Surfactants are compounds that decrease the surface tension between two liquids, a liquid and a gas, or a liquid and a solid. You’ll find surfactants acting as detergents (in laundry soaps), emulsifiers (like egg yolks and soy lecithin), foaming agents (like in foaming soaps, shampoos, and toothpaste), and dispersants (usually added to prevent clumping, like in engine oils and in concretes so it flows correctly before setting). Not all surfactants are the same, but they all are aimed at doing a particular job.
We’re going to do experiments on the water molecule to discover more about water! We’ll need the lime water solution from a previous experiment. Water is a chemical compound and a polar molecule, and it’s a liquid at atmospheric temperature and pressure. The solid state is known as “ice” and the gaseous form is “water vapor”.
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We’re going to learn about saturated solutions today! A solution with solute (the powder added in) that dissolves until it leaves bits at the bottom (indicating that it cannot dissolve anymore). An unsaturated solution is the solution before the bits start showing up at the bottom, meaning that there’s enough solvent to hold all the solute you add in.
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Sodium chloride, ammonium chloride, sodium carbonate, and many others have tiny charged particles (positive and negative) called “salts”. When a “salt” is dissolved in water, it will separate into the two particles (plus and minus), which means that if you pass a current through the solution, the positive particles (positive ions) become attracted to the negative pole and the negative particles (negative ions) move toward the positive pole. This movement is allowing electricity to flow, and the this is the reason that “salt” solutions conduct electricity.
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We’re using the solution from the last experiment (the iron in what used to be a copper sulfate solution) for part of this experiment. This experiment is tricky to see a color change, which is why we’re going to look at the paper towel for the telltale blue that will indicate the presence of iron.
We’re going to look at how iron reacts with an acid and detect the iron bits with an indicator. We’re going to do several experiments that will need a bit more time, like overnight, so be sure to store this experiment out of reach of small kids while you are waiting for it to progress.
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We’re going to learn about the properties of combustion by doing a simple set of experiments. Because this involves FIRE, please make sure you have an adult handy with you while you do your experiments. We’re going to learn how to detect the presence of carbon dioxide by looking for a “precipitate” – tiny little particles that seem to form out of nowhere.
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This is a neat set of experiments, and the trick works because carbon dioxide is heavier than air so it really can be “poured” just like a liquid. The problem is that most people mis-judge the “pour”, so if you want to practice first, capture the smoke from an extinguished candle first (get an adult to help you!) and practice pouring a gas into a bowl.
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This experiment is in two parts. We’re going to use chemistry to separate mixtures. We’re going to use a mixture we prepared in the previous experiment. Also, please make sure you displose of the copper sulfate correctly, you can’t simply just throw it in the trash or down the drain.
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Water is measured in inches or centimetres when it’s in a test tube. We’re going to make a solution that we will be keeping for not only today’s but also future experiments as well. The solution is hazardous to aquatic life, so make sure you watch all the disposal instructions near the end of the video.
You’re going to create a beautiful blue color by combining two substances together, one is an indicator for the other (the iron).
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You’ll find carbon dioxide everywhere: when you exhale, the bubbles in your soda, in Venus’ atmosphere… The next set of experiments bounce around a little within the manual that came with your set of chemicals. We put all of them together here because it makes the most sense – watch and you’ll see!
It’s hard to know what molecules are present in a solution, so with litmus and limewater, you now have ways to detect these! This is only the start… let’s watch the video now to learn more.
Litmus is from a plant, so it will have a limited shelf life (you’ll notice a different, more earthy smell to it). The amount of dry powder provided in the kit is enough for three solutions, more than enough for our experiments. If you notice particles and sludge at the bottom of your container, it’s totally normal, and all you need to do is pour the liquid off and scrape out the residue and throw (the residue) away. If you add a little denatured alcohol (ethyl alcohol), the solution will last a bit longer on the shelf.
We’re going to do a number of experiments with this solution, all in one video. My friend, a PhD Chemistry professor, helped make a new set of videos for you that will walk you through every step.
Imagine you’re in the car with the kids, excited to see your extended family (or at least, specific members of your extended family), and you’re not quite there yet.
And the kids been glued to their video games, cell phones, and electronic devices the whole time. You know it’s not good for them, but at least you have some peace during the car ride. You shrug it off, not too worried about it, thinking about all the running around with cousins they’ll do once they get there.
