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Friday, April 10, 2015

Weekly Science Experiment Catch Up: Weeks 12, 13 and 14

I don't really know why I got so far behind on this series of science experiment posts.  We've done the actual work each week, but I've been feeling just a bit harried lately and I just never got around to posting.  On the other hand, these posts are probably mostly for my own benefit than any of you readers - so that when the kids are bigger and voicing complaints about things we did or did not do when they were little I can pull up these posts and say "SEE??? SEE??? We DID do stuff."  Maybe that is taking advanced planning to an insane level, but that's how my mind works.  So, let's get away from my personal insecurities and move on to science.

Week 12: We made crystals using a borax solution and coiled pipe cleaners.  We set up the experiment on Thursday afternoon, and by Friday morning we crystals all over the pipe cleaners and the bottom and sides of the glass.
Week 13: During this week the weather improved greatly and the kids wanted to be outside as much as possible, not inside doing science experiments.  I gave Ian a mason jar and told him to collect some swamp water.
"Mom, what are we going to do with this muddy water?"
"Just wait and see."
After sitting still overnight, the kids were surprised by how much "stuff" had settled to the bottom of the jar and how clear the water had gotten.  Ian's comment was "Boy, I'm glad I've never gotten a drink from that swamp!"  So am I, son, so am I!
Week 14: This week we talked briefly about how sound is really made by vibration and how vibrations are made.  The obvious one - pounding on the table - came immediately to the children's minds and they acted it out with great gusto.  Then I demonstrated how air could be made to vibrate by blowing across the top of a bottle.  They had a little more trouble imitating this one, but did eventually manage it.
Then we experimented with the amount of liquid in the bottle, so see how that influenced the pitch of the sound.  The kids quickly figured out that the more air that was in the bottle to vibrate, the lower the sound.  It's too bad I didn't have enough bottles to put together a complete musical scale, but that is a lot of apple cider vinegar to use up for one science experiment.



Happy experimenting, everyone!


2 comments:

Jessica said...

Talk about typhoid and other illnesses that come fro dirty drinking water.

Dana said...

On of the kids did mentioned the blood-sucker we found in the swamp last summer and suggested that IT might be a good reason not to drink swamp water. I think we are safe from parasites and disease for the moment.