hours. It is best not to place the methylated spirits in the fridge or freezer, as a spark could ignite fumes.
• In the jug, add 1 tablespoon of salt in 500mls of water, stir well. Place 3 tablespoons of this solution into the glass.
• Gargle with the salty water, swishing it all around your mouth. Do not swallow the solution, after about a minute; spit it back into the cup.
• Add a tiny drop of detergent to your cup and stir very gently, you want to avoid bubbles.
• Holding the glass at a 45 degree angle, slowly dribble the ice cold methylated spirits done the side of the glass. You want the alcohol to sit on top of the salty water. Pour until you have a layer 1-2cm high.
• You should notice, thin strands of DNA collect in the glass.

What’s Going On:

• Gargling with the salty water released some of your cheek cells. The detergent breaks the cell walls open, releasing the DNA within. As DNA is not soluble in alcohol, we can see the solid strands at the interface of the two solutions.

Glasgow Science Centre are hosting the Inside DNA exhibition, until 18 October. I hope to take a trip down to see it.

If you fancy some more, DNA activities, there are some cool ones here; we’re planning making the sequence bracelets.

Although I love Lego, don’t think I’ve got enough patience to spend quite so many hours creating a Lego Double Helix.

This is one of  our favourite experiments, the kids like the farty noise and the dog likes the leftovers!

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’m sure the world and his wife have seen the infamous Coke and Mentos experiments.

There are loads on the net but EepyBird.com host a few of my favourites, the preparation must have been huge!

We read a bit further and discovered that the reaction isn’t due to a chemical reaction between the soda and the mints. The fizzy explosion is caused by the bubbles of carbon dioxide gas in the soda collecting on the rough surface of the mints.

Anyway the Science Sisters, otherwise known as Freya and Erynn, wanted to try their own version and see if only certain brands of soda and mints worked or if value brands would work too.

Last night, while brushing their teeth, they were chatting about, “What else might work?”. After a rather hilarious rude list of suggestions of things with a rough texture, this is what we decided to try:

1. Cola and Mints
2. Lemonade and Mints
3. Cola and Pebbles
4. Cola and Raisins
5. Cola and Dried Dog Food

What we found:

The mints and pebbles work well, though the pebbles get stuck in the tube, so don’t give such a big fountain.

Both the raisins and the dog food just float and so didn’t work.

The lemonade worked even better than the cola, we think this is because it looked really fizzy even before we started.

Enjoy the video – Excuse the wind, tartan blanket and choocter voice-over!

Mmmm…there’s also a strange pink glow radiating from Erynn’s head!

Next Time: I learnt something new today….

Apparently 13th May is Jumping Frog Day, the story behind this strange day can be found at Holiday Insights. 

To celebrate, the girls and I investigated how tricky it is to hop while holding your toes.

Erynn Jumping Frog

1. Crouch down and hop like a frog, (come on Mum – you can do it!)
2. Repeat, but this time hold your toes and try and hop.
3. You should find that it is much harder (if not impossible) to hop forward now.
4. By holding our toes, we can’t shift our balance to change our centre of gravity.
5. Our leg muscles aren’t strong enough to lift us off the ground and compensate for the unbalanced position too.
6. You might find that young children are still springy enough to manage it!
7. Mummies on the other hand fall over, that’s why there isn’t a photo of me trying it…

If you haven’t had enough hopping, you could try making some origami jumping frogs, from the great team at www.instructables.com

Next Time: Fizzy Fountain Mess: requires: two excitable children, one loopy dog, soda, mints, pebbles, dog biscuits, raisins and a sunny afternoon!