Materials and Change

Pupils in Third and Fourth Class investigated how a range of materials can be changed  by mixing to discover surprising results!

Dancing Raisins

Using raisins and soda drink pupils discovered that raisins  are more dense than the soda. The soda releases carbon dioxide bubbles and these bubbles love to attach to the rough surface of the raisins that lift the raisin to the surface of the water.

Once the carbon dioxide bubbles reach the surface of the soda they pop and the gas is released into the air. This makes the raisin  fall back down to the bottom of the glass.

Dancing Worms

Using gummy worms,baking soda and vinegar, gas bubbles form on the gummy worm and as the gas bubbles rise to the surface, they pull the gummy worm up with them, making them wriggle and dance.

As the gas bubbles burst, the worm falls back down until enough bubbles form to pull it back up.

The bubbles will continue to form until all the baking soda on the worm is used up and the worm will stop wiggling.

Density Tower

Other pupils made a density tower using honey,washing up liquid,food coloured water,cooking oil and baby oil.Pupils discovered that the honey has the highest density so it sits at the bottom of the glass whereas the baby oil has the  lowest density so stacks at the top.

Make It Rain

Pupils learned about how rain forms.Using a jar,plate,warm water and ice cubes they experimented to see what happens when ice cubes are placed on top of the plate which sits over a jar of warm water.The cold plate causes the moisture in the warm air, which is inside the jar to condense and form water droplets. This is the same thing that happens in the atmosphere. Warm, moist air rises and meets colder air high in the atmosphere. The water vapor condenses and forms precipitation that falls to the ground.

Rainbow in a Glass

Pupils also explored density using skittles .They dissolved 2 red,4 orange,6 yellow,8 green and 10 purple in individual containers using the same amount of water. The cup with only two red Skittles doesn’t have as much sugar as the cup with ten purple Skittles, but they both have the same amount of water. The amount of matter packed into a certain amount of space is called the density of the material. The red water is less dense than the purple water, so it will float on top of the purple water.

Using a lit candle in a bowl of shallow water and an empty glass jar pupils explored Charles’ Law.

When the jar was placed over the lit candle, the candle warms the air. When the candle burns out (because all the oxygen is used up), the temperature cools quickly. This temperature decrease means the volume also decreases, which lets the water rise to fill up that space. This is called Charles’s Law.

Lava Lamps

Pupils in 5th and 6th class explored different materials as they made their lava lamps in class.

They produced some very interesting effects.