And then you hear…
“Are we there yet?”
“I’m bored.”
“I’m hungry.”
…and whining.
Now what do you do?
It seems impossible for kids to entertain themselves these days without the use of batteries.
That’s what spurred me to create this “Pen & Paper Games” packet that I want to share with you. It’s full of my very best on-the-go, play-anywhere games that you don’t need any equipment (other than a brain) to play! These games I’ve played with my kids over the years, even standing in lines at Disnleyland.
By the way, Bagels is still our favorite line-waiting game, because it’s so fun to play and easy to teach the on-lookers who are wondering why we keep shouting “PICO!” and “FERMI!” followed by uproarious laughter. Bagels is good for the car too, only maybe without the shouting. It’s basically a mental version of the old Mastermind game, but don’t tell them that! Just enjoy the game and have fun learning and exploring our wonderful world.
How does the eye work? If you are amazed as I am about how the different parts of the eye are put together, then this is the lab for you! It's important not only to learn how to take apart video cameras and blenders to find out how they work, but also to be fascinated by how the different parts of living creatures work ... like the eye!
In today’s dissection, we’ll be looking at a cow eye. Because cow eyes are so similar to humans eyes, you’ll learn a lot about your own eyes by dissecting the cow eye. Eyes are a very special organ that form images from the world around you and then send the images to your brain for processing. You will be able to see the cornea, iris, pupil, connecting muscles and veins, and other features.
Materials:
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Dissection in biology provides a hands-on education above and beyond reading a textbook. By seeing, touching and exploring different organs, muscles and tissues inside an animal and seeing how they work together allows you to really understand your own body and appreciate the amazing world around us. And it's not hard - you can dissect a kidney right at home using an inexpensive specimen with a dissection guide and simple dissection tools! Many doctors, surgeons and veterinarians report that their first fascination with the body started with a biology dissection class.
In today’s dissection, we’ll be looking at a kidney. Kidneys are critical for removing toxic waste and regulating the levels of water, sugars, salts, and acids in the bodies of mammals. There are many things that make a kidney interesting, including its unique bean shape and the fact that it contains about a million microscopic structures called nephrons that are key in the blood filtration process.
Materials:
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Dissection in biology provides a hands-on education above and beyond reading a textbook. By seeing, touching and exploring different organs, muscles and tissues inside an animal and seeing how they work together allows you to really understand your own body and appreciate the amazing world around us. And it's not hard - you can dissect a sheep brain right at home using an inexpensive specimen with a dissection guide and simple dissection tools! Many doctors, surgeons and veterinarians report that their first fascination with the body started with a biology dissection class.
In today’s dissection, we’ll be looking at a sheep brain. Brains, while still not entirely understood by biologists or psychologists, are critical for movement, respiration, thought, memory, processing sensory signals, and more. What we talk about in today’s dissection just scratches the surface of all there is to know about the brain, which is the most complex organ in the human body.
Materials:
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Dissection in biology provides a hands-on education above and beyond reading a textbook. By seeing, touching and exploring different organs, muscles and tissues inside an animal and seeing how they work together allows you to really understand your own body and appreciate the amazing world around us. And it's not hard - you can dissect a heart right at home using an inexpensive specimen with a dissection guide and simple dissection tools! Many doctors, surgeons and veterinarians report that their first fascination with the body started with a biology dissection class.
In today’s dissection, we’ll be looking at a sheep heart. Like humans, sheep have four-chambered hearts. Hearts are an essential organ--they pump blood through your body to keep you alive!
Materials:
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In today’s dissection, we’ll be looking at an owl pellet. Owls are carnivores, and they eat things like moles, shrews, rodents, birds, insects, and even crayfish. Owls are unable to digest the bones and fur of these creatures, so they regurgitate (or spit up) what are called pellets--small bundles of all the indigestible parts of the owl’s prey.
Owl pellet dissection is an easy, hands-on way to learn about the eating habits of birds of prey. (Owl pellets are the regurgitated remains of an owl's meal.) But don't be grossed out - finding and piecing together the bones inside owl pellets is fascinating work for a young scientist such as yourself! As you dissect the pellet, you'll find skeletons of mice, voles, birds, and more. Synthetic pellets are available for younger children if you'd like to use a substitute.
