[that mad man]

Freezing wine.

What you need:

1 x empty 300ml plastic drinks bottle.
1 x 100ml red wine.
A home freezer.


What to do:

Pour wine into empty bottle, seal with cap and then place upright in a freezer for 24hours.

After 24 hours take bottle from freezer using a towel and lay it on its side.

Questions:

What has happened?

Why does some of the wine still remain liquid?

Has this any practical use?

TMM

[paul.fr]

what you need


a two liter soft drink bottle or similar plastic bottle with a tight fitting
the bottle lid
refrigerator
hot water
a bowl of water
sink


what you do


remove the lid from the bottle. Place the bottle into the sink and run hot water over the outside of the bottle. After a few seconds quickly put the lid on the bottle. Be sure the lid is nice and tight.

Then place the bottle into the freezer compartment of your refrigerator.After couple of minutes, open the freezer and look at the bottle. What
happened to it?

Turn the bottle upside down in the bowl of water, so that the lid is under the surface. Remove the lid and the water rushes into the bottle.

You may have to squeeze the bottle a bit to get it back into its original shape. Leave the lid off and put it back into the freezer. Let it stay there for about 10 minutes. Then open the freezer and quickly put the lid on. Bring the bottle out of the freezer and squeeze it a bit to get an idea of the pressure inside.

Run some hot water over the bottle and squeeze it again. It feels more firm. Again put the lid under water in the bowl and carefully loosen it.

what happens this time?

[paul.fr]

what you need


a candle
aluminum foil
a plate
a tall, glass container. I used a glass vase, but you could also use a glass
jar or the chimney from an oil lamp.


what you do


Cut the candle so that it is at least 4 or 5 inches shorter than the glass container. Tear off a piece of foil and crumple it around the base of the candle to form a holder. This will need to be stable enough so that the candle will not fall over when it is moved. Place the candle in the holder on the plate and move the plate from side to side to be sure that the candle is stable enough and won't fall.

light the candle. Let it burn for a few seconds, so that the flame can stabilize. Then move the plate quickly to one side. Watch the flame as you move the plate. If you slide the plate to the right, the flame leans to the left. If you slide the plate to the left, the flame will lean to the right.

Turn the glass container upside down and place it over the candle to form a cover. Be sure that the flame does not reach near the container. You don't want it to get hot and crack. If the flame is too close, blow out the candle and trim it to make it shorter.

Once the flame is the right height, place the container over the candle. Again, slide the plate quickly to one side. Watch the flame carefully.

what happens to the flame this time? and why?

[DrDick]

What you need

Rubbing alcohol (usually 70% isopropyl alcohol)
water
paper towel
tongs
ignition source (lighter, aim-n-flame, match, etc.)
pan with lid

What you do

Make a mixture containing about 50/50 alcohol and water.  Since most rubbing alcohol already contains about 30% water, you can use a 2:1 ratio of rubbing alcohol to water.

Soak a paper towel in the alcohol/water mixture.  Pick up the paper towel with the tongs, making sure you don't get your fingers wet.  Light the paper towel with the lighter.  (If it doesn't light, add some more alcohol.)  Be amazed at what happens next.   []

After a time, douse the paper towel by putting it in the pan and putting the lid on.

Dick

[moderator] Be very careful because alcohol burns with an invisible flame [/moderator]

[paul.fr]

Excellent, Dr Dick.

what you need


a marble
a drinking glass with straight sides


what you do
Place the marble on a smooth surface. Turn the glass upside down and place it on the table, with the marble inside. Now, the idea is to pick the marble up off the table without touching anything except the glass.


Hold the glass and start sliding it across the table in a tight circle. That should cause the marble to spin around the wall of the glass. If you move the glass faster and faster, the marble will spin faster and faster. Once it is spinning very quickly, slowly lift the glass, being sure to keep it spinning. As long as you hold it very level, the marble should stay in the glass as you lift it.


Why?

[paul.fr]

what you need

an orange (You can also use a lemon or other citrus fruit.)
a candle
candle holder


what you do

The first thing to do is peel the orange. You do not have to peel the whole orange, just a few strips.
Place the candle into a holder and light it. Pick up a piece of the orange
peel. Holding it near the flame, bend the peel and squeeze it. Be sure that
the outside of the peel is facing towards the flame.

what happens? why?

[Seany]

Great Paul! Loving those experiments, although I haven't done it. I can just imagine the outcome. Awesome. I've tried the marble one when I was young.. Got me astounded! LOL []

[paul.fr]

Great Paul! Loving those experiments, although I haven't done it. I can just imagine the outcome. Awesome. I've tried the marble one when I was young.. Got me astounded! LOL []

Thanks, Seany. It would be nice if more people could contribute, hopfully lots of the experiments here you will not find elsewhere on the net. Or not in one place atleast.

what you need

a banana
milk bottle, or A narrow necked glass bottle
3 matches/small pieces of paper


what you do


Peel just enough of the banana to expose the tip. light the matches or pieces of paper and drop it into the bottle. Quickly place the top of the banana into the bottle’s mouth (with the peel on the outside).

what happens?

[Karen W.]

Excellent, Dr Dick.

what you need


a marble
a drinking glass with straight sides


what you do
Place the marble on a smooth surface. Turn the glass upside down and place it on the table, with the marble inside. Now, the idea is to pick the marble up off the table without touching anything except the glass.


Hold the glass and start sliding it across the table in a tight circle. That should cause the marble to spin around the wall of the glass. If you move the glass faster and faster, the marble will spin faster and faster. Once it is spinning very quickly, slowly lift the glass, being sure to keep it spinning. As long as you hold it very level, the marble should stay in the glass as you lift it.


