It was a bright and sunny day at Pearson Park for our Little Scientists event. We used balloons to help us understand the differences between solids, liquids, and gases.
To be able to see and feel the differences, we filled
our balloons with water and air. To show solids, we filled a blue
balloon with water and froze it overnight. (because one of our 2
balloons broke, we had some ice cubes as well) In addition to being
cold, our solid felt really hard. Our liquid was shown in a pink balloon
filled with water, and it felt very squishy. Our gas was a yellow
balloon that was filled with air. The slight wind that we had today
caused our balloon to want to float away.
Experiment 1 - Balloon in Bottle - Gas
Need: Balloon, 2L pop bottle, water, scissors
First we put our balloon inside the pop bottle, and stretched the opening over the mouth of the bottle. We wanted to see if we could blow up our balloon inside the bottle. We found that it was impossible to blow up the balloon. There was nowhere for the air to go because of the pressure inside the bottle, preventing our balloon from inflating. We took a pair of scissors and cut a little hole on the side of the bottle, near the bottom. When we attempted to blow up our balloon this time, we were successful! The air can easily flow out of the hole allowing the balloon to inflate.
The second part of our experiment unfortunately didn't
work. When you have your balloon blown up inside your bottle, if you put
your finger on the hole, your balloon should stay blown up inside the
bottle. If you use your finger to lock in the air pressure while your
balloon is blown up, the next step is to fill the balloon up with water.
When you release your finger from the hole, the water will shoot out
like a geyser. We'll have to try this one again using a different
bottle!
Experiment 2 - Balloon, Vinegar & Baking Soda - Solid Liquid Gas
Need: baking soda, vinegar, plastic bottle, balloon, 2 funnels
We used a funnel to fill our bottles 1/3 full
of vinegar. We then took a separate dry funnel to fill our balloons 1/2
way with baking soda. We covered the top of our bottles with our
balloons, carefully preventing the baking soda from spilling into the
bottle prematurely. When we were all ready, we lifted our balloons
together and let the baking soda fall into the vinegar. As the mixture
fizzed & bubbled, the gas that was produced by the baking soda and
vinegar caused our balloons to inflate!
Experiment 3 - Water Beads - Solid Liquid
Need: water beads, bowl, vase, surprise sign/message.
This demonstration was more like magic than an experiment. Water beads are found in the floral department (ours were bought at Walmart). They originally look like little small little hard beads or pebbles. After being soaked in water for 4 hours (ours soaked overnight), they expand to full size resembling jelly like marbles. These fun little beads are invisible when they are left in water.
Together we looked at the original small beads
and attempted to predict what they might need to grow. We predicted the
water beads would grow larger if they were put into water. We added some
water into our bowl holding the small beads and we waited. Nothing
happened. I explained that they took quite a long time to grow. These
are fun to watch at home because you can check them every hour and watch
their growing stages.
I brought out a bowl of full size beads and let everyone
feel them. I explained that these beads are magical and that they were
hiding a picture message. I poured some water into our water beads that
were covering our "special sign" to make it appear! The water beads when
fully submerged disappear. Amazing!
Although we did have one experiment left, the water beads
were so much fun that we spent the rest of our time together putting
them in and out of water to make them disappear and reappear again.
Definitely a big hit!
Little Scientists is
one of our 20+ monthly events and is included in your membership fee of
only $45 per year. Your membership also includes a one year
subscription to Today's Parent! To get in on the fun register here for a FREE 4 week trial membership! http://niagara.momstown.ca/user/register
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