by: Carl Ahlers
Next time you step onto the beach, bend down, grab a handful of sand and admire the fact: By mass 47% of what you hold in your hand is the element silicon. The rest is simply oxygen. Remarkable!
Silicon is the second most abundant element in the earth’s crust (27.7%) – only oxygen beats it – and can easily be extracted from white sand (SiO2) in a spectacular reaction in the school science laboratory. Read the rest of this entry »
6 Comments | 
Chemistry, College level, experiments, High School level | Tagged: silicon, thermite reactions | 
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Posted by Tami O'Connor
by: Mike Rigsby
The normal way to operate a drinking bird is to have him dip his head in water. The water on his felt head evaporates, leaving the head cooler than the bird’s body. The liquid flowing into the upper bulb (head) changes the center of gravity, causing the bird to tip forward. Liquid flows back to the bottom bulb and the bird returns to his upright position. As long as an adequate temperature difference (head cooler than body) remains, the cycle will repeat.
Instead of cooling the head, why not warm the body? If you place an electrical resistor below the bird’s body and pass current through the resistor, the resistor will get warm. The warmth will cause the bird to bob. Read the rest of this entry »
Leave a Comment » | College level, energy, experiments, High School level, Physics | Tagged: electrical circuits, flock clock | Permalink
Posted by Tami O'Connor
by: Dr. Helen Pashley
Objectives:
1. Students will brainstorm factors that might affect an animal living on the seashore at high and low tides.
2. Students will identify strategies that shore animals use to survive conditions at low tide.
3. Students will design an experiment to test whether the strategy adopted by their simulated shore animal would be effective in helping it survive low tide.
Focus Question:
Background:
The seashore is an inhospitable place for marine animals to live. Seawater has much less temperature variation throughout the year than air. In other words, during the summer in New York it can be 98˚F but the sea isn’t much warmer than 75˚F. In the depths of winter it can be –10˚F on land, but the water will be 48˚F. Animals that spend all their lives out at sea have a fairly steady environment. Those that are exposed to air at low tide, may face broiling hot temperatures in summer and freezing cold temperatures in winter. They may be soaked in fresh water when it pours with rain, and pounded by rough waves during a storm. Animals that can survive on the shore have to be tough! Read the rest of this entry »
1 Comment | Biology, Elementary level, experiments, Middle School level | Tagged: adaptations, biomimicry, desicate, marine animals, phenomenon based learning, tidal zones | Permalink
Posted by Tami O'Connor
by: Gordon Gore
You Need
2 small, flat plastic mirrors, with suitable vertical supports, 1 piece of plain white paper, letter size
What to Do
1. Hold the mirror vertically. Look into the mirror. Touch your right ear. Watch what the good-looking person in the mirror does. Which ear does he or she seem to touch?
2. Write your first name on a piece of paper. Look at your writing in the mirror. What is ‘unusual’ about what you see? Write your name so that it looks ‘right’ in the mirror.
3. Notice how AMBULANCE is written. Why is it always written this way on the front of the emergency vehicle? Read the rest of this entry »
Leave a Comment » | Elementary level, experiments, Middle School level | Tagged: experiments, mirrors, parent friendly, phenomenon based learning, reflection | Permalink
Posted by Tami O'Connor
by Ron Perkins
At first glance No-Pop Bubbles may seem like any other bubbles. While the bubble solution is a bit more viscous, one blows No-Pop Bubbles like any other bubble. The small bubble wand suspends a bubble film which, when air is blown through it, releases small bubbles into the air.
These bubbles, however, are no ordinary bubbles. No-Pop Bubble solution begins as a regular soap and water bubble solution. Added to this solution is a small amount of a non-toxic water soluble polymer. When No-Pop Bubbles are first blown, the bubbles behave like ordinary bubbles. As the water evaporates from the bubble’s surface, however, an extremely thin plastic ‘bubble skeleton’ remains. It is this plastic bubble skeleton which has the properties for which No-Pop Bubbles are named. Read the rest of this entry »
6 Comments | Chemistry, density, Elementary level, experiments, High School level, Middle School level, static electricity | Tagged: bubbles, phenomenon based learning, science, variables | Permalink
Posted by Tami O'Connor
