June 26, 2008

UV Beads Help Students Understand the Importance of Sunscreen

You might have seen t-shirts or special jewelry (beads) that changes color in sunlight. UV Beads look like ordinary white beads used to make a craft project, but embedded in the plastic is a special pigment that changes color when exposed to ultraviolet light. The color change takes place in just seconds - almost like magic. Mrs. Bratteli’s Third Grade Class from Aikin Elementary School in Paris, Texas, used the beads as a way to see if sunscreen lotion really blocks out harmful ultraviolet light from the sun. We did an experiment with your UV beads and sunscreen and the types were 10, 30, and 50 SPF. We put them each on a foam plate and had a nothing plate. [control—no sunscreen] They changed colors exactly how they were supposed to, but the 50 you couldn’t see. Read the full experiment write-up. But, like all good experiments, these third graders discovered something else... We left them all over the weekend and here are our results. The SPF 50 sunscreen also ate through the Styrofoam plate! The spf 10 … (more...)

June 24, 2008

ABC News Breaks the Mentos Story… only three years late!

This story came across my Google alerts today from the crack team at ABC News... "Science of Mentos-Diet Coke Explosions Explained." My fingers couldn't click on the link fast enough. New research finally explains this amazing phenomenon? Here's the opening sentence of the story... The startling reaction between Diet Coke and Mentos sweets, made famous in thousands of YouTube videos, finally has a scientific explanation. A study in the US has identified the prime factors that drive the fizzy plumes from Coke bottles: the roughness of the sweet and how fast it plummets to the bottle's base. What... this is the big discovery? The Mentos chewy mints have a rough surface and they're heavy? Well, they're absolutely correct and they confirmed the original Mentos Eruption explanation published back in 2005. Tonya Coffey, a physicist at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina said, "This was a good project for my students to study because there was still some mystery to it." Hats off to Coffey and her students for publishing her findings and bringing peer review to the Mentos Geyser experiment.

However, it … (more...)

June 23, 2008

Experiment of the Week Travels to Germany

It’s great to get your e-mails and photos of your children and students doing the science activities featured in our Experiment of the Week. These photos are from Sheila Allen, just one of a number of great teachers in the Department of Defense Schools at Ramstein AFB in Germany. Sheila writes... “Well today was the big day and boy did the children have fun! I think my favorite was the Expanding Ivory Soap activity, and I picked just the right kid to trick with the Do Not Open Bottle. We were doing an A-Z countdown to the end of school and so for E we did experiments, and we thought your activities really hit the high point for us! There are 9 kindergarten classes at Ramstein Elementary school (K-2) , and it is a good place for science to happen.” Sheila Allen and her team of mad scientists are a great example of how early childhood teachers are having an incredible impact on the science concepts that young children are being exposed to in the early years of their education. Over the last 15 years, I’ve seen countless examples … (more...)

February 14, 2008

Cornstarch Walk on Water - Get a Really Big Bathtub

The final step is to drive the cement truck filled with 2,500 pounds of cornstarch and 250 gallons of water to the back lot at the Ellen Show and pour the goo into a giant bathtub - 7 feet long, 3 feet wide and 2 feet deep. It's also a good idea to have your oobleck mixing experts change their clothes and spend the next 4 hours mixing the goo by hand to ensure the perfect consistency right before the tub gets moved on stage. How do you move a tub that weighs about 6,000 pounds? Using a forklift, of course. It's also a good idea to find someