Author: Maddie Van Beek


Today you’re going to combine science with your sweet tooth!

Instant Slushy

A few weeks ago, you learned how to grow your own ice. You started with an ice cube, but when you poured super-cooled water over it (that is, water that’s been cooled to below the usual freezing point), the ice cube grew before your eyes! If you missed this awesome activity, check it out here:


http://discoveryexpress.weebly.com/blog/fun-with-ice


What actually happens in this activity? When you super-cool water, the water is at a point where it is just about to freeze but is still a liquid. The water wants to freeze, but just needs a little help getting started. That’s why when you pour super-cooled water over ice, it instantly crystallizes!


This week, you get to use the same concepts to create your own slushy. This works with any soda or sports drink. The reason this works with any drink is because you are super-cooling the water inside the drink. The additional flavors and syrups are just along for the ride.


Watch this video for a visual example of what you will be doing:

YOU WILL NEED:
* Glass
* 20 oz. Bottle of soda or sports drink
* Freezer


Here’s what to do!
1. Put a glass in the freezer.

2. Vigorously shake up a 20oz bottle of soda for 30 seconds. Do not remove the cap!

3. Place the bottle horizontally in the freezer.

4. Wait! Leave the soda in the freezer for about 3 hours and 15 minutes. This should be the right amount of time to super-cool your soda but not let it freeze. You may want to check the soda at 2 hours 45 minutes and 3 hours to make sure it doesn’t freeze.

5. At 3 hours and 15 minutes, carefully remove your soda and the empty glass from the freezer. The soda should still look completely liquid at this point.

6. Carefully unscrew the cap and pour the soda into the frosty glass. What happened?! The once-liquid soda should have crystallized into an instant slushy right before your eyes! The cold temperature of the glass should have been just enough to trigger the super-cooled soda to freeze!


Frozen Maple Taffy

This activity works best if there is fresh snow outside. You don’t want to use dirty snow to make your treats!


YOU WILL NEED:
* Maple syrup
* Snow (shaved or crushed ice will work if you don’t have any snow)
* Bowl or pan
* Sauce pan
* Stove


Here’s what to do!


1. Measure 1/2 cup of maple syrup and pour into a sauce pan.


2. Get an adult to help you with this part. Turn the stove to medium heat.


3. Cook the maple syrup for 10-15 minutes until the edges start to boil.


4. Remove the sauce pan from the stove and let the maple syrup mixture cool for at least two minutes.


5. All cooled off? Let’s head outside!


6. Find an area of clean snow. Make sure there are no dirt or debris. Pack the snow into a bowl or pan and bring it inside. If there’s no snow, pack some shaved or crushed ice the same way.


7. Carefully pour a little of your maple syrup mixture onto the snow. What happens? Touch it. Is it still liquid?


8. Your syrup should have hardened into a firm taffy! Continue to pour lines of maple syrup onto the snow to create strips of maple taffy.


9. Once your syrup has cooled and hardened, you’re all done! Enjoy your homemade maple candy!


Make this an experiment: What happens if you only put the syrup on the stove for 5 minutes? What happens if you put the syrup on the stove for longer than 15 minutes? Does stove time or temperature affect the outcome of the candy?


Pop Rock Power

What do you think will happen if you put Pop Rocks in a bottle of soda? Make a prediction, because that’s what we are going to find out!


The reason Pop Rocks make that popping sound in your mouth is because they contain little bubbles of carbon dioxide gas. When you put the candy in your mouth, the gas is released! Carbon dioxide is the same gas that makes soda fizzy, or carbonated. Want to know more about how Pop Rocks are made? Read this link for more information you move on with the activity:


http://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/science-questions/question114.htm


YOU WILL NEED:
* Pop Rocks
* 20oz bottle of soda
* Balloon
* Small funnel (optional)


Here’s what to do!
1. Pour a packet of Pop Rocks into the neck of a balloon. (It will be easier to pour if you tear only a small corner of the packet so you can more easily direct the Pop Rocks into the balloon neck, or you could put a small funnel into the balloon to help you.)
2. Remove the cap from a 20oz bottle of soda.
3. With one hand, pinch the balloon neck so the Pop Rocks do not spill out. With the other hand, stretch the neck of the balloon over the mouth of the soda bottle. It may be easier to have a friend help you. Make sure you don’t let the Pop Rocks fall into the soda yet!
4. Release your hand from the balloon and let the Pop Rocks fall into the soda bottle. What do you see?
5. You should see the Pop Rocks bubbling inside the soda, but what happens to the balloon? Slowly, you’ll see your balloon inflate!
6. Remember, Pop Rocks are made with carbon dioxide gas. There are little bubbles of that gas trapped inside the candy. When the candy falls into the soda, that gas is released along with more carbon dioxide gas from the soda. That gas is the reason your balloon is inflating!


Make this activity an experiment: Try different flavors of soda. Do some sodas cause the balloon to inflate more? Vary your amount of Pop Rocks. Do more Pop Rocks inflate the balloon faster? Have fun!


References:
http://www.livescience.com/42371-cold-weather-science-experiments.html
http://www.mamashomestead.com/maple-syrup-snow-candy/
http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/lab/experiments/poprocks/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5T68TvdoSbI

Author: Maddie Van Beek

This weekend is FREEZING in Fargo! With temperatures at -30 degrees Fahrenheit, you need to be safe and dress EXTREMELY WARM if you're going to go outside! Luckily, these science activities will only require you to be outside for a matter of minutes. Don't forget your hat and gloves!

