~ Science Experiments For Kids ~

[MysteRy]

Enjoy fun science experiments for kids that feature awesome hands-on projects and activities that help bring the exciting world of science to life.


         




Make an Egg Float in Salt Water

An egg sinks to the bottom if you drop it into a glass of ordinary drinking water but what happens if you add salt? The results are very interesting and can teach you some fun facts about density.


What you'll need:

One egg
Water
Salt
A tall drinking glass
 

Instructions:

Pour water into the glass until it is about half full.
Stir in lots of salt (about 6 tablespoons).
Carefully pour in plain water until the glass is nearly full (be careful to not disturb or mix the salty water with the plain water).
Gently lower the egg into the water and watch what happens.
 

What's happening?

Salt water is denser than ordinary tap water, the denser the liquid the easier it is for an object to float in it. When you lower the egg into the liquid it drops through the normal tap water until it reaches the salty water, at this point the water is dense enough for the egg to float. If you were careful when you added the tap water to the salt water, they will not have mixed, enabling the egg to amazingly float in the middle of the glass.

[MysteRy]

Melting Chocolate

Enjoy this simple melting chocolate experiment for kids. You've no doubt experienced chocolate melting on a hot day, so let's do some experiments to recreate these conditions as well as a few others before comparing results and coming to some conclusions.

At what temperature does chocolate go from a solid to a liquid? Is it different for white and dark chocolate? Give this fun science experiment a try and find out!


What you'll need:

Small chocolate pieces of the same size (chocolate bar squares or chocolate chips are a good idea)
Paper plates
Pen and paper to record your results
 

Instructions:

Put one piece of chocolate on a paper plate and put it outside in the shade.
Record how long it took for the chocolate to melt or if it wasn't hot enough to melt then record how soft it was after 10 minutes.
Repeat the process with a piece of chocolate on a plate that you put outside in the sun. Record your results in the same way.
Find more interesting locations to test how long it takes for the chocolate pieces to melt. You could try your school bag, hot water or even your own mouth.
Compare your results, in what conditions did the chocolate melt? You might also like to record the temperatures of the locations you used using a thermometer so you can think about what temperature chocolate melts at.
 

What's happening?

At a certain temperature your chocolate pieces undergo a physical change, from a solid to a liquid (or somewhere in between). On a hot day, sunlight is usually enough to melt chocolate, something you might have unfortunately already experienced. You can also reverse the process by putting the melted chocolate into a fridge or freezer where it will go from a liquid back to a solid. The chocolate probably melted quite fast if you tried putting a piece in your mouth, what does this tell you about the temperature of your body? For further testing and experiments you could compare white choclate and dark chocolate, do they melt at the same temperature? How about putting a sheet of aluminium foil between a paper plate and a piece of chocolate in the sun, what happens then?

[MysteRy]

Mixing Oil and Water

Some things just don't get along well with each other. Take oil and water as an example, you can mix them together and shake as hard as you like but they'll never become friends.....or will they? Take this fun experiment a step further and find out how bringing oil and water together can help you do your dishes.

What you'll need:

Small soft drink bottle
Water
Food colouring
2 tablespoons of cooking oil
Dish washing liquid or detergent
 

Instructions:

Add a few drops of food colouring to the water.
Pour about 2 tablespoons of the coloured water along with the 2 tablespoons of cooking oil into the small soft drink bottle.
Screw the lid on tight and shake the bottle as hard as you can.
Put the bottle back down and have a look, it may have seemed as though the liquids were mixing together but the oil will float back to the top.
 

What's happening?

While water often mixes with other liquids to form solutions, oil and water does not. Water molecules are strongly attracted to each other, this is the same for oil, because they are more attracted to their own molecules they just don't mix together. They separate and the oil floats above the water because it has a lower density.

If you really think oil and water belong together then try adding some dish washing liquid or detergent. Detergent is attracted to both water and oil helping them all join together and form something called an emulsion. This is extra handy when washing those greasy dishes, the detergent takes the oil and grime off the plates and into the water, yay!

[MysteRy]

Make Your Own Quick Sand

Quick sand is a fascinating substance, make some of your own and experiment on a safe scale. Amaze your friends by demonstrating how it works.


What you'll need:

1 cup of maize cornflour
Half a cup of water
A large plastic container
A spoon
 

Instructions:

This one is simple, just mix the cornflour and water thoroughly in the container to make your own instant quick sand.
When showing other people how it works, stir slowly and drip the quick sand to show it is a liquid.
Stirring it quickly will make it hard and allow you to punch or poke it quickly (this works better if you do it fast rather than hard).
Remember that quick sand is messy, try to play with it outside and don’t forget to stir just before you use it.
Always stir instant quicksand just before you use it!
 

