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My now 8 year old son has always had an insatiable interest in Science  especially DOING science.  His favorite show is the Myth Busters on the Discovery Channel

He’s played around with Helium balloons, built his own rockets and many other things that I’ll try to write about.  Anyway, I decided to look around on the net for ideas on experiments with stuff you might find in your Kitchen.

The first experiment we did was Vinegar and Baking Soda:

In the Kitchen sink fill a glass half full with Vinegar and  then add a teaspoon of baking soda.

You’ll be amazed at the action!

For those who want to teach their children a little more about what is happening:

The action that is taking place is between Sodium Bicarbonate (baking soda) and Acetic Acid (the Vinegar).

Chemists would write out the reaction in this way:

HC2H3O2   +   NaHCO3  ===>   NaC2H3O2    +  H2CO3

and

H2CO3  ===>   H2O   +   CO2

Your child doesn’t need to know what all this means.  Just explain that the direction of the arrows tell you what is happening.

This is an example of a chemical reaction because a new substance is produced (Carbon Dioxide) which is the bubbles.

Experiment with adding more baking soda until no more bubbling occurs.  

Now add more Vinegar and notice that the bubbling starts again.

All chemical reactions take place using certain proportions of each substance.  If the proportions are not present, the reactions will not happen.

Congratulate your child on performing their first chemical experiment!

They may also be interested to know that the bubbles they are seeing is the same bubbles they find in a Soda Pop.

What is the connection between people putting bricks in their toilets and Archimedes principle?

Archimedes’ principle is better known as the law of buoyancy.
It states:
Something submerged(partially or fully) in water experiences a force that tries to push it up (and out of the water).

The amount of that force is exactly equal to the WEIGHT of the WATER that the object is displacing.

Back to the submerged bricks…

Assuming a brick is 4″ x 2″ x 8″ you can determine the buoyant force on the brick as follows:

(1)Make a box the exact same size as the brick.
(2)Fill it with water
(3)Weigh the water.

Let’s say that the water weighs 1 kilogram.
That means that every brick that is put into the toilet is experiencing an upward buoyant force of 1Kilogram.

Assuming the brick weighs 2 Kilograms, which is greater than the buoyant force, the brick will stay on the bottom of the toilet.

If we try to use a block of wood the same size, that weighs 0.5Kg instead of the brick, that block will be pushed out of the water and float.

How far will the wood block be pushed out of the water?

Until the Volume below the water line is equal would be 0.5kg of Water!

Based on 1Kg for the weight of water that a brick displaces,
we would expect that it would float exactly halfway submerged.

This past week my wife’s washing machine started acting up…making wierd noises everytime the spin cycle started. How is that relevant you ask? Stay with me…

Well after fixing the machine, the repair guy left the old motor behind in a small cardboard box. For the first couple days I leave the heavy box sitting on our enclosed porch just waiting for garbage day.

This weekend I’m home alone with my son and he happens to notice the box when we wander out onto the porch.

“What’s that daddy?”

“A motor.”

“Should we take it apart?”

His eyes lit up like Christmas morning as I brought it inside and began to remove screws and brackets holding the motor together.

Soon the motor was in pieces on our living room floor (…Yes dear, I put some newspaper down first…). We spent the next 15 minutes talking about how the motor worked!

Why is it like a magnet?(one of his favorite toys),
Why do magnets stick only to iron?
How does an electromagnet work?

Moments later we were on the computer searching Yahoo for videos of a Van De Graff generator generating giant sparks. We ending up spending the next 30 minutes looking at every video on this great site we found (you’ll need broadband):

Physics experiment videos

The exploding marshmellows were one of my favorite:

Exploding Marshmellows

SO…the next time something mechanical or electrical breaks in your house just don’t throw it in the trash.

Take it apart in front of your kids! You’ll be amazed at the curiosity for things scientific you’ll ignite in your kids.

My five year old son has been studying caterpillars and butterflies in his preschool class. His interest has been insatiable! So I shouldn’t have been surprised when I came home from work yesterday and was introduced to his new pet…a one inch long brown furry caterpillar that he had found crawling across the playground after school!

We then realized that we had another problem…what do we feed this little guy? We had no idea what kind of caterpillar this was…let alone what he preferred to eat. We gave him some spinach but by today there was no sign that he had touched any of it. My son’s little pet would starve to death if I didn’t do something.

Google to the rescue! A search for “caterpillar pictures” brought me to this site about caterpillars:

What is this Caterpillar?

Which has hundreds of pictures of every kind of caterpillar you can imagine. Clicking the link for “Hairy/Spiny” eventually led to his identity.

And here he is… the Eastern tent caterpillar

Another search for “eastern tent diet” led to this page:

Eastern Tent Caterpillar–Entomology Leaflet 142

which says “Hosts: Cherries and apple are the favored food plants. Plum, peach, hawthorn, pear, rose, and some of the deciduous forest and shade trees may be attacked, especially when favored foods run out. ”

So he likes fruit trees!
We happened to have an ornamental pear tree planted in front of our house. I wonder?

Yes. He began eating like a caterpillar possessed…probably his first good meal in days.

I hope this helps you keep alive that little creature that your child brings home tomorrow

The moon is our closest celestial neighbor and one of most interesting and easy objects to study with your child.

Each month the moon goes through obvious changes that are caused by the motion of the sun and moon but every once in a while, the earth and moon put on a spectacular show visible on earth for only a few hours. In October 2004, a complete lunar eclipse was visible in much of the world. The pictures below were taken from my backyard that night with my ordinary Sony DSC F717
5 megapixel digital camera. See below for some simple tips to take your own moon pictures:

Tips to take your own lunar pictures:

• Switch your camera to manual mode
• Bracket your shots
• Use a tripod

The moon is actually quite bright. To get a good picture, your camera should actually use about the same settings as a bright sunny outdoor picture on Earth!