[paul.fr]

what you need

One to keep the kids entertained on a gloomy, rainy day...like today.


2 tablespoons (10ml) soap powder or scrapings (not a detergent)
1/4 cup (60ml) hot water
1 tablespoon (5ml) turpentine
spoon


what you do


In a bowl dissolve the soap powder in hot water. Add the turpentine then pour into a small screw top jar.
Brush over a picture like from those from a comic book or magazine. Wait about 10 seconds and place a sheet of paper over it. Rub the back with a spoon. The picture can be transferred to t-shirts, paper, etc. and can usually be transferred more than once.

Obviously, the kids will need to be supervised when handling turpentine

[paul.fr]

an early posted wekend activity for the kids, making clay models.

what you need


1 cup rolled oats
2/3 cup flour
1/2 cup water
large bowl

what you do


Mix all of the ingredients in a large bowl.  Add more flour if necessary for the dough to form a lump. knead the dough on a floured surface until it is smooth. You can add food coloring to the water before mixing the dough, or divide it into balls and add the coloring afterwards.

make something!

air dry overnight.

[paul.fr]

what you need


scissors
an index card, or piece of card 3" x 5"


what you do


Fold the file card in half lengthwise and make 13 partial cuts widthwise. First cut through the folded side, then turn the card around and cut toward the fold. Keep repeating the process. (Cut to within a quarter inch of the edges of the card.)

Very carefully open the card and cut lengthwise along the fold. Do not cut the two end sections.

Gently stretch the card as far as it will go and put it over your head.

[paul.fr]

what you need


12-inch ruler
Several sheets of paper newspaper.
Table


what you do


Lay a 12-inch ruler on the edge of a table so that about a third of the ruler extends over the edge. Place several large sheets of newspaper, over the ruler. Hit the ruler sharply.

What happens? Why?

[paul.fr]

what you need


a few different shells
vinegar
an old, empty jar
coarse sandpaper.


what you do


Half fill a jar with vinegar and place a shell in it. Leave it for a day. Before you fish it out, can you see any bubbles coming from it?

Once it is out, examine the shell to see how it has changed.

Using a different shell, rub one side of it against the sandpaper. It's easiest if you place the sandpaper on a hard, flat surface.

Gradually the shell will wear down, layer by layer, revealing the inner structure.

[paul.fr]

A variation on a previous post.

What you need

Bowl of cold water
Coin (bigger than the bottle opening)
Glass Bottle (with a small opening/mouth, something like a coke bottle)


what you do


Fill a bowl with some cold water. Place the bottle neck and coin in the bowl of water to chill them.  This helps to make an airtight seal when you place the coin on the top of the bottle.

After a few minutes, remove the bottle and coin. Then place the coin on the top of the bottle, wrap your hands around the bottle and wait for several seconds.

What happens to the coin?

Remove your hands from the bottle and wait.


What happens to the coin now?

[paul.fr]

what you need


a long glass jar, like olives come in
water
Paper and a pen


what you do


Wash the jar and remove the label. Fill a large bowl or dish pan with water. Place the jar under the water and turn it so all the air comes out. Still under water, put the lid on the jar.
When you remove it from the water, there should not be any air bubbles inside. Dry the outside of the jar.

Print the following words on a sheet of paper. Print them neatly, just as
they are here. You can always type the words, and print them with your printer.

HIDE MY BIKE

Place the jar over the words, with the side of the jar touching the paper. Reading through the jar, what do you see? You see the same words, maybe a bit bigger depending on your jar, but otherwise just the same.

Lift the jar a couple of inches off the paper, and read the words through the jar again.

What happened to the words?

[paul.fr]

what you need


Oil
Sink
Funnel
Vinegar
Paper towels
Blue food coloring
1/2 cup, measuring cup
Small, clear plastic drinking bottle with screw lid


What you do


Remove the top from the clear plastic bottle (keep the lid), and pour out half a cup vinegar into the measuring cup. Add a couple of drops of the blue food colouring into the vinegar.

