Earth Day might be officially over, until next year, but that doesn’t mean we can forget any of the lessons we’ve learned about keeping our planet green, and recycling, and using earth-friendly products, etc.

It seems as though styrofoam, for example, is EVERYWHERE. At the beach. In restaurants. At home. At school. In the workplace. Coffee? Styrofoam. Cola to go? Styrofoam. Tailgate party? Styrofoam. What is it? What happens to it when we throw it away? What’s it made of?

A parent, or a teacher, or an environmentalist, or a celebrity can talk ’til they’re blue in the face about cutting back, and using recyclable and biodegradable products, but until a student sees, with his/her own eyes, exactly what styrofoam is, it doesn’t really mean much. Educators must know how to get the information into a student’s head. Just reading about it in a book, or listening to an adult explain it, isn’t good enough.

Watching a cool science demo can make all the difference!

Science has such incredible potential to amaze, and entrance, and ENCHANT. As teachers and parents and citizens of the planet, we all need to strive to show our children that when we understand how our world is put together, and how all parts interact and don’t interact, how cause and effect impacts our daily lives, and how much FUN it can be to learn it all.

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Watch Steve's Science Demos on Ellen

Ellen hit a science home run! She whipped off the tablecloth, smashed the veggies and popped the pumpkins like a pro. We just returned from the Ellen Show studios in Burbank, California, and I couldn't be more excited (and relieved) about the segment. The relief part comes from the fact that the producers selected a few high risk demos like the tablecloth pull and the self-carving pumpkins. As I've written in the past, I never get a chance to practice any of the demonstrations with Ellen. She even mentioned this during the introduction… "I purposely don't know what is going to happen because I want it to be a surprise."

The segment started by teaching Ellen how to use the law of inertia to pull the tablecloth out from under the dishes. With Thanksgiving right around the corner, I felt that teaching the viewers at home (especially the kids) how to do the famous tablecloth trick was the most responsible thing I could do! The key instruction was this simple statement… pul the cloth straight down… and she did! Nice job. After whipping off the tablecloth, we moved to flash freezing fruit using liquid nitrogen. It's amazing the mess you can make with a few pieces of frozen fruit and a rubber hammer. We moved to the big finale with a table filled with pre-carved pumpkins. If you know anything about me, you can probably guess what happened. Look Mom… my chemistry degree paid off. Three kabooms and three carved pumpkins (minus one eye that refused to fly away).

After the segment, I got a chance to talk to Ellen just long enough to thank her for shining the spotlight on all the teachers and parents who are helping to make science education more exciting and meaningful. A few ooohs & ahhhs go a long way. Thanks Ellen.

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I’m honored to have been asked back as a return guest on the Ellen Show on November 1, 2007 for some more science. I received the phone call yesterday from the producer who asked, “I think Ellen would really enjoy that exploding pumpkin demo you do. What do you think?” What do I think? I think Ellen could make any science thing I do funny… and she’ll have a blast with exploding pumpkins (pun intended). We’re working out the final details on all of the experiments and we’re off to Burbank.

Any thoughts on what demos might complement a few exploding pumpkins?

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I felt like Tom Hanks in Cast Away as I raised my bundle of tinder and exclaimed, “I made fire!” Several months ago, I mentioned on air that I had never seen anyone who could rub two sticks together and make fire. By the time I stepped off the set, I already had nine emails from people who claimed to be able to start a fire using what is called friction fire. Ford Church, the Founder and CEO of the Cottonwood Institute in Boulder, Colorado wrote the most compelling email (okay, he sent a picture of high school students making fire in one of his survival workshops) and I invited him to be my guest this afternoon on the 9NEWS Four O’Clock Show. Watch the video and you’ll see why this guy trains people all over the country in survival skills - he’s good. Within five minutes of setting out his supplies, he had fire. But he’s an expert… what about me? Ford gave me a quick lesson, showed me the finer point of “bowing”, taught me how to transfer the ember to the tinder and… voila!… I made fire.

Watch the video and learn how to make fire.