What's happening?

If you add just the right amount of water to cornflour it becomes very thick when you stir it quickly. This happens because the cornflour grains are mixed up and can’t slide over each other due to the lack of water between them. Stirring slowly allows more water between the cornflour grains, letting them slide over each other much easier.

Poking it quickly has the same effect, making the substance very hard.  If you poke it slowly it doesn’t mix up the mixture in the same way, leaving it runny.  It works in much the same way as real quick sand.

[MysteRy]

Baking Soda & Vinegar Volcano

Use baking soda and vinegar to create an awesome chemical reaction! Watch as it rapidly fizzes over the container and make sure you've got some towels ready to clean up.


What you'll need:

Baking Soda (make sure it's not baking powder)
Vinegar
A container to hold everything and avoid a big mess!
Paper towels or a cloth (just in case)
 

Instructions:

Place some of the baking soda into your container.
Pour in some of the vinegar
Watch as the reaction takes place!
 

What's happening?

The baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) is a base while the vinegar (acetic acid) is an acid. When they react together they form carbonic acid which is very unstable, it instantly breaks apart into water and carbon dioxide, which creates all the fizzing as it escapes the solution.

For extra effect you can make a realistic looking volcano. It takes some craft skills but it will make your vinegar and baking soda eruptions will look even more impressive!

[MysteRy]

Raw or Boiled Egg?

Surprise your friends and family with an easy science experiment that answers an otherwise tricky question. Two eggs look and feel the same but there is a big difference, one is raw and the other hard boiled, find out which is which with this fun experiment.


What you'll need:

Two eggs, one hard boiled and one raw. Make sure the hard boiled egg has been in the fridge long enough to be the same temperature as the raw egg.
 

Instructions:

Spin the eggs and watch what happens, one egg should spin while the other wobbles.
You can also lightly touch each of the eggs while they are spinning, one should stop quickly while the other keeps moving after you have touched it.
 

What's happening?

The raw egg's centre of gravity changes as the white and yolk move around inside the shell, causing the wobbling motion. Even after you touch the shell it continues moving. This is because of inertia, the same type of force you feel when you change direction or stop suddenly in a car, your body wants to move one way while the car wants to do something different. Inertia causes the raw egg to spin even after you have stopped it, this contrasts with the solid white and yolk of the hard boiled egg, it responds much quicker if you touch it.

This is a good experiment to test a friend or someone in your family with, see if they can figure out how to tell the difference between the eggs (without smashing them of course) before showing them your nifty trick.

[MysteRy]

Make Glowing Water

Make glowing water with the help of a black light in this fun science experiment for kids.

Tonic water doesn't look very strange under normal light but what happens when you look at it under a black light? Does the dye from a highlighter pen do the same thing? Find out what happens and why it happens with this cool experiment that you can do at home.


What you'll need:

A black light (you can find them at places like Walmart and hardware stores, as well as online stores like Amazon).
Tonic water or a highlighter pen.
A dark room to do the experiment.
 

Instructions:

If you are using a highlighter pen carefully break it open, remove the felt and soak it in a small amount of water for a few minutes.
Find a dark room.
Turn on the black light near your water, how does it look?
 

What's happening?

Simple explanation:

The ultra violet (UV) light coming from your black light lamp excites things called phosphors. Tonic water and the dye from highlighter pens contain phosphors that turn UV light (light we can’t see) into visible light (light we can see). That’s why your water glows in the dark when you shine a black light on it.

Black lights are used in forensic science, artistic performances, photography, authentication of banknotes and antiques, and in many other areas.

Detailed explanation:

Black light (also known as UV or ultra violet light) is a part of the electromagnetic spectrum. The electromagnetic spectrum also includes infrared, X-rays, visible light (what the human eye can see) and other types of electromagnetic radiation. A black light lamp such as the one you used emits a UV light that can illuminate objects and materials that contain phosphors. Phosphors are special substances that emit light (luminescence) when excited by radiation. Your water glowed under the black light because it contained phosphors. If you used a highlighter pen then the UV light reacted with phosphors in the dye. If you used tonic water then the UV light reacted with phosphors in a chemical used in tonic water called quinine.

There are different types of luminescence, they include fluorescence (used in this experiment, it glows only when the black light is on), phosphorescence (similar to fluorescence but with a glow that can last even after the black light is turned off), chemiluminescence (used to create glow sticks), bioluminescence (from living organisms) and many others.

[MysteRy]

Relax with Beautiful Bath Salts

Whether you're making a special present for someone else, experimenting at home or just want to relax in a hot bath, give this experiment a go. Create your own bath salts with a variety of refreshing fragrances, experiment with different essential oils to see which you like best.


What you'll need:

1 cup of washing soda
A plastic bag
A rolling pin (or something similar that can crush lumps)
A bowl
A spoon for stirring
Essential oil
Food coloring
 

Instructions:

Take the cup of washing soda and put it into a plastic bag. Crush the lumps with a rolling pin or similar object.
Empty the bag into a bowl and stir in 5 or 6 drops of your favorite essential oil such as rosemary, lavender or mint.
Stir in a few drops of food coloring until the mixture is evenly colored.
Put the mixture into clean dry containers and enjoy as you please.
 

What's happening?

Bath Salts are typically made from Epsom salts (magnesium sulfate), table salt (sodium chloride) or washing soda (sodium carbonate). The chemical make up of the mixture makes it easy to form a lather. Bath salts are said to improve cleaning and deliver an appealing fragrance when bathing.

[MysteRy]

Grow Your Own Bacteria

Bacteria are a fascinating type of microorganism that play a large role in our lives whether we like it or not. Try growing your own sample of bacteria while monitoring how it reproduces in a short space of time. Compare your original sample with others and get proof that bacteria truly are everywhere!


What you'll need:

Petrie dish of agar
Cotton buds
Some old newspaper (to wrap petrie dish when disposing)
 

Instructions:

Prepare your petrie dish of agar.
Using your cotton bud, swab a certain area of your house (i.e. collect a sample by rubbing the cotton bud on a surface of your choice).
Rub the swab over the agar with a few gentle strokes before putting the lid back on and sealing the petrie dish.
Allow the dish to sit in a warm area for 2 or 3 days.
Check the growth of the bacteria each day by making an observational drawing and describing the changes.
Try repeating the process with a new petrie dish and swab from under your finger nails or between your toes.
Dispose of the bacteria by wrapping up the petrie dish in old newspaper and placing in the rubbish (don't open the lid).
 

What's happening?

The agar plate and warm conditions provide the ideal place for bacteria to grow. The microorganisms on the plate will grow into individual colonies, each a clone of the original. The bacteria you obtained with the cotton bud grows steadily, becoming visible with the naked eye in a relatively short time. Different samples produce different results, what happened when you took a swab sample from your own body?

You will find bacteria throughout the Earth, it grows in soil, radioactive waste, water, on plants and even animals too (humans included). Thankfully for us, our immune system usually does a great job of making bacteria harmless.

[MysteRy]

Use a Straw to Stab a Potato

Is it possible to stab a potato with a drinking straw? Find out with this fun science experiment for kids that shows how air pressure can be used in surprising ways.
 

What you'll need:

Stiff plastic drinking straws
A raw potato
 

Instructions:

Hold a plastic drinking straw by it sides (without covering the hole at the top) and try quickly stabbing the potato, what happens?
Repeat the experiment with a new straw but this time place your thumb over the top, covering the hole.
 

What's happening?

Placing your thumb over the hole at the top of the straw improves your ability to pierce the potato skin and push the straw deep into the potato. The first time you tried the experiment you may have only pierced the potato a small amount, so why are you more successful on the second attempt?

Covering the top of the straw with your thumb traps the air inside, forcing it to compress as you stab the straw through the potato skin. This makes the straw strong enough to pierce the potato, unlike the first attempt where the air is pushed out of the straw.

 

[MysteRy]

Dissolving Sugar at Different Heats

Learn about solutions as you add more and more sugar cubes to different temperature water. This easy experiment shows that you can only dissolve a certain amount and that this changes as the water gets hotter.


What you'll need:

Sugar cubes
Cold water in a clear glass
Hot water in a clear glass (be careful with the hot water)
Spoon for stirring
 

Instructions:

Make sure the glasses have an equal amount of water.
Put a sugar cube into the cold water and stir with the spoon until the sugar disappears. Repeat this process (remembering to count the amount of sugar cubes you put into the water) until the sugar stops dissolving, you are at this point when sugar starts to gather on the bottom of the glass rather than dissolving.
Write down how many sugar cubes you could dissolve in the cold water.
Repeat the same process for the hot water, compare the number of sugar cubes dissolved in each liquid, which dissolved more?
 

