It looks like our Insta-Snow® or (Instant Snow as many people call it) is landing on the Top Gift Idea list all over the Internet. When we first created the Insta-Snow product back in 2002, we knew that science teachers would find a great use for the superabsorbent polymer, but we never thought that a powder that erupts into snow (okay, fake snow… but it looks so real!) would become this popular.
Insta-Snow® is actually derived from the superabsorbent polymer found in baby diapers. The only difference (and it’s a big one) is that the Insta-Snow polymer not only absorbs water but the long chains of molecules swell to an enormous size. The polymer soaks up water using the process of osmosis (water molecules pass through a barrier from one side to the other). When water comes in contact with the polymer, it moves from outside the polymer to the inside and causes it to swell. The polymer chains have an elastic quality, but they …
We might like to play the same game during the holidays… Guess which toy the kids will play with the most after everything has been ripped open and the house is a disaster. That’s the criteria we used in selecting this year’s Top 25 Holiday Gift Ideas from SteveSpanglerScience.com. If you’re looking for a toy or gift that makes the person receiving it say, “This is so cool!”, you can’t go wrong with anything on the list.
Fun Fly Stick It’s an ingenious, battery-operated static electricity generator that allows you to float cool tinsel shapes on a cloud of electrons. Bring the family over for Christmas, pull that tinsel off the tree and get ready for the applause… it doesn’t get much better than this. Oh, and if you don’t want to tear apart the Christmas decorations, the Fun Fly Stick comes with five tinsel shapes that are
Spangler introduces Tim and Megan to Insta-Snow and "reverse helium"
The news anchors at Fox 4 News in Dallas wanted to see if I could find a few ways to make science fun on their Good Day show. Let’s see… I could show them pictures of my science project from 3rd grade… or discuss freezing point depression… or make it snow and change their voices. I’ll pick door number 3. As you’ll see in the video, we covered the interview counter with erupting Insta-Snow and allowed Tim and Megan to experience the “reverse helium” effect using sulfur hexafluoride (SF6). This appearance on Good Day Dallas is the kick-off to a week of science workshops and presentations at NAEYC and the Texas Association of Science Teachers annual convention.
If you’re a fan of the Ellen Show, you know that the show recently moved to a new set on the Warner Bros Studio lot. The new studio is huge… great for exploding clouds of liquid nitrogen! Watch the video, but keep reading to learn what happens behind all of those clouds. I’ve mentioned this before, but it deserves a second mention. Ellen DeGeneres and the people who make up her staff are absolutely top-notch, first-class, amazing people who love their jobs. From the moment we arrived on the lot, there was someone ready to help us with anything we needed. And unlike a normal guest, I have a bunch of weird stuff to set-up backstage. The request list that I turned into the producers for this segment included rain coats, fire extinguishers, liquid nitrogen and a huge jar of pickles. With lots of stuff comes lots of set-up time backstage and probably more interaction with the Ellen Show crew than most guests get. Aside from having a great time, the big take away for me during this visit was the way the Ellen staff does …
The BBC UK called our offices yesterday to get permission to use the Inside the Soda Can experiment, that I’ve done on 9News, for Chris Jeavans “plastic-free” blog. Chris is trying to live for one month without using any plastic products. As the soda can experiment proves, Chris is finding that this may be a harder task than she once expected! When you perform this experiment, you will find that aluminum cans actually have a plastic liner, which prevent the acid in pop from eating away at the metal can. Mark that up as one more product Chris will be eliminating from her life this month! Be sure to check out Chris’ blog for some great info on what it means to “go green” in this consumer-driven world. It’s always fun to see our experiments making it around the world.
It looks like our Insta-Snow® or (Instant Snow as many people call it) is landing on the Top Gift Idea list all over the Internet. When we first created the Insta-Snow product back in 2002, we knew that science teachers would find a great use for the superabsorbent polymer, but we never thought that a powder that erupts into snow (okay, fake snow… but it looks so real!) would become this popular. 