Dissection in biology provides a hands-on education above and beyond reading a textbook. By seeing, touching and exploring different organs, muscles and tissues inside an animal and seeing how they work together allows you to really understand your own body and appreciate the amazing world around us. And it's not hard - you can dissect a pellet right at home using an inexpensive specimen with a dissection guide and simple dissection tools! Many doctors, surgeons and veterinarians report that their first fascination with the body started with a biology dissection class.
Materials:
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Dissection in biology provides a hands-on education above and beyond reading a textbook. By seeing, touching and exploring different organs, muscles and tissues inside an animal and seeing how they work together allows you to really understand your own body and appreciate the amazing world around us. And it’s not hard – you can dissect a frog right at home using an inexpensive specimen with a dissection guide and simple dissection tools! Many doctors, surgeons and veterinarians report that their first fascination with the body started with a biology dissection class.
In today’s dissection, we’ll be looking at a frog. Frogs are members of the Class Amphibia. There are many things that make frogs interesting: they live both in water and on land, they actually begin life in water as limbless tadpoles, and some can change color depending on their environment.
Materials
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Dissection in biology provides a hands-on education above and beyond reading a textbook. By seeing, touching and exploring different organs, muscles and tissues inside an animal and seeing how they work together allows you to really understand your own body and appreciate the amazing world around us. And it’s not hard – you can dissect a crayfish right at home using an inexpensive specimen with a dissection guide and simple dissection tools! Many doctors, surgeons and veterinarians report that their first fascination with the body started with a biology dissection class.
In today’s dissection, we’ll be looking at a crayfish. Crayfish are members of the phylum Arthropoda. There are many things that make crayfish interesting: they dwell at the bottom of streams, rivers, and ponds; they feed on just about anything that comes their way (that’s why they’re called freshwater scavengers); and they have many appendages that help them save energy.
Materials
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Dissection in biology provides a hands-on education above and beyond reading a textbook. By seeing, touching and exploring different organs, muscles and tissues inside an animal and seeing how they work together allows you to really understand your own body and appreciate the amazing world around us. And it’s not hard – you can dissect a starfish right at home using an inexpensive specimen with a dissection guide and simple dissection tools! Many doctors, surgeons and veterinarians report that their first fascination with the body started with a biology dissection class.
In today’s dissection, we’ll be looking at a starfish. Starfish are members of the phylum Echinoderm. There are many things that make starfish interesting: their rays are symmetrical around their center (this is called radial symmetry), they use seawater instead of blood to transport nutrients through their bodies (this is called a water vascular system), and they move around using tube feet on the underside of their bodies.
Materials
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Dissection in biology provides a hands-on education above and beyond reading a textbook. By seeing, touching and exploring different organs, muscles and tissues inside an animal and seeing how they work together allows you to really understand your own body and appreciate the amazing world around us. And it's not hard - you can dissect a fish right at home using an inexpensive specimen with a dissection guide and simple dissection tools! Many doctors, surgeons and veterinarians report that their first fascination with the body started with a biology dissection class
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In today’s dissection, we’ll be looking at a perch. Perch are members of the phylum Chordata. There are many things that make perch interesting: they are bony fishes which make them “true” fishes, they live in both freshwater and saltwater, and their diets change based on how big they are.
Materials:
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Dissection in biology provides a hands-on education above and beyond reading a textbook. By seeing, touching and exploring different organs, muscles and tissues inside an animal and seeing how they work together allows you to really understand your own body and appreciate the amazing world around us. And it's not hard - you can dissect a grasshopper right at home using this inexpensive specimen with a dissection guide and simple dissection tools! Many doctors, surgeons and veterinarians report that their first fascination with the body started with a biology dissection class.
Materials:
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Dissection in biology provides a hands-on education above and beyond reading a textbook. By seeing, touching and exploring different organs, muscles and tissues inside an animal and seeing how they work together allows you to really understand your own body and appreciate the amazing world around us. And it's not hard - you can dissect a worm right at home using an inexpensive specimen with a dissection guide and simple dissection tools! Many doctors, surgeons and veterinarians report that their first fascination with the body started with a biology dissection class
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In today’s dissection, we’ll be looking at an earthworm. Earthworms play an important role in their ecosystem--when they tunnel through dirt they mix nutrients which helps make the soil healthy and able to support plant life.
