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About the Project

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About the project: The science club I run at Wesley College started in 2007. It began from a spontaneous idea - to let the interested junior students to come to science labs and do some experiments. I suggested to start the science club and offered my services as a leader. The first I made an announcement that club is open for any student (from Yr3 to Yr 6). Each session would  last 20 min during Recess time, every week. I did have “a green light” for doing so from my HOL and the principal, and still do with the new administration. As the club turned to be very successful (from the words of our former principal Mrs Lovell), I continued to do so every year.

Number of participants varies from year to year, but optimal is 8 (no more than 10) as per one adult leader.  At first year I had 9 to 11 regular attendees. Yet, not every group of pupils is the same, not every year was the same (time-table, work load etc), not each session was successful.  Careful selection of activities, planning with account of abilities,  punctuality of attendees are key factors to success. 

 This document gives the list and order of activities we did throughout a year with our participants and can be used for ideas and guidance by anybody who wants to run their science club. The hope is that via hands-on activities students will develop their practical skills, gain knowledge, understand concepts and methods and see the fascinating (or at least fun) side of science. An informal atmosphere helps to encourage all of the above and establish relationship with the regular attendees. 

Running style: Begin with some quick and easy experiments to engage initial interest. Usually at the start I provide the groups with a method for them to follow step by step. In other times – I state the goal, provide materials and let students go (without step-by-step instructions).

At school, I currently run a science club on each second Tuesday at lunch, for 30 mins and it is open to Yr4 pupils.

Contents:          

Activity Number
Activity
1
Make a Paper Clip Float
The great pepper dispersion
2
Blooming Paper Flower: capillary action
     3 new
The Language of Science: Is this Water Hot or Cold? Thermometer.
Discuss the word “sound” too, try to define what is “sound” (is vibration)
4
Colour Chromatography: Black Pen Magic
Inquiry: how many pigments? What colours are they? Which colour moves furthest?
5
Fire Works: Flame Test Demo &  Mystery Metal activity
6
Rainbow Lab (optional): practicing basic laboratory skills
7
Introduce pH. Red Cabbage Acid-Base Indicator
water, vinegar, baking soda sol’n, soap, lemonade, citric acid, aspirin
8
TEST. Find the nature of 5 unknown clear liquids: acid or base?
9
Extension: Make a pH Column (“A Traffic Light”)
Materials: sodium carbonate, vinegar and universal indicator in proportions
10
Acidic Breath.  Introduce CO2
11
Fire Extinguisher : soda+vinegar make the candle blown off
12
Bubble Bomb. Balloon blown up (raising hand).
13
A Chilling Recipe (SBE, CSIRO): Cool Pack (use sealable freezer bag)
14
Hand Warmers:
use 2 sealable freezer bags: large (dst. Water ~100) & small (CaCl2~4g)
15
A Child Lost Salt in a Desert : Separating Mixture Salt+Sand
16
HEAT. Water Thermometer. Demo: Ball&Ring. Ice in Freezer Demo.
17
AIR PRESSURE: Hanging Water. Siphoning. Vacuum Mat. Magdeburg Hemispheres and the Story! Two holes bottle (air provides nec. push). Blowing Marshmallow competition.  
18
Sink or Float? Density. Galileo Thermometer. Cartesian Diver.
19
Egg In a Bottle. Extension: demo Crashed Can
20
STATIC ELECTRICITY FUN. Quick and easy experiments: “salt & pepper”, “moving can” .Bet You Can’t!
21
Lemon Battery. And The Galvani-Volta Story: The Frogs Legs
23
Simple Circuit. Energy Stick activity. Make a simple circuit. Morse Code.
24
LABORATORY SKILLS: measurements
25
Fun With The Sun: UV beads
26
Making Slime. Demo: prof Bunsen silly putty (exc.!)


References:

[2] http://www.abc.net.au/science/surfingscientist/magic.flower.htm

[4] http://www.exploratorium.edu/afterschool/activities/index.php?activity=138

[7] pH redcab http://www.abc.net.au/science/surfingscientist/pdf/lesson_plan16.pdf


 (**)with good pupils we do pH column! Big fun.

(7) Start-up: “what are chemicals?”  “are all chemicals dangerous? are all chemicals liquids?”

 “is water a chemical? what about lemonade or vinegar?”  “what do you know about acids and bases?”  “are all acids dangerous?”