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I was in Talkeetna, Alaska when I received a call from my television producer. “Have you seen the Mentos video yet?” I asked which one she was referring to and she said, “The one with the two guys and 102 bottles of Diet Coke.” I quietly snuck out of the hotel room with my laptop - I was on a mission to find a wireless connection. Thirty minutes later (after lots of snooping), I was watching the amazing video by Fritz Grobe and Stephen Voltz. The first time we did the Mentos Diet Coke experiment on 9NEWS in Denver was March of 2002. We featured variations on the Mentos experiment four other times (different ways to drop the candy into the bottle… warm soda vs. cold soda… brand name vs. generic). But the Eepybird.com video was a stroke of genius.

As a tribute to their video, we gathered a few of our instructors and staff from the Hands-on Science Institute and taught viewers how to make their own trigger device. We filled the back of the SUV with 52 bottles, about 300 Mentos, a cordless drill and a pile of pipe clearners. Here’s the Spangler video at 9NEWS…

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There’s always a buzz this time of year about ways to conserve water as we head into the hot and dry summer months (but remember that there’s no such thing as global warning!) Aside from reducing the amount of water we use, the water-wise are turning to water-absorbing polymers as a way to reduce watering times by 50 to 80%. These jelly-like crystals start out small (like the size of rock salt) and absorb tremendous amounts of water… like a water-slupring sponge. The so-called Water Jelly Crystals hold water in the soil so it can be released to plants as they need it, and they can help reduce watering demands of plants by up to 80% in drought conditions. Learn more about the application rates and how to use the polymer in your garden or watch the video from television.

Anyone using the crystals either in class as an educational tool or in your garden?

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Disappearing Ink is a great tool for chemistry teachers to demonstrate acid-base indicators. Just squirt a little on your shirt and the carbon dioxide in the air turns it from blue to colorless. If your breath works well, it only makes sense that a shot of carbon dioxide from a fire extinguisher works great… and it does. But here’s what you didn’t see on television. I was on set and ready to go with Nick O’Kelly when I looked down at the fire extinguisher and thought to fire off a test blast. I pulled the trigger and… nothing. Nothing! We were less than 30 seconds to air time when I ran to the back area of the studio and pulled the CO2 extinguisher off the wall… broke the tab and I was ready to go. Literally seconds later, the red light came on. I squirted disappearing ink on Nick’s coat just as planned and told him that the secret to making the “ink” disappear was carbon dioxide. When it came time to blast Nick with a little carbon dioxide, little did I know that it would come flying out with the force of a hurricane! The fire extinguisher that I normally use is a kinder, more gentle spray as opposed to a blast.

Take a look at the video and you’ll see that Nick was a little surprised.

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Sometimes the simplest experiments I do on television creates the greatest response. My Balloon in the Bottle experiment that aired on Monday was no exception. It’s just an ordinary balloon poked into a soda bottle with the challenge… blow up the balloon in the bottle. Looks easy until you try it. After you’ve mastered secret, you’ll be able to make a water balloon stuck in a bottle… which also looks impossible. So easy but very clever.

Watch the video

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Here’s a “do not try this at home” science demonstration that illustrates how dry trees are susceptible to catching fire and ways to avoid this potential fire risk.

Watch the Christmas Tree Fire Video

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Lots and lots of teachers do the “egg drop” activity with their students. Basically, here’s how it works… each child gets an egg and some parameters for making a container that will protect the egg and keep it from breaking if it were dropped. The teacher usually perches herself high atop the roof of the school and tosses the boxes (or whatever contraption the kids come up with) to the ground as crowds of kids scream with delight. It’s great fun to hear the cheers and an occasional “darn!” when the egg drop engineers open their containers.

I had an idea several weeks ago as I was planning my upcoming television segments for November. What if I a group of 5th graders challenge the the packaging experts at UPS (you know, the guys in the brown truck) to an egg drop contest. Better yet, what if we did it on live TV? Would “corporate” allow such a contest? What if the egg broke? Click on the video link below to watch the showdown between a team of eight 5th graders from Village East Elementary in Colorado and two packaging experts from UPS.

Watch the Egg Drop video

 

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