Homopolar motor experiment

SAFETY NOTE: Neodymium magnets are extremely strong and MUST BE KEPT OUT OF REACH OF SMALL CHILDREN! Do not give them to any child who might put them in their mouth, they are dangerous if swallowed and must be surgically removed!   For more about neodymium magnets safety and precautions go here Additionally neodymium magnets can interfere with electronic devices so please keep them away from phones! Also please note that these motors do heat up. See our TIPS section for safety precautions.   TIPS & PRECAUTIONS: • MONITOR THESE FOR HEAT! Some of the motors that got going really…

Magnetic Iron Filings kit

Iron Filings kit is a super fun experiment. Make different shapes as you move the magnet on the back side of the plastic case moving the iron filings into different shapes. Pull the magnet off and the iron filings fall. SUPER COOL!  

Copper pipe with neodymium Experiment

It is 1834, and you have just heard of this marvelous new phenomenon called eddy currents. Some fellow named Lenz discovered them, and you’re curious if you can find out something special about them yourself.   When you drop your magnet through a copper tube, it slows down. The magnet will also slide down the cookie sheet slowly.   Magnetic fields are the result of electric currents. Changing a magnetic field next to a non-magnetic metal will induce an electric field in the metal, which subsequently generates a magnetic field with an opposite orientation with respect to your magnet.  …

Swinging Magnets experiment

Use Staples to see the Magnetic Field Experiment

PROCEDURE 1) Squeeze your stapler with no paper in it, and collect 20 bent staples. 2) Put staples on piece a paper (I use card stock). 3) Then pull paper over a magnet just so the magnet and paper do not touch.   Place a bar magnet under a piece of paper. Sprinkle the staples around the magnet. What happens to the staples? How do they align themselves with respect to the magnet? They align themselves according to the direction of the magnetic field. At the poles of the magnet, the staples are straight up and down; in the middle…

Dry Ice Bubbles Experiment

Instead of the dry ice just bubbling in the water to make foggy vapor, add a couple drops or so of dish soap (I use Dawn) in the water which will trap the carbon dioxide and water vapor in a soapy bubbles. Then you squeeze your hands it will explode the bubbles in your hands releases the gases in a fun fog.  

Bouncing Smoke Bubbles experiment

Bubbles are cool and bubbles filled with fog are even cooler! Steve Spangler created Boo Bubbles as an easy and safe way for parents and teachers to explore the science of dry ice with fog-filled bubbles.   Just fill the bubble generator with warm water and a few pieces of dry ice, dip the bubble blower in the solution and get ready to make the most ghostly and exciting bubbles you’ve ever seen.  

Dry Ice Floating Bubbles Experiment

When you break the dry ice into small pieces it starts to make a cloud of carbon dioxide. But unlike smoke from a candle or fire, the dry ice smoke doesn’t float. Instead, it settles onto the ground or, in this case, on top of the dry ice. Why is that? The smoke is actually a combination of carbon dioxide gas and water vapor.   Dry ice smoke is heavier than the air around it, so it sinks in the air rather than rising. This explains why the bubbles float on top of the dry ice smoke. The air exhaled…

Dry Ice Screaming Quarters experiment

So why is dry ice called dry ice? Dry ice is the “frozen” form of the gas, carbon dioxide. While it may be called ice – it never melts – it goes right from being a solid to being a gas. This is called SUBLIMATION. When I put the quarter on the dry ice, it cause it to turn into a gas very quickly. As the gas escaped around the sides of the quarter, it caused it to vibrate quickly and make that cool screaming sound.   SAFETY NOTE: DRY ICE is extremely dangerous. ADULT SUPERVISION REQUIRED.   Handling Dry…

Tea Bag Rocket

This cool experiment is a fun after dinner experiment with the family. Your guest won’t believe their eyes as the Rocket shoots to the ceiling.   Steps 1) Take your tea bag out of its container, and look for a small staple that connects the paper and string to the actual bag. 2) Carefully pull back the staple and remove it from the bag. 3) Unfold the tea bag and empty out the tea leaves. 4) Put your finger in the middle of the cylinder. 5) Place the cylindrical tea bag upright on a non-flammable surface such as a plate….