Materials:
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This experiment is just for advanced students. If you guessed that this has to do with electricity and chemistry, you’re right! But you might wonder how they work together. Back in 1800, William Nicholson and Johann Ritter were the first ones to split water into hydrogen and oxygen using electrolysis. (Soon afterward, Ritter went on to figure out electroplating.) They added energy in the form of an electric current into a cup of water and captured the bubbles forming into two separate cups, one for hydrogen and other for oxygen.
This experiment is not an easy one, so feel free to skip it if you need to. You don’t need to do this to get the concepts of this lesson but it’s such a neat and classical experiment (my students love it) so you can give it a try if you want to. The reason I like this is because what you are really doing in this experiment is ripping molecules apart and then later crashing them back together.
Have fun and please follow the directions carefully. This could be dangerous if you’re not careful. The image shown here is using graphite from two pencils sharpened on both ends, but the instructions below use wire. Feel free to try both to see which types of electrodes provide the best results.
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This is a super-cool and ultra-simple circuit experiment that shows you how a CdS (cadmium sulfide cell) works. A CdS cell is a special kind of resistor called a photoresistor, which is sensitive to light.
A resistor limits the amount of current (electricity) that flows through it, and since this one is light-sensitive, it will allow different amounts of current through depends on how much light it “sees”.
Photoresistors are very inexpensive light detectors, and you’ll find them in cameras, street lights, clock radios, robotics, and more. We’re going to play with one and find out how to detect light using a simple series circuit.
Materials:
A pedigree analysis chart, usually used for families, allow us to visualize the inheritance of genotypes and phenotypes (traits). In this chart, the P, F1, and F2 generation are represented by the numerals I, II, and III respectively. Notice that those carrying the trait are colored red, and those not carrying the trait (the normal-looking ones) are in blue. The normal, non-trait carrying organisms on the chart are called the wild-type.
The term wild-type is used in genetics often to refer to organisms not carrying the trait being studied. For example, if we were studying a gene that turns house-flies orange, we would call the normal-looking ones the wild-type.
Let’s make a pedigree for your family. Here’s what you need:
The shell of chicken eggs are made mostly of calcium carbonate (CaCO3), which which reacts with distilled white vinegar (try placing a raw egg in a glass of vinegar overnight). The shell has over 15,000 tiny little mores that allows air and moisture to pass through, and a protective outer coating to keep out harmful things like dust and bacteria.
We're going to peek inside of an egg and discover the transparent protein membrane (made of the same protein your hair is made up of: keratin) and also peek in the air space that forms when the egg cools and contracts (gets smaller). Can you find the albumen (the egg white)? It's made up of mostly water with about 40 different proteins.
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Download Egg Dissection Lab here for older grades (5-12th) and here for younger grades (K-4).
Dissection in biology provides a hands-on education above and beyond reading a textbook. By seeing, touching and exploring different organs, muscles and tissues inside an animal and seeing how they work together allows you to really understand your own body and appreciate the amazing world around us. And it's not hard - you can dissect a clam right at home using this inexpensive clam specimen with a dissection guide and simple dissection tools! Many doctors, surgeons and veterinarians report that their first fascination with the body started with a biology dissection class.
Materials:
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Dissection in biology provides a hands-on education above and beyond reading a textbook. By seeing, touching and exploring different organs, muscles and tissues inside an animal and seeing how they work together allows you to really understand your own body and appreciate the amazing world around us. And it's not hard - you can dissect a kidney right at home using an inexpensive specimen with a dissection guide and simple dissection tools! Many doctors, surgeons and veterinarians report that their first fascination with the body started with a biology dissection class.
In today’s dissection, we’ll be looking at a kidney. Kidneys are critical for removing toxic waste and regulating the levels of water, sugars, salts, and acids in the bodies of mammals. There are many things that make a kidney interesting, including its unique bean shape and the fact that it contains about a million microscopic structures called nephrons that are key in the blood filtration process.
Materials:
Dissection in biology provides a hands-on education above and beyond reading a textbook. By seeing, touching and exploring different organs, muscles and tissues inside an animal and seeing how they work together allows you to really understand your own body and appreciate the amazing world around us. And it's not hard - you can dissect a sheep brain right at home using an inexpensive specimen with a dissection guide and simple dissection tools! Many doctors, surgeons and veterinarians report that their first fascination with the body started with a biology dissection class.
