Hey, folks, the new Carnival of Education is up and we’re in it! Go check it out… you’ll find all kinds of fantastic resources and information there.

Popularity: 37% [?]

We love it when people read our blog, try the cool and funky things we suggest, have tons of fun doing it, and SUCCEED!

Mamacita of Scheiss Weekly tried our Upside-Down Tomatoes and so far, it’s been a BIG HIT out there in southern Indiana.

We might suggest that she find a better place to put that sharp box cutter, though. Watch your fingers, Mamacita!

Popularity: 50% [?]

It’s official… I’m flying out to be a guest on the Ellen DeGeneres Show next week. Back in April of 2006 when a producer on the show originally contacted our office, I asked for your suggestions on experiments to do with Ellen. Lots of people suggested my Smoke Rings demo and Ellen might have taken your suggestion (hint, hint). Let’s just say that our office was filled with lots of smoke today as someone practiced shooting cups off of everyone’s head. We’re told that the air date will be next Friday, September 21, 2007. More to come.

Popularity: 90% [?]

I love Halloween. One of my favorite activities is to “carve” pumpkins using a simple reation inside the fruit. First, you carve the face then carefully replace pieces. After creating a reaction by generating a gas inside and igniting it (ask your local chemistry teacher for the details) the face pieces are blown off with a small explosion.

Halloween is more than 100 days away and I just couldn’t wait. So I initiated the new weather anchor at the local Denver television station by introducing her to carving watermelons. The problem was, we didn’t really carve the watermelon, it exploded. Watch the Video to see how we skipped right over the carving and went straight to exploding.

Popularity: 92% [?]

Not exactly… but this stuff is really cool. It’s probably best described as a self-siphoning gel. The chemical is called polyethylene oxide or Polyox and it has an incredibly large molecular weight - about 4 million. When the powder is mixed with water (that’s the tricky part), the liquid becomes very thick and will literally siphon itself from one container to another. As a kid I order a product called Moon Blob - “The Gravity Defying Gel” - which promised to do the same thing. It did… but now I’m doing it as an adult! It’s tough to explain it… just watch the Polyox video.

Popularity: 61% [?]