Author: Maddie Van Beek
Christmas is coming up quick! What do you think of when you hear the word Christmas? You might think of family, baking, presents, cookies, candy canes, etc. Write down all the things you can think of!
Let’s use some of the holiday cheer for some fun Christmas science experiments! Today, we are going to create fizzing gingerbread men (or other christmas shapes), play with peppermint SLIME, and see how long it takes to dissolve a candy cane. Let’s get started!
Fizzing Gingerbread Men
Christmas is coming up quick! What do you think of when you hear the word Christmas? You might think of family, baking, presents, cookies, candy canes, etc. Write down all the things you can think of!
Let’s use some of the holiday cheer for some fun Christmas science experiments! Today, we are going to create fizzing gingerbread men (or other christmas shapes), play with peppermint SLIME, and see how long it takes to dissolve a candy cane. Let’s get started!
Fizzing Gingerbread Men
In this experiment, you are going to create Christmas shapes out of a baking soda paste. Once the shapes dry, you’ll put them in a pan of vinegar and watch them FIZZ! Why will this happen? Baking soda, or sodium bicarbonate, is an example of a base. Other bases you might see in the real world are often in the form of cleaners, such as bleach or ammonia. Can you think of any others?
Vinegar is an example of an acid. You might already know that many fruits have acid in them. What else is acidic?
So we know that baking soda is a base and vinegar is an acid... why do we see fizz when they meet? When acids and bases are mixed together, a REACTION occurs. That reaction produces carbon dioxide gas. The gas appears in the form of bubbles! Now that you know the science behind the reaction, let’s get started!
YOU WILL NEED:
* Baking Soda
* Christmas Cookie Cutters
* Water
* Vinegar
* Pan
* Bowl
Here’s what to do!
1. Dump 2 cups of baking soda into a bowl.
2. Add water a little bit at a time and stir until you have a thick baking soda paste.
3. If you would like to, add a few drops food coloring and stir into the paste.
4. Set the cookie cutter shapes that you would like to use on a pan.
5. Press the baking soda paste into the cookie cutter shapes.
6. Let dry undisturbed until the paste has hardened (a few hours).
7. Carefully pop your shapes out of the cookie cutters.
8. Fill the pan with vinegar and place your shapes in the pan. Watch the reaction happen! How long do you think it will take your shapes to fully dissolve? Make a prediction!
9. If you add more vinegar, does it help the shapes dissolve faster? Try it out!
Peppermint Oobleck
We’ve made Oobleck or SLIME in the past, but this time we’re going to make it Christmassy! What is Oobleck? When you mix cornflour and water, you get a non-newtonian fluid. A non-newtonian fluid behaves sometimes like a liquid and sometimes like a solid. It will behave like a liquid until you apply sudden pressure or stress, and then it will act like a solid.
For example, you could run across a pool of oobleck, but if you stood still, you would sink!
Watch this video to see non-newtonian fluid in action!
Vinegar is an example of an acid. You might already know that many fruits have acid in them. What else is acidic?
So we know that baking soda is a base and vinegar is an acid... why do we see fizz when they meet? When acids and bases are mixed together, a REACTION occurs. That reaction produces carbon dioxide gas. The gas appears in the form of bubbles! Now that you know the science behind the reaction, let’s get started!
YOU WILL NEED:
* Baking Soda
* Christmas Cookie Cutters
* Water
* Vinegar
* Pan
* Bowl
Here’s what to do!
1. Dump 2 cups of baking soda into a bowl.
2. Add water a little bit at a time and stir until you have a thick baking soda paste.
3. If you would like to, add a few drops food coloring and stir into the paste.
4. Set the cookie cutter shapes that you would like to use on a pan.
5. Press the baking soda paste into the cookie cutter shapes.
6. Let dry undisturbed until the paste has hardened (a few hours).
7. Carefully pop your shapes out of the cookie cutters.
8. Fill the pan with vinegar and place your shapes in the pan. Watch the reaction happen! How long do you think it will take your shapes to fully dissolve? Make a prediction!
9. If you add more vinegar, does it help the shapes dissolve faster? Try it out!
Peppermint Oobleck
We’ve made Oobleck or SLIME in the past, but this time we’re going to make it Christmassy! What is Oobleck? When you mix cornflour and water, you get a non-newtonian fluid. A non-newtonian fluid behaves sometimes like a liquid and sometimes like a solid. It will behave like a liquid until you apply sudden pressure or stress, and then it will act like a solid.
For example, you could run across a pool of oobleck, but if you stood still, you would sink!
Watch this video to see non-newtonian fluid in action!
Ok, now let’s get started!
YOU WILL NEED:
* Cornstarch
* Water
* Peppermint Essence
* Red food coloring
* Bowl
* Measuring cups
Here’s what to do!