In today’s dissection, we’ll be looking at a sheep heart. Like humans, sheep have four-chambered hearts. Hearts are an essential organ--they pump blood through your body to keep you alive!
Materials:
Dissection in biology provides a hands-on education above and beyond reading a textbook. By seeing, touching and exploring different organs, muscles and tissues inside an animal and seeing how they work together allows you to really understand your own body and appreciate the amazing world around us. And it's not hard - you can dissect a heart right at home using an inexpensive specimen with a dissection guide and simple dissection tools! Many doctors, surgeons and veterinarians report that their first fascination with the body started with a biology dissection class.
In today’s dissection, we’ll be looking at a sheep brain. Brains, while still not entirely understood by biologists or psychologists, are critical for movement, respiration, thought, memory, processing sensory signals, and more. What we talk about in today’s dissection just scratches the surface of all there is to know about the brain, which is the most complex organ in the human body.
Materials:
Dissection in biology provides a hands-on education above and beyond reading a textbook. By seeing, touching and exploring different organs, muscles and tissues inside an animal and seeing how they work together allows you to really understand your own body and appreciate the amazing world around us. And it's not hard - you can dissect a fish right at home using an inexpensive specimen with a dissection guide and simple dissection tools! Many doctors, surgeons and veterinarians report that their first fascination with the body started with a biology dissection class.
In today’s dissection, we’ll be looking at a perch. Perch are members of the phylum Chordata. There are many things that make perch interesting: they are bony fishes which make them “true” fishes, they live in both freshwater and saltwater, and their diets change based on how big they are.
Materials:
Dissection in biology provides a hands-on education above and beyond reading a textbook. By seeing, touching and exploring different organs, muscles and tissues inside an animal and seeing how they work together allows you to really understand your own body and appreciate the amazing world around us. And it's not hard - you can dissect a grasshopper right at home using this inexpensive specimen with a dissection guide and simple dissection tools! Many doctors, surgeons and veterinarians report that their first fascination with the body started with a biology dissection class.
Materials:
Dissection in biology provides a hands-on education above and beyond reading a textbook. By seeing, touching and exploring different organs, muscles and tissues inside an animal and seeing how they work together allows you to really understand your own body and appreciate the amazing world around us. And it's not hard - you can dissect a worm right at home using an inexpensive specimen with a dissection guide and simple dissection tools! Many doctors, surgeons and veterinarians report that their first fascination with the body started with a biology dissection class.
In today’s dissection, we’ll be looking at an earthworm. Earthworms play an important role in their ecosystem--when they tunnel through dirt they mix nutrients which helps make the soil healthy and able to support plant life.
Materials:
Dissection in biology provides a hands-on education above and beyond reading a textbook. By seeing, touching and exploring different organs, muscles and tissues inside an animal and seeing how they work together allows you to really understand your own body and appreciate the amazing world around us. And it’s not hard – you can dissect a frog right at home using an inexpensive specimen with a dissection guide and simple dissection tools! Many doctors, surgeons and veterinarians report that their first fascination with the body started with a biology dissection class.
In today’s dissection, we’ll be looking at a frog. Frogs are members of the Class Amphibia. There are many things that make frogs interesting: they live both in water and on land, they actually begin life in water as limbless tadpoles, and some can change color depending on their environment.
Materials
Dissection in biology provides a hands-on education above and beyond reading a textbook. By seeing, touching and exploring different organs, muscles and tissues inside an animal and seeing how they work together allows you to really understand your own body and appreciate the amazing world around us. And it’s not hard – you can dissect a crayfish right at home using an inexpensive specimen with a dissection guide and simple dissection tools! Many doctors, surgeons and veterinarians report that their first fascination with the body started with a biology dissection class.
In today’s dissection, we’ll be looking at a crayfish. Crayfish are members of the phylum Arthropoda. There are many things that make crayfish interesting: they dwell at the bottom of streams, rivers, and ponds; they feed on just about anything that comes their way (that’s why they’re called freshwater scavengers); and they have many appendages that help them save energy.
Materials
Here’s a neat experiment you can do to measure the rate of photosynthesis of a plant, and it’s super-simple and you probably have most of what you need to do it right now at home!