Place the funnel in the mouth of the bottle and pour the vinegar mixture into the bottle, Swish the bottle around a bit so that the blue food colouring mixes with the vinegar.

Pour out half a cup oil into the measuring cup, place the funnel into the mouth of the bottle and pour the oil into the bottle.

Remove the funnel and screw the lid back onto the bottle (making sure that the lid is secured properly so that there is no leaking). Shake the mixture.

What happens?

Let the mixture sit for a few minutes, and keep watching it.

What happens?

Take the lid off and tip the bottle to pour out a bit of the mixture into the sink. What happens? The oil comes out and the vinegar stays to the bottom of the bottle.

Place your index finger over the top of the bottle and turn it upside down over the sink very slowly, keeping your finger in place.

Now uncover a bit of the opening of the lid and let a little bit of the solution drip out.

What happens this time?

[paul.fr]

Not very sciency, but Anastasia enjoyed doing this and it passes some time for bored kids in the holidays.

What you need

Fallen leaf or leaves
Ribbon (about 25cm)
Transparent plastic bag
Permanent ink marker
Small basin
paper towels
Food colouring
Paper punch
Stiff paint brush
Household bleach


What you do


Clean the leaf thoroughly to remove dirt. Soak it in a strong solution of bleach till it turns white. Caution: Strong household bleach is corrosive. Please avoid direct contact with your fingers or skin.
 
Rinse the leaf and gently remove the soft tissue with a paint brush.
 
Rinse and blot dry between paper towels.
 
Pour the food colouring of your choice into a small basin. Dip the leaf skeleton in it. Remove and dry between paper towels.
 
Insert the dyed leaf skeleton into the transparent plastic bag. Use a paper punch to make a hole on the unsealed side of the bag.
 
Put a ribbon through the hole and secure neatly. Label the leaf by writing its common or scientific name on the plastic bag with a marker.
 
And there you have it, you very own unique "leafmark"!

As stated above, do be careful when using household bleach
 

[paul.fr]

what you need


Plastic bottle
Baking soda
Vinegar
Drinking straw
Plasticine
Scissors.


what you do


With a pair of scissors, make a small hole in the bottom of the plastic bottle, close to the edge.
 
Push the plastic straw through the hole until only about 1cm sticks out. Press the straw down a little. Press plasticine round it to keep the straw in place and seal up the hole.
 
Shake some baking soda onto a paper tissue or piece of paper. Wrap the paper round the baking soda and twist the ends, like a sweet.
 
Pour some vinegar into the bottle. Push in the paper with the baking soda wrapped inside(through the bottle top). Put the cover of the bottle on as quickly as you can. Put the bottle gently into a bath of water and let go.
 

What happens?

[paul.fr]

Ooh, nearly 20,000 views.

what you need

Bucket
Glass bottle
Hammer
Nail
Needle
straw
Plasticine
Food Colouring


what you do


Half fill the bottle with cold water and add food colouring to colour the water then crew the lid on tightly.
 
Using a hammer and a nail, carefully make a hole in the lid of the bottle. The hole must be big enough for the straw to fit in.
 
Push the straw into the hole until it is below the water level. Use the plasticine to seal around the hole of the bottle and the hole of the straw. Make another smaller hole at the top of the straw with a needle.
 
Fill the bucket with hot water and put the bottle in the bucket. What a while...

What happens?
 
Use caution with the hot water and the hammer

[paul.fr]

what you need


Small rubber ball
Flat table top surface
Medium size jar with a wide mouth

what you do


Place the ball on top of the table and put the jar over the ball so that the ball is inside the mouth of the jar.

Start spinning the jar around in a circular motion (keeping it on the table).

Once the ball starts spinning inside the jar lift it from the table top.

What happens?

[paul.fr]

what you nedd

Two beakers
Muddy water
A strip of cloth


what you do

Fill one of the beakers with the muddy water, and leave the other empty. Place the strip of cloth so one end is in each beaker.
Leave, undisturbed overnight.

What happens?