Balloons and bubbles seem somewhat similar. They are both spherical shapes filled with air largely made up with carbon dioxide. How did the carbon dioxide get there? Remember, you breathe in oxygen, you breathe out carbon dioxide (along with a mixture of other gases). So when you blow up a balloon, you're filling it with a mixture of gases! The other similarity between balloons and bubbles is that both of them will change form when you take them outside in freezing temperatures. Let’s test this out!
​
Freezing Bubbles

Author: Maddie Van Beek

Fargo is FREEZING right now, so in honor of the arrival of sub-zero temperatures, we are going to have some fun with ice!


Build your own ice!

Author: Maddie Van Beek

Happy New Year’s! It’s 2016! Today we are going to do some fun activities to celebrate. But first, check out this New Year’s Science Quiz to see what you know! It’s okay if you don’t know all the answers—there are explanations at the end so you can learn something new for the new year!

Now that you’ve taken a quick science quiz, it’s time to set some science goals for your year! Have you ever heard of a New Year’s Resolution? Every year, thousands of people around the country make a resolution (goal) to make some sort of positive change in their lives. Most of the time, (88% of the time according to the link below), people fail at keeping their New Year’s resolutions. Why is that?! Too often, people don’t make their goals concrete or reachable, so the resolution quickly seems unattainable. You need to actually train your brain, your prefrontal cortex, specifically, by creating habits in order to achieve your goals. Who knew?!
​
Read the links below to find out why resolutions fail and how to keep yours!

Write your goal down, decorate it, and paste it inside your science notebook as a reminder.

Now that you’ve set a science goal for the year, let’s move on to our New Year’s activities!

Fireworks in a Glass

In this activity, you will use oil and water along with food coloring to create a mixture that looks like fireworks in a glass. The science behind this activity is that oil and water DO NOT MIX. Why don’t they mix? They do not mix because water is polar (it has an uneven distribution of electrons in its molecules) and oil is not (it has a very even distribution of electrons in its molecules). Things that are polar usually don't mix well with things that are not polar, like oil (they are not attracted to each other), while things that are polar--like sugar--usually dissolve well in water (the water molecules are attracted to the sugar molecules). Off you need a little more help, check out our earlier blog about solubility:

http://discoveryexpress.weebly.com/blog/what-is-solubility

Watch the video below for a more in-depth explanation of why oil and water don’t mix:

YOU WILL NEED
* Clear glass
* Food coloring
* Vegetable oil
* Water
* Shallow bowl
* Fork

Here’s what to do!
1. Pour a cup of vegetable oil in the shallow bowl.
2. Sprinkle about 12 drops of food coloring in the oil. Use as many different colors as you want! These will be the colors of your “fireworks.”
3. Use a fork to stir the food coloring in with the oil. The food coloring is water-based, so it won’t fully mix in with the oil, but it will break up into smaller blobs.
4. Fill a glass about ¾ full of warm water.
5. Dump the oil/food coloring mixture into the warm water. What happens?
6. The oil stays on top! Remember, oil and water will not mix. The oil is less dense than water, so it floats on top. The food coloring is water-based, so it’s denser than the oil. Eventually, the food coloring blobs will slowly sink through the layer of oil and reach the water. When this happens, the color expands and looks like little colorful explosions!

Confetti Eruption

In this activity, you will see baking soda and vinegar react, much like when we did exploding glow in the dark art (http://discoveryexpress.weebly.com/blog/exploding-glow-in-the-dark-art).

Baking soda (a base) and vinegar (an acid) create an acid-base reaction. When this reaction occurs, carbon dioxide gas is released in the form of foamy bubbles. For a full explanation of why these two substances react together, check out this link:

http://scienceline.ucsb.edu/getkey.php?key=4147

YOU WILL NEED
* Baking soda
* Vinegar
* Plastic party cups (or any glass)
* Confetti or glitter
* Food coloring (optional)
* Bowl
* Turkey baster or eye dropper


Here’s what to do!
1. Fill a small bowl with about two cups of baking soda. The amount doesn’t really matter, but two cups is enough for plenty of foamy fun!
2. Add a few spoonfuls of confetti or glitter to your baking soda.
3. Add a tablespoon of water to your baking soda and mix it in. Continue to do this until you have a dough-like consistency. This more evenly distributes the confetti and makes the mixture easier to scoop into the glasses.
4. Place the party glasses in a baking pan to contain the mess. This will make cleanup easier.
5. Scoop about ¼ cup of the mixture into each party glass.
6. Pour a cup of vinegar into a separate glass and add a few drops of food coloring if you want your eruptions to be colored!
7. Use the turkey baster or eye dropper to suck in the vinegar.
8. Squeeze the vinegar into the party glass. TADA! You should see a colorful, glittery eruption! Repeat as often as you want to create more foamy fun. As the foam fizzles out, just add more baking soda or more vinegar.

References:

​http://www.icanteachmychild.com/fireworks-in-a-jar/
http://littlebinsforlittlehands.com/confetti-science-eruptions-new-years-eve-science-activity/