Oil vs Water

Posted on April 5, 2013 by fromthecommittedheart

Science Fun Day!

Vocabulary Words:

Emulsion: is a mixture of two or more liquids that are normally nonmixable.

Density: the condition of having parts that are close together; the amount of something in a specified volume or area.

Items you’ll need for your experiment:

Small soft drink bottle or a container that has a lid that screws on tightly
Water
Food coloring (We didn’t have any liquid coloring but we did have Amarillo powdered, for our Cuban yellow rice dish 😉 )
2 tablespoons of cooking oil
Dish washing liquid (one or two squirts)

Instructions:

Add a few drops of food coloring to the water.
Pour about 2 tablespoons of the colored 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.

We observed oil and water do not mix! 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. Oil and water separate and the oil floats above the water because it has a lower density.

Now add some dish washing liquid and shake it up. The soap is attracted to both water and oil, helping them all join together and form something called an emulsion.

Have fun trying to make oil and water mix but remember to screw on the lid tightly 🙂

M & M Experiment

Posted on November 13, 2012 by fromthecommittedheart

Here’s a fun colorful experiment and the leftovers are tasty! Go through your stash of Halloween candy and find some plain M&M’s.

Take a screw top lid (we used the top off of our olive jar) add four M&Ms, one each of red, orange, green and blue, then add some water.

Make your prediction. What do you think will happen when the colors meet?

Observe.

When the colors meet, they will form a solid line (at least at first until the water is disturbed, someone eats an M&M or until enough time passes). This is because the sugar is dissolving off all of the M&Ms. Where the food dye meets, the concentration of sugar is the same and the sugar/food dye will stop moving outward.

Now you can chow down on all the M&M’s you didn’t water 🙂 Enjoy!

Children’s Spiritual Object Lesson:

Explain that the M&M’s represents us as Christians, the water represents storms (trials & the pressure of the world’s views). Place the M&M’s in the top, pour the water over the them, notice after two to three minutes the M&M’s fade and all the colors mix. Now ask the question, “Do you think you will have enough of Jesus in your heart to withstand life’s storms or the world’s pressures or will you melt/fade under that pressure and your beliefs be compromised by the world’s views?”

My prayer for our family, is through trials and tribulations, through the rain and wind, we will be full of God’s strength, love and wisdom to stand firm on His word and not fade into this world, as the M&M did when it was immersed in the water. Instead, may we shine bright, like stars in the sky, for all the world to see.

Romans 12:2 “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

Philippians 2:14-15 “Do everything without grumbling or arguing,so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation. Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky.”

Gas…

Posted on October 17, 2012 by fromthecommittedheart

Today we experimented with baking soda and vinegar which resulted in gas.

Gas Balloon:

Take one small empty plastic soda or water bottle and carefully pour 1/2 cup of vinegar into it.

Then put 1 teaspoon of baking soda in a small balloon. Next carefully put the neck of the balloon all the way over the neck of the bottle without letting any baking soda into the bottle.

Now for the fun part…choose a brave participant to lift the balloon up so that the baking soda falls from the balloon into the bottle and mixes with the vinegar. Watch the balloon fill up. My daughter Victoria said, “I’ll remember this the next time I want to blow up a balloon, so I don’t have to blow it up myself”. Ha! 🙂

Bag Bomb:

Put 1/4 cup of pretty warm water into a small (sandwich size) zip-lock bag. Then add 1/2 cup of vinegar to the water in the bag.

Put 1 and 1/2 tablespoons of baking soda into the middle of a tissue, wrap up the tissue paper by folding it.

Now partially zip the bag closed but leave enough space to add the tissue with the baking soda in it. Once you place the baking soda packet inside the bag, quickly zip it up completely closed and drop it on the ground.

Let the expanding begin and if all goes well, you might just hear a little POP!

So, what just happened?

Take out the science notebooks/logs for the simple explanation. When the baking soda and vinegar are mixed together they create a gas, (carbon dioxide – the stuff we breathe out) gasses need a lot of room and the carbon dioxide starts to fill the bag, and keeps filling the bag until the bag can no longer hold it any more and, POP or Ssss!