You basically take small bits of a leaf like spinach, stick it in a cup of water that has extra carbon dioxide in it, and shine a light on it. The plant will take the carbon dioxide from the water and the light from the lamp and make oxygen bubbles that stick to it and lift it to the surface of the water, like a kid holding a bunch of helium balloons. And you time how long this all takes and you have the rate of photosynthesis for your leaf.
Here are the steps for the experiment:
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Let’s get more practice with Henry’s Law, partial pressures, mole fraction, and weight percent with these sample calculations:
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Osmosis is how cells allow water to pass through in and out of the cell through a special membrane using a bit of chemistry. Here is how they do it…
Let’s do some sample calculations for the energy of a system that include enthalpy and specific heat.
Supercooling a liquid is a really neat way of keeping the liquid a liquid below the freezing temperature. Normally, when you decrease the temperature of water below 32oF, it turns into ice. But if you do it gently and slowly enough, it will stay a liquid, albeit a really cold one!
In nature, you’ll find supercooled water drops in freezing rain and also inside cumulus clouds. Pilots that fly through these clouds need to pay careful attention, as ice can instantly form on the instrument ports causing the instruments to fail. More dangerous is when it forms on the wings, changing the shape of the wing and causing the wing to stop producing lift. Most planes have de-icing capabilities, but the pilot still needs to turn it on.
We’re going to supercool water, and then disturb it to watch the crystals grow right before our eyes! While we’re only going to supercool it a couple of degrees, scientists can actually supercool water to below -43oF!
This is a recording of a recent live teleclass I did with thousands of kids from all over the world. I’ve included it here so you can participate and learn, too! Learn about the world of rocks, crystals, gems, fossils, and minerals by moving beyond just looking at pretty stones and really being able to identify, test, and classify samples and specimens you come across using techniques that real field experts use. While most people might think of a rock as being fun to climb or toss into a pond, you will now be able to see the special meaning behind the naturally occurring material that is made out of minerals by understanding how the minerals are joined together, what their crystalline structure is like, and much more.
Materials:
NEW
OLD
First Law of Thermodynamics: Energy is conserved. Energy is the ability to do work. Work is moving something against a force over a distance. Force is a push or a pull, like pulling a wagon or pushing a car. Energy cannot be created or destroyed, but can be transformed.
Materials: ball, string
A battery is a device that produces electrical energy from a chemical reaction. Another name for a battery is voltaic cell. Voltaic means to make electricity.
Most batteries contain two or more different chemical substances. The different chemical substances are usually separated from each other by a barrier. One side of the barrier is the positive terminal of the battery and the other side of the barrier is the negative terminal. When the positive and negative terminals of a battery are connected to a circuit, a chemical reaction takes place between the two different chemical substances that produces a flow of electrons (electricity).
When a battery is producing electricity, one of the chemical substances in the battery loses electrons. These electrons are then gained by the other chemical substance.
A battery is designed so that the electrons lost by one chemical substance are made to flow through a circuit, such as a flashlight lamp, before being gained by the other chemical substance. A battery will produce a flow of electrons until all of the chemical substances involved in the chemical reaction are completely used.
Magnesium is one of the most common elements in the Earth’s crust. This alkaline earth metal is silvery white, and soft. As you perform this lab, think about why magnesium is used in emergency flares and fireworks. Farmers use it in fertilizers, pharmacists use it in laxatives and antacids, and engineers mix it with aluminum to create the BMW N52 6-cylinder magnesium engine block. Photographers used to use magnesium powder in the camera’s flash before xenon bulbs were available.
Most folks, however, equate magnesium with a burning white flame. Magnesium fires burn too hot to be extinguished using water, so most firefighters use sand or graphite.
We’re going to learn how to (safely) ignite a piece of magnesium in the first experiment, and next how to get energy from it by using it in a battery in the second experiment. Are you ready?
This experiment shows how a battery works using electrochemistry. The copper electrons are chemically reacting with the lemon juice, which is a weak acid, to form copper ions (cathode, or positive electrode) and bubbles of hydrogen.
These copper ions interact with the zinc electrode (negative electrode, or anode) to form zinc ions. The difference in electrical charge (potential) on these two plates causes a voltage.
Materials:
