MAGIC OF SCIENCE

LIST OF EXPERIMENTS

1. A Can That Can “Walk”

Place an empty aluminum can on its side on the floor. Blow up a balloon and tie a
knot in the end. Rub a tissue back and forth on the balloon.
When you put the balloon near the can, the can will start rolling toward the balloon.

How Does It Work?

When you rub the balloon with a tissue, the balloon gets a negative electric charge of
several thousand volts. When you put the balloon near the can, electrostatic
induction affects the molecules in the metal. The outside of the can gets a positive
charge, so it is drawn toward the balloon and starts rolling in that direction.

2. Water Balloon Fountain

Plastic bottle (1.25 L works well)

Scissors
Straw
Adhesive putty
Food colouring
Balloon

What to do
1. Do this activity somewhere you can make a watery mess, such as a sink or
outside.
2. Make a small hole about 10 cm up the side of the plastic bottle. The hole should
be about the size of the straw's diameter. This is a little tricky, so ask an adult to
help. We carefully used the point of a pair of scissors, gently rotating it on the plastic
until a hole broke through.
3. Place the straw into this hole so it is half inside the bottle and half out. Angle it so
the outside end points upwards.
4. Press adhesive putty around the straw on the outside of the bottle to minimise
leakage from the hole. Try and make a good seal.
5. Fill the bottle halfway with water and add a drop of food colouring.
6. Does the water come out the straw?
7. Blow up the balloon. Keep the air inside the balloon while you stretch the balloon
ends over the top of the bottle.
8. Hold the balloon in place, then release the air into the bottle. Watch what
happens as the balloon deflates.

What's happening?
All around us, everything on Earth is being squeezed by the atmosphere above. Air
pressure pushes equally in all directions, and is pushing on you now as you read
this.

A similar thing is happening inside your fountain. The water in the bottle is squeezed
by the height of water on top of it. The same happens with the water in the straw.

The air inside a balloon is under pressure as it is squeezed by the rubber. When you
place the inflated balloon on top of the bottle, the air pressure on top of the bottle
becomes higher. That pushes down on the water in the bottle, pushing it through the
straw and making the fountain stronger.

3. Self Inflating Balloon

Start by measuring out half a cup of vinegar.

It is very helpful to have a funnel for the next part: pouring the vinegar into a bottle. A
funnel means less will get spilled.
We dried off our funnel, and used it to put half a tablespoon of baking soda into our
balloon.
Remove the funnel from your balloon, and carefully fit it over the opening of your
bottle without spilling any of the baking soda in the bottle. It will cause a reaction
before you are ready.
Once you are ready and watching you can flip the balloon up to empty the baking
soda into the bottle. The reaction does happen quite fast.
Now you just wait for the reaction. My favorite part of this is that this science
experiment uses things you most likely have around your house already.

Materials
1/2 cup of vinegar
1/2 tsp of baking soda
balloons
water/pop bottle
Tools
funnel

Instructions
Pour 1/2 cup of vinegar into an old water or pop bottle.
put 1/2 tbsp of baking soda into a balloon.
Carefully, put the opening of the balloon over the water bottle.
Empty the baking soda into the bottle, and into the vinegar and watch the reaction.

What’s Happening
The secret lies with vinegar and baking soda, two household staples that, when
combined, create carbonic acid. Carbonic acid breaks down into water and carbon
dioxide.

This experiment uses the carbon dioxide to fill the balloon, giving the illusion that the
balloon is self inflating.
4. Dancing Milk Colors Experiment

Supplies:
Plate
Milk
Food Coloring
Dish Soap
Q-tip

Now Follow These Steps:

Step 1: Fill the plate with enough milk to completely cover the bottom.
Step 2: Add 4 drops of food coloring in a diamond pattern, about an inch away from
the center of the plate.
Step 3: Use a q-tip to add dish soap to the very center of the plate.
Step 4: Slowly rotate the q-tip to make the colors dance!
Remember to help clean up! No crying over spilled milk.

Here’s The Science:

Milk is mostly water, but it also contains vitamins, minerals, proteins, and tiny
droplets of fat suspended in solution. Fats and proteins are sensitive to changes in
the surface tension of the surrounding solution- the milk!
The secret of the bursting colors is in the chemistry of that tiny drop of soap. Like
other oils, milk fat is a non-polar molecule. That means it doesn’t like to dissolve in
water (a polar molecule). When soap is mixed in, however, the non-polar tail of soap
micelles (molecular soap structures in solution) break up and collect the non-polar fat
molecules. Then the polar surface of the micelle connects to a polar water molecule
with the fat held inside the soap micelle.
Thanks to the soap’s amphipathic connection (having both polar and non-polar
sides), the non-polar fat can then be carried away by the polar water.
The uncharged tail of the soap bonds to oils, while the charged head bonds to water
molecules.
The uncharged tail of the soap bonds to oils, while the charged head bonds to water
molecules.
The molecules of fat bend, roll, twist, and contort in all directions as the soap
molecules race around to join up with the fat molecules. During all of this fat
molecule gymnastics, the food coloring molecules are bumped and shoved
everywhere, providing an easy way to observe all the invisible activity. As the soap
becomes evenly mixed with the milk, the action slows down and eventually stops.

5. Magic Lens

HOW DOES THIS WORK?

Refraction ( bending of light ) happens when light travels between two mediums. In
the refraction experiment above light travels from the arrow through the air, through
the glass, the water, the glass again and air again before reaching your eyes.
The light reaching your eye (or in this case our camera) coming from the arrow is
refracted through the glass of water. In fact the glass of water acts like a convex lens
(like you might have in a magnifying glass). Convex lenses bend light to a focal
point. This is the point at which the light from an object crosses.
The light that was at the tip of the arrow is now on the right side and the light on the
right side is now on the left as far as your eye is concerned (assuming you are
further away from the glass than the focal point.
If you move the arrow image closer to the glass than the focal point it will be the way
around you expect it to be!

6. Dripping Ice

Science Behind
In this experiment, the baby oil is less dense than the vegetable oil, so it floats on
top. Water is more dense than the vegetable oil, so it sinks to the bottom. In ice
form, the cube is more dense than the baby oil, so it sinks through that layer, but less
dense than the vegetable oil, so it floats between the two. But, when the cube melts
into a liquid, the water drops are more dense than the vegetable oil , so the drops
sink all the way to the bottom.
7. Glass Lifting Balloon

Materials Required
Balloon – 1
Glass – 1
Matchbox – 1
Paper – 1
Water

Steps To Follow
Inflate the balloon and tie the end.
Keep the inflated balloon pressed on top of the glass kept on a table, and try to lift
the balloon.
Does the glass lift up along with the balloon? No! Now, let’s try this in a different way.
Dip the end of the balloon in some water.
Light a piece of the paper and put it inside the glass.
It is advisable to have adult supervision when you perform this step, to avoid any
mishaps.
Cover the mouth of the glass with the balloon, immediately.
What do you observe? Some fumes escape around the sides of the glass and the
balloon gets sucked inside the glass a little.
Try lifting the balloon now, a little carefully. Do you notice that the glass seems glued
to the balloon? The balloon has indeed lifted the glass.
When the piece of lighted paper is put inside the glass, it heats up the surrounding
air. The air becomes lighter and it tends to move up.

Science Behind
When the mouth of glass gets covered by the balloon, this hot air tries to escape
through the gaps around the balloon. This creates a slightly lower pressure inside
the glass, and the balloon gets sucked inside. The gaps around the edge of the glass
are sealed tight. So, your balloon can easily lift the glass which is much heavier than
itself.