[paul.fr]

Just a reminder that there is an rss feed, for the excellent Kitchen Science section of the main Naked Scientist site? These are the experiments that are conducted on the show.

This is the url for the rss feed: http://www.thenakedscientists.com/rss/kitchen_science.xml


Alternitavley, if you use widgets / widsets on your internet enabled phone. Like the hundreds of other users, you can download a widget from this link.
http://www.widsets.com/widgets?publicwidgetid=W2222      


If the above link does not take you to the specific widget, just type kitchen science in to the search bar.

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) provides a convenient way to syndicate information from a variety of sources, including news stories, updates to a web site or basically any type of publication. Regardless of the purpose for which the RSS file is being used, by watching this XML file, you can quickly and easily see whenever an update has occurred.

You can use the rss feed in you "home page", if you use yahoo or msn for example.

Don't forget to visit the Main kitchen Science Section, on the Naked Scientist, for the latest experiments from the show.
http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/content/kitchenscience/

[paul.fr]

Make you own "bath bombs"

what you need

2 cups of baking soda
1 cup of cornstarch
1 cup of citric acid
A large and a small mixing bowl
and a few drops of food coloring


what you do


Place all of the ingrediants in a large bowland mix well, scoop out 1 cup into a small bowl and add the coloring.

Mix well again, then add this back to the large bowl and mix well....

Remove enough mixture to the small bowl for one bomb and mist lightly with a spritz bottle, just enough to hold salts together. DON"T over mist , this is where technique comes in . Press the moisten mixture into a mold,pack down hard. Continue on in the same way. If your molded bombs break , just moisten and remold. If you have added to much water just add more dry ingredients to stop the fizzing.

Carefully remove the bomb from the mold and let dry out overnight. You can use anything to make your mould, ice cube trays old containers...anything.

Note: If you want fragrant bath bombs, just add 30 to 40 drops of a fragrant oil at the initial mixing stage.

[i am bored]

speaking of bombs can you take a look at this for me http://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=9348.msg113569#new

[paul.fr]

what you need


blu-tack
string
sun glasses
a window


what you do

Roll 2 small balls with the blu-tack, about 1cm in diameter. Stick one of the balls on each end of your string, and attach one of them to the middle, top of the window frame.

You should now have a length of string, hanging from the window frame with a ball of blu-tack on the other end.

Set the string swinging from side to side. Retreat to the other side of the room, and put your sunglasses on.

With your sunglasses on, and the string swinging from side to side. Close your left eye whilst looking at the ball of blu-tack swinging on the string.

what happens?

Now close your right eye, looking with your left.

What happens?

[paul.fr]

Make the bst bubbles, for blowing.

What you need

Sugar
washing up liquid
Hand / shower gel (must contain glycerin, check label for ingredients)

What you do


Dissolve the three tablespoons of white sugar in 100ml of hot water, and stir well. Stir in a desert spoon of washing up liquid. Then stir in a tablespoon of clear hand gel.

Go blow bubbles.

[paul.fr]

what you need


A smarties type tube
A sharp pencil
blu-tack
String
Scissors
A ruler
Tissue paper
Some of the bubble mixture from the previous post.


What you do

Seperate the layers of tissue paper, and cut a thin strip off one layer about 2cm wdie. Tie one end of the string to the top of your srtip of tissue paper.

Affix the blu-tack to the other end of the string and hang it from a shelf or window frame. You now have the strip of tissue paper suspended from the string.

With the pencil, make a hole in the end of the smarties tube. The hole should be only about 0.5cm wide.

Put the open end of the tube in your bubble mix, and give it a gentle stir. Gently blow through the end you poked a hole in to make a bubble, do not blow too hard, you want the bubble to remain on the end of the tube.

Put the end of your tube with the small hole in it close to the hanging tissue paper.

what happens?

[paul.fr]

what you need

2 ice bube trays
water
a freezer


what you do


Get both ice trays and fill one with tap water, and the other with boiled water. Put them both in the freezer and let them freeze.

what happens?