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Water Ladder

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http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/experiments/escapingwater.html
http://www.planetseed.com/laboratory/water-ladder
When you use a paper towel to clean up spilled water, have you ever noticed how the water seems to be taken up by the towel? Small openings in the towel attract the water molecules. This is a force called capillary attraction, and it pulls the water into the towel. If you hold the paper towel vertically in a cup of water, you can see the water climb upward.
How high can you get the water to climb? Can you use this as a kind of “water ladder” to raise water to a higher level without a pump? This activity will help you explore these ideas.
Escaping Water

Water can certainly move in mysterious ways, get the water from one cup to make its way up hill and back down into a second empty cup with the help of paper towels and an interesting scientific process.

Instructions:

  1. Twist a couple of pieces of paper towel together until it forms something that looks a little like a piece of rope, this will be the 'wick' that will absorb and transfer the water (a bit like the wick on a candle transferring the wax to the flame).
  2. Place one end of the paper towels into the glass filled with water and the other into the empty glass.
  3. Watch what happens (this experiment takes a little bit of patience).

 What you'll need:

  • A glass of water
  • An empty glass
  • Some paper towels

What's happening?

Your paper towel rope (or wick) starts getting wet, after a few minutes you will notice that the empty glass is starting to fill with water, it keeps filling until there is an even amount of water in each glass, how does this happen?

This process is called 'capillary action', the water uses this process to move along the tiny gaps in the fibre of the paper towels. It occurs due to the adhesive force between the water and the paper towel being stronger than the cohesive forces inside the water itself. This process can also be seen in plants where moisture travels from the roots to the rest of the plant.

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Capillary Action in Plants

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Capillary Action

http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/capillaryaction.html
Even if you've never heard of capillary action, it is still important in your life. Capillary action is important for moving water (and all of the things that are dissolved in it) around. It is defined as the movement of water within the spaces of a porous material due to the forces of adhesion, cohesion, and surface tension.Capillary action occurs because water is sticky, thanks to the forces of cohesion (water molecules like to stay close together) and adhesion (water molecules are attracted and stick to other substances). Adhesion of water to the walls of a vessel will cause an upward force on the liquid at the edges and result in a meniscus which turns upward. The height to which capillary action will take water in a uniform circular tube (picture to left) is limited by surface tension and, of course, gravity.
When you spill your glass of drink on the kitchen table you rush to get a paper towel to wipe it up. First, you can thank surface tension, which keeps the liquid in a nice puddle on the table, instead of a thin film of sugary goo that spreads out onto the floor. When you put the paper towel onto your mess the liquid adheres itself to the paper fibers and the liquid moves to the spaces between and inside of the fibers - thank capillary action!

Plants and trees couldn't thrive without capillary action. Plants put down roots into the soil which are capable of carrying water from the soil up into the plant. Water, which contains dissolved nutrients, gets inside the roots and starts climbing up the plant tissue. 

The proof is in the .... celery

In the experiment, the students will get to see water climb up narrow glass capillary tubes and also climb through the capillary tubes in celery stalks. The students will also observe the celery stalks or white carnations change color over time. Therefore, the students will be learning about making observations and logging their results as they observe the stalks and flowers over the week.

You can see capillary action in action (although slowly) by doing an experiment where you place the bottom of a celery stalk in a glass of water with food coloring and watch for the movement of the color to the top leaves of the celery. You might want to use a piece of celery that has begun to whither, as it is in need of a quick drink. It can take a few days, but, as these pictures show, the colored water is "drawn" upward, against the pull of gravity. This effect happens because, in plants, water molecules move through narrow tubes that are called capillaries (or xylem).



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Surface Tension Experiments

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Surface Tension Experiments
http://www.hometrainingtools.com/experiments-with-water-science-project/a/1272/

Surface tension is one of water's most important properties. It is the reason that water collects in drops, but it is also why water can travel up a plant stem, or get to your cells through the smallest blood vessels. You can experiment with surface tension using just a few household items.

What To Do:

1. Start with a cup of water and some paperclips. Do you think a paperclip will float in the water? Drop one in the cup to find out. Since the paperclip is denser than the water, it will sink to the bottom of the cup.

2. Now find out if you can use surface tension to float the paperclip. Instead of dropping the paperclip into the cup, gently lay it flat on the surface of the water. (This is tricky - ” it may help to place a piece of paper towel slightly bigger than the paperclip in the water. Then lay the paperclip on top of it. In a minute or so, the paper towel will sink, leaving the paperclip floating on top of the water.) Even though the paperclip is still denser than the water, the strong attraction between the water molecules on the surface surface forms a type of "skin" that supports the clip.