Why?

Is it gravity like when you ride the graviton and you are spinning so fast that it holds you up against the wall without letting you fall or away from the walls.Is is the same principle.. That is cool and fun.. my kids are going to like this one.. Well Is it a gravitation effect or what?? LOL

[Seany]

Yes.. I forgot what that motion was called.. Well.. You get a bucket of water, filled with water. Hold onto the handle, and spin is round as fast as you can. The water doesn't drop. GREAT! I was so amazed at that when I was younger. []

[paul.fr]

what you need


lemonade
Drinking glass
Salt
powdered Jelly mix


what you do


Pour the lemonade into the glass. Add some salt and then some powdered Jelly mix into the glass.

what happens?

[paul.fr]

what you need

Clear drinking glass or plastic cup
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup rubbing alcohol
Cooking oil
Eyedropper


what you do


Pour the water into the glass. Tilt the glass slightly and slowly pour in the rubbing alcohol. Don't shake the glass, or the two liquids will mix.

Fill the eyedropper with the cooking oil and lower the tip into the layer of rubbing alcohol, but not into the water. Squeeze out a couple of drops of the oil.

what happens?

[daveshorts]

Thanks, Seany. It would be nice if more people could contribute, hopfully lots of the experiments here you will not find elsewhere on the net. Or not in one place atleast.

I'm afraid mine are going into:
http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/content/kitchenscience/
I've written up a fair few of the older ones since the website changed over.

[paul.fr]

I'm afraid mine are going into:
http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/content/kitchenscience/
I've written up a fair few of the older ones since the website changed over.

Not a problem, Dave.

ok, seeing as i have not posted for a while, here is a really simple one

What you need

a bucket
sand
water


What you do

fill the bucket with the sand, the bucket is now full right!
pour the water on to the sand.

what happens and why?

[paul.fr]

what you need


a birthday cake (or similar candle holder)
several birthday candles
matches or a lighter
a friend whos birthday it is!


what you do

Place the candles on the cake, grouping them very close together. light the candles. As your friend prepares to blow out the candles, have a lit match or lighter ready.

As soon as the candles are blown out, you will see a column of white smoke rising from the candle. Quickly bring the flame of the match or lighter into this smoke.

what happens?


you dont actually need a birthday cake, or friend whos birthdat it is. But it makes it much better if you have  []



please use caution, when using candles, lighters and matches.

[paul.fr]

if you don't try this, then you are really missing out!

What you need


a hand held mirror
2 blank walls or two large sheets of white poster board/ large white paper
A friend
2 chairs


what you do


You need a place where you can stand facing one section of blank, white wall and have another section of blank, white wall to your right. Place one chair with its back against the wall in front of you. Have your friend sit in that chair. Place the other chair in front of your friend, being sure that youhave a section of blank wall on your right. Have a seat in the chair.

Once you and your friend are facing each other, hold the mirror in your left hand. Bring it up to your face against the right side of your nose. Turn the mirror at an angle so that when you look straight ahead, your right eye sees only the white wall beside you. Your left eye should still be able to see your friend.

Both of you should sit very still to make this work well. Hold your right hand up so that you can see its reflection in the mirror with your right eye. Looking straight ahead with both eyes, you should be able to see your friend and your hand. Now move your right hand as if you were using a chalk eraser to wipe your friend's face away.

what happens?

[paul.fr]

in other topics it has been suggested that Newton, was wrong about everything. well this is an experiment that will atleast confirm he was right about the laws of motion.

what you need


a bathroom scale
an object that weighs at least a few pounds, like a bag of sugar.


what you do


Start by placing the scales on a flat, hard floor. Step onto the scale and
look at your weight. Now pick up the object you selected. Notice the new reading on the scales. It should be a bit higher for the total of you and the object. So far, everything is just as you would expect.

As you watch the reading on the scale, quickly lift the weight up over your head. Do this as quickly as you can.


what happened?


Next, bring the weight back down as fast as you can, again watching the scale.

what happened this time?

[paul.fr]

what you need


a potato
a knife
salt
a plate

what you do


Select a large potato and carefully cut it in half. Place both halves of the potato on a plate, cut side down. Use the knife to carefully dig a hole in the top of each potato. Each hole should be at least big enough to stick the end of your finger into. Leave one just as it is. Into the other hole, put about 1/4 a teaspoon of salt. Set the plate aside and wait about half an hour.

what has happened?

wait another hour or two and reckeck the potato halves, what do you now notice?

[paul.fr]

There has been some talk recently about fridges/freezer and cold air falling, warm air rising. her is a little experiment to show cold air falling.

what you need


a refrigerator or freezer
a pitcher or other large container/ or a small cake tin


what you do

firstly, feel underneath or at the bottom of your refrigerator, you should feel the hot air rising.

openg the door to your refrigerator just a tiny bit. Hold one hand at the top of the door and the other at the bottom.

what happens?

Place an empty pitcher or other large container under the door of your refrigerator or freezer.  Once the container is in place, open the door slightly.  After a few seconds, close the door and put your hand into thecontainer. Don't touch the sides. Just hold your hand in the air inside.

what has happened?

[paul.fr]

what you need

a mirror
clouds


what you do

look up, you see some nice lovely clouds, unless it's raining then you can go back inside until it stop  [] .We all know that clouds are moving quite fast, but when we look up at them they seem to be moving quite slowly. So how do we prove that clouds are moving fast?

place your mirror on the floor, it should be a nice flat surface like a path or pavement. Sit so that you can see the reflection of the clouds in the mirror. Keeping your head still, watch the clouds in the mirror.

what do you see?

try repeating this on a clear night, with the moons reflection instead of the clouds.