Fire Tornado Experiment

When I start to spin the garbage can the center the fire created the perfect fire tornado. It all starts with the heat from the flame that causes the surrounding molecules of air to rise. Couple this with the rotational motion of the screen and you have the perfect storm, so to speak. The rotating screen gives the air molecules an initial spin (called angular momentum). The vertically rising hot air molecules collide with the rotating screen, and the angular momentum of the screen is transferred to the rapidly rising air molecules, giving them a “twist.” Fresh air fuels the…

Steel wool and 9 volt battery Experiment

Here is a great how-to science experiment that you can try at home: burning fine steel wool with only a battery. The reaction from your friends will have them speechless and the visuals is enough to get anyone excited.   Steps 1) Pull the steel wool apart into thin strips. 2) Place the steel wool in the baking pan with aluminum foil. 3) Touch the ends of the battery to the steel wool.   We used a 9-volt battery to light the steel wool because the terminals are close together. Touching the battery to steel wool sends a current through…

Raising Matchstick Experiment

How it works? The reason we light it in the middle, is most of the weight of the match is burned up by the flame before it lights the highly flammable match heads.   Since the match heads are leaning together they ignite at the same time under very high intense heat.   This high heat then fuses the match heads together. As the flame continues to burn the propped up match, it starts to curl up and you can remove the coin.   Because of the weight of the match being burnt, the fusing of the match heads with…

Pinwheel Spiral Spinner Experiment

Spiral Spinner – Hot air moves moves faster. Because the molecules now have the energy to move around more, they do and as they do they spread out and the gas becomes less dense. This lighter gas now rises up away from the heat source.   If a pinwheel is free to move and constructed correctly, the rising heat can now make it turn. The heat rises relatively straight up so to get the pinwheel to turn the blades need to be orientated in a way that causes the moving air to push them. As the hot air continues to…

Smoke Waterfall Experiment

Take your sticky note and roll it up with the sticky part facing up. Start rolling opposite side of the sticky part. You want to be able to make it small enough to fit into your L bracket. Then place paper in L bracket at a 45-degree angle.   You need a room with still air as possible. I use the inside of a glass or a fish tank. This will allow so moving air in the room will not touch the waterfall. Now light the sticky note.   Now the waterfall should do its thing.   You are probably…

Extinguish Fire with Carbon Dioxide experiment

HOW THE CANDLE EXPERIMENT WORKS When you mix baking soda and vinegar together, you produce carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide is heavier than air, so it will sit in the bottom of the glass. When you pour the gas from glass onto the candle, you are pouring out the carbon dioxide, which will sink and displace the (oxygen-containing) air surrounding the candle with carbon dioxide.   HOW BLOWING OUT A CANDLE WORKS When you blow out a candle, your breath contains more carbon dioxide than it did when you inhaled the air, but there’s still oxygen that can support wax…

Orange Candle Experiment

There are two parts that work together in a candle: the fuel, made of some sort of wax, and the wick, made of some sort of absorbent twine. In the case of our orange, the olive oil is the wax and the wick is the central column, which supports the walls between each segment.   When you light a candle, you melt the wax in and near the wick. The wick absorbs the liquid wax and pulls it upward. The heat of the flame vaporizes the wax, and it is the wax-vapor that burns. The reason the wick does not…

Do White Candles Burn Faster then Color Candles?

Ends up color candles burn faster for me. Test it for yourself and let me know what results are?   Have you ever wondered, do white candles burn faster than colored candles? It seems that just about every element of a candle can affect how fast they burn, so it’s no wonder that people are curious about the addition of candle dyes and colors.   Theory Most people seem to think that plain white candles will burn faster than those with added dyes. The reasoning behind this theory is that the plain wax is more pure, and will give a…

Rocking Candle Experiment

Safety: Make sure you have adult supervision as you will be lighting both ends of the candle.   This experiment teaches how combustion and Newton’s Third Law of Motion. A candle, balanced between a pair of glasses, rocks or up and down on its own.   Carve the bottom part of the candle so the wick is showing. Make sure that the bottom end had more wax than the top. Then make a hole in the candle half way in the middle. The hole has to be big enough for a nail (or pin) to fit in. Place the nail…

1000 Subscriber Special Steel Wool Science experiment

Science of steel wool photography, “The 9 volt battery is used to ignite the steel wool. Essentially it sends a current through the thin wire and it heats up, well under statement a LOT … to about 700 degrees celsius. These insane temperatures cause the iron to react with oxygen in the air creating iron oxide. This reaction releases heat, which heats up the next strand and so on, causing a cascading reaction across the steel wool. When you’re doing this remember the science.”   The chemical reaction requires oxygen. So fluffing it up and spinning it., increases the amount…