3. Now put a drop of dish soap in the water. This will bind with the water molecules, interfering with the surface tension. The paper clip will sink. You can try floating other things on top of the water also - pepper floats well until you add dish soap. Can you find any other light items that will float?

  • There are some insects, called water skimmers (or water striders), which are able to walk on water, by using surface tension. They land on the surface of the water, but are so light they don't break the surface tension. Then by flapping their wings, they can zip around on the surface.
http://www.appstate.edu/~goodmanjm/rcoe/asuscienceed/background/waterdrops/waterdrops.html
Let's start with the drop of water on the wax paper:
It is easy to see that the drop seems to have a "skin" holding it into a sort of flattened sphere.  It turns out that this surface tension is the result of the tendency of water molecules to attract one another (called cohesion).  Though teachers often talk about surface tension being like a "skin", this is not really an accurate model...The surface does not react to being poked with a stick as a skin would. In fact, the water not only sticks to itself, it sticks to the wood ...This is called adhesion because of attraction to different substance
  • Surface tension can be shown with many other demonstrations, including one in which you add coins to a full glass of water and note how the surface rises well above the rim of the glass.
  •  Place a small puddle of distilled water -- about 1.5 cm in diameter -- onto a clean acetate sheet. Note the shape of the puddle. Touch the tip of a clean toothpick to a small amount of liquid detergent, and wipe clean. Carefully touch the tip of the toothpick to the surface of the puddled water. Note and record the result.
  • Place distilled water in one well of a 24-well plate. Place an equal volume of 1% detergent solution in an adjacent well. Dilute food coloring may be added to each well; this is optional. Place an open-ended glass capillary tube in each well. Slowly remove the capillary tube. Note the length of liquid in each tube.
  • Place several drops of milk on a small 2.5-cm watch glass. Add a small drop of food coloring on the surface at a point near the edge of the tiny puddle of milk. Using a plastic transfer pipet, add one drop of liquid detergent on the top edge of the watch glass on the side opposite the location of the food coloring. Note and record the observations. (Alternatively - see "Milk in Motion" post)

Questions
1.     Kitchen detergents make water wetter. Explain this statement.
Discussion-
Detergents lower the surface tension of water. Each of the phenomena studied here has an explanation rooted partially or entirely in the lowering of the surface tension of water by the detergent. The dye spreading over the milk is the most complex of the phenomena. Close visual examination shows that the liquid detergent flows down the glass surface for many, many minutes. As a result, the detergent concentration at the surface of the milk changes throughout the duration of the observation.
Answers-
Q1. Kitchen detergents make water wetter. Explain this statement.
A1. Water with added detergent covers more surface on flat surfaces.



 
 
 

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SURFACE TENSION: MILK IN MOTION

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SURFACE TENSION: MILK IN MOTION

http://www.csiro.au/helix/sciencemail/activities/milkmoving.html

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Acidic Breath

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BREATH IN ...BREATH OUT...

http://www.csiro.au/helix/sciencemail/activities/AcidOcean.html

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Bath Bomb

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Bath ‘Bombs’


Material

by Lisa Crook and Jenni Empson-Ridler. Haling Manor High School. South Croydon.

  • 20 g sodium bicarbonate (sodium hydrogen carbonate)
  • 10 g citric acid (irritant)
  • sunflower oil
  • 2 x 250cm3 beakers
  • glass stirrer
  • dropper
  • cling film
  • large bowl of water

Procedure


 

  1. Put 20g sodium bicarbonate and 10g citric acid into a beaker and mix well.
  2. Add the oil, one drop at a time, mixing in well. After a few drops, the mixture should begin to hold together when pressed against the side of the beaker. The mixture should still look quite dry.
  3. Line the second beaker with cling film.
  4. Pour the mixture into the lined beaker and pack it down tightly.
  5. Twist the edges of the cling film together so that the mixture is completely enclosed, then pull it out of the beaker.
  6. Shape the mixture into a firm ball and very carefully undo the cling film.
  7. If possible, leave the bath bomb to dry overnight.
  8. Fill a large bowl (or sink) with water and drop the ‘bath bomb’ into it. It should move about, fizzing vigorously.