What's happening?

The cold water isn't able to dissolve as much sugar as the hot water, but why? Another name for the liquids inside the cups is a 'solution', when this solution can no longer dissolve sugar it becomes a 'saturated solution', this means that sugar starts forming on the bottom of the cup.

The reason the hot water dissolves more is because it has faster moving molecules which are spread further apart than the molecules in the cold water. With bigger gaps between the molecules in the hot water, more sugar molecules can fit in between.

[MysteRy]

Making Music with Water


Have you ever tried making music with glasses or bottles filled with water? I bet you favourite band hasn't. Experiment with your own special sounds by turning glasses of water into instruments, make some cool music and find out how it works.


What you'll need:

5 or more drinking glasses or glass bottles
Water
Wooden stick such as a pencil
 

Instructions:

Line the glasses up next to each other and fill them with different amounts of water. The first should have just a little water while the last should almost full, the ones in between should have slightly more than the last.
Hit the glass with the least amount of water and observe the sound, then hit the glass with the most water, which makes the higher sound?
Hit the other glasses and see what noise they make, see if you can get a tune going by hitting the glasses in a certain order.
 

What's happening?

Each of the glasses will have a different tone when hit with the pencil, the glass with the most water will have the lowest tone while the glass with the least water will have the highest. Small vibrations are made when you hit the glass, this creates sound waves which travel through the water. More water means slower vibrations and a deeper tone.

[MysteRy]

Use a Balloon to Amplify Sound

Small sounds can still make a big noise when you use a good sound conductor. Experiment with a balloon, compressed air and your own ears to find out how it works and the science behind it.


What you'll need:

Balloon
 

Instructions:

Blow up the balloon.
Hold the balloon close to your ear while you tap lightly on the other side.
 

What's happening?

Despite you only tapping lightly on the balloon your ears can hear the noise loudly. When you blew up the balloon you forced the air molecules inside the balloon closer to each other. Because the air molecules inside the balloon are closer together, they become a better conductor of sound waves than the ordinary air around you.

[MysteRy]

Make a Ping Pong Ball Float

Can you control a ping pong ball as it floats above a hair dryer? Put your hand-eye coordination skills to the test while learning the important role that forces such as gravity and air pressure play in this simple experiment for kids.

What you'll need:

At least 1 ping pong ball (2 or 3 would be great)
A hair dryer
 

Instructions:

Plug in the hair dryer and turn it on.
Put it on the highest setting and point it straight up.
Place your ping pong ball above the hair dryer and watch what happens.
 

What's happening?

Your ping pong ball floats gently above the hair dryer without shifting sideways or flying across the other side of the room. The airflow from the hair dryer pushes the ping pong ball upwards until its upward force equals the force of gravity pushing down on it. When it reaches this point it gently bounces around, floating where the upward and downward forces are equal.

The reason the ping pong ball stays nicely inside the column of air produced by the hair dryer without shifting sideways is due to air pressure. The fast moving air from the hair dryer creates a column of lower air pressure, the surrounding higher air pressure forces the ping pong ball to stay inside this column, making it easy to move the hair dryer around without losing control of the ping pong ball.

See if you can float 2 or even 3 ping pong balls as an extra challenge.

[MysteRy]

Crazy Putty

Using some everyday household items such as borax, water, PVA glue and food coloring, make some crazy putty that you can squish in your hands, mould into shapes or even bounce on the ground.


What you'll need:

2 containers (1 smaller than the other, preferably a film canister)
Water
Food colouring
PVA glue (a type of white glue also known as Elmer's glue)
Borax solution (ratio of about 1 Tbsp of borax to a cup of water)
 

Instructions:

Fill the bottom of the larger container with PVA glue.
Add a few squirts of water and stir.
Add 2 or 3 drops of food colouring and stir.
Add a squirt of borax (possibly a bit more depending on how much PVA glue you used).
Stir the mixture up and put it into the smaller container. By now the mixture should be joining together, acting like putty, crazy putty!
 

What's happening?

The PVA glue you use is a type of polymer called polyvinyl acetate (PVA for short), while the borax is made of a chemical called sodium borate. When you combine the two in a water solution, the borax reacts with the glue molecules, joining them together into one giant molecule. This new compound is able to absorb large amounts of water, producing a putty like substance which you can squish in your hands or even bounce.