1. Dump 1 cup of cornstarch into a bowl.
2. Measure 1/4 cup of water.
3. Add a few drops of red food coloring into the water. Next, add 1 teaspoon of peppermint essence.
4. Dump the red peppermint water into the cornstarch and stir. What happens?
5. You should be able to pick up the goo and form it into a ball, like a solid! When you stop moving your hands, it should run through your fingers like a liquid! If the goo is too thick, add a little more water. If it’s too runny and can’t be formed into a ball, add a little more cornstarch.
6. Have fun!
Dissolving Candy Canes
YOU WILL NEED:
* Cornstarch
* Water
* Peppermint Essence
* Red food coloring
* Bowl
* Measuring cups
Here’s what to do!
1. Dump 1 cup of cornstarch into a bowl.
2. Measure 1/4 cup of water.
3. Add a few drops of red food coloring into the water. Next, add 1 teaspoon of peppermint essence.
4. Dump the red peppermint water into the cornstarch and stir. What happens?
5. You should be able to pick up the goo and form it into a ball, like a solid! When you stop moving your hands, it should run through your fingers like a liquid! If the goo is too thick, add a little more water. If it’s too runny and can’t be formed into a ball, add a little more cornstarch.
6. Have fun!
Dissolving Candy Canes
In this experiment, you are going to see how long it takes a candy cane to dissolve in warm water, cold water, and vinegar! What does it mean to dissolve? A solution is
formed when a solid becomes part of a liquid. Example: When you stir Kool-Aid mix (the solute/solid) into water (the solvent/liquid), Kool-Aid (a solution) is formed. We are going to see whether different solvents (warm water, cold water, vinegar) affect how fast a candy cane will dissolve!
PREDICT: Which candy cane will dissolve fastest? Slowest? Why?
YOU WILL NEED:
* Candy canes
* 3 Glasses
* Warm water
* Cold water
* Vinegar
Here’s what to do!
1. Select 3 glasses of the same size.
2. Put 1 cup of warm water into the first cup, 1 cup of cold water in the second cup, and 1 cup of vinegar into the third cup.
3. Place an unwrapped candy cane into each cup.
4. Check back every five minutes and see how much of each candy cane has dissolved. Record your observations.
5. After an hour, record your results! Were you surprised? What other liquids could you test out? Try using different temperatures of water to see if hotter or colder water makes a difference.
References:
http://sciencelearn.org.nz/Science-Stories/Strange-Liquids/Non-Newtonian-fluids https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-Newtonian_fluid
Image and video credits, in order of appearance
The Discovery Slow Down, 2013. Non-newtonian liquid in slow motion. https://youtu.be/G1Op_1yG6lQ
Alcinoe, 2005. Crispy gingerbread cookies. File uploaded from Wikimedia Commons on 12/4/2016. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/CrispyGingerbreadCookies.jpg Image in the Public Domain.
Amos, E., 2011. Candy-Cane-Classic. File uploaded from Wikimedia Commons on 12/4/2016. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/de/Candy-Cane-Classic.jpg/800px-Candy-Cane-Classic.jpg Image in the Public Domain.
formed when a solid becomes part of a liquid. Example: When you stir Kool-Aid mix (the solute/solid) into water (the solvent/liquid), Kool-Aid (a solution) is formed. We are going to see whether different solvents (warm water, cold water, vinegar) affect how fast a candy cane will dissolve!
PREDICT: Which candy cane will dissolve fastest? Slowest? Why?
YOU WILL NEED:
* Candy canes
* 3 Glasses
* Warm water
* Cold water
* Vinegar
Here’s what to do!
1. Select 3 glasses of the same size.
2. Put 1 cup of warm water into the first cup, 1 cup of cold water in the second cup, and 1 cup of vinegar into the third cup.
3. Place an unwrapped candy cane into each cup.
4. Check back every five minutes and see how much of each candy cane has dissolved. Record your observations.
5. After an hour, record your results! Were you surprised? What other liquids could you test out? Try using different temperatures of water to see if hotter or colder water makes a difference.
References:
http://sciencelearn.org.nz/Science-Stories/Strange-Liquids/Non-Newtonian-fluids https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-Newtonian_fluid
Image and video credits, in order of appearance
The Discovery Slow Down, 2013. Non-newtonian liquid in slow motion. https://youtu.be/G1Op_1yG6lQ
Alcinoe, 2005. Crispy gingerbread cookies. File uploaded from Wikimedia Commons on 12/4/2016. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/CrispyGingerbreadCookies.jpg Image in the Public Domain.
Amos, E., 2011. Candy-Cane-Classic. File uploaded from Wikimedia Commons on 12/4/2016. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/de/Candy-Cane-Classic.jpg/800px-Candy-Cane-Classic.jpg Image in the Public Domain.