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A Chilling Recipe: Cool pack

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A Chilling Recipe: Cool pack


http://www.csiro.au/helix/sciencemail/activities/chillingrecipe.html


Try this: A chilling recipe

You will need

  • Sodium bicarbonate (baking soda)
  • Citric acid
  • Teaspoon
  • Zip-lock plastic bag
  • Water

What to do

  1. Open the zip-lock bag and pour in three to four teaspoons of citric acid.
  2. Add the same amount of sodium bicarbonate and mix the powders together.
  3. Touch the outside of the bag. How does it feel? Is it warm or cold?
  4. Add a small amount of water to the bag – enough to wet the powder sufficiently. Watch what happens.
  5. Touch the outside of the bag again. Now how does it feel?

atoms. Citric acid gives its hydrogen away, which is used by sodium bicarbonate. We can keep track of this swap-around if we use a chemical equation:

citric acid + sodium bicarbonate –> carbon dioxide + water + sodium citrate

H3C6H5O7 + NaHCO3 –> CO2 + H2O + NaC6H5O7
What’s happening?

Sodium bicarbonate is what we call a ‘base’. That means when it is mixed in water, it dissolves to make a solution that has a pH over 7. What does that mean? It means that the chemicals in it love to steal hydrogen ions!

Citric acid, on the other hand, is a little different. Mixed with water, it has a pH under 7, which is technically why we call it an ‘acid’. More importantly, it loves to give hydrogen ions away.

As a powdered solid, the two chemicals can’t do very much. They need to dissolve in water to be able to spread out and react with each other. When they do, they swap some of their

The bubbles you see are the gas carbon dioxide forming. But why does it feel cold?

Chemical reactions need energy to occur. Sometimes, they then produce more energy than they use and release it into the environment. However in this case, the reaction takes the energy it needs from its surroundings, sucking heat away and locking it away as chemical bonds. This is an ‘endothermic’ reaction, which means ‘heat goes in’, so it feels cold to the touch (it is taking the heat away from your fingers).
Applications
Have you ever had an injury on the sporting field and needed a cold pack? It can be troublesome keeping ice cold while you play out on a sporting field somewhere, especially if you need to carry it around in an esky.
Chemical cold packs create their own ‘cold’ when you need them. There are a few different types, but they all involve endothermic reactions or processes of some sort. The bags usually contain two different chemicals in different compartments. Breaking a seal allows them to mix, which absorbs heat from the surroundings. Putting it on your injury means the reaction will steal its warmth as well, which can reduce swelling and give your body time to deal with the trauma.

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Fireworks and Mystery Metal activity

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       WHAT CAUSES THE BRIGHT COLORS IN FIREWORKS?

 Mystery Metal and flame test

Flame tests are useful in lab. situations when it is necessary to identify a compound that is an unknown. This happens frequently when labels fall off of containers. Many fireworks get their colour because salts burn brightly. Copper salts give fireworks green colour and lithium aand strontium produce red colours.

Material

Fume cupboard; Bunsen burner and bench protection sheet
  • 2 crucibles, containing unknown, labelled A & B
  • 5 crucibles, each containing a different metal compounds,
  • flame test wires with cork holders
  • 2M hydrochloric acid (corrosive)
  • calcium chloride (irritant)
  • copper chloride (toxic)
  • strontium chloride (irritant)
  • sodium chloride
  • potassium chloride
WEAR SAFETY GLASSES ALL THE TIME; TURN ON EXHAUST FANS

Procedure (teacher's demo for Yr4 students)


  1. Light the Bunsen burner. Adjust it to get a roaring flame.
  2. Dip the flame test wire into the concentrated acid, then hold it in the hottest part of the flame. Repeat the process until there is little or no colour from the test wire in the flame. Let it cool. You may have to repeat this step several times especially towards the end of the experiment.
  3. Take one of the crucibles containing a known metal compound. Now pick up the flame test wire. Dip the tip of the wire into a little concentrated hydrochloric acid. Then touch the compound in the crucible with the tip so that a tiny bit of the powder sticks to it.
  4. Hold the wire in the flame of the Bunsen burner so that the powdered solid is in the edge of the flame. You should see a coloured flame. Write down the colour in the table below.
  5. Now repeat instructions 2 to 4 with the other four compounds. Write down the flame colour for each metal in the table.
    OBSERVE & RECORD RESULTS
Name of Metal Salt Used
Colour of Flame
Sodium Chloride
 
Potassium Chloride
 
Calcium Chloride
 
Copper Chloride (or sulphate)
 
Strontium Chloride
 

  1. Now you are ready to help Sherlock Holmes identify the substances. Take one of the unknown substances, then do the flame test on it and see if you can tell which metal is in it from the colour of the flame.
Test of the unknown
UNKNOWN #
COLOUR OF FLAME OBSERVED
METAL ion in the salt
A
 
 
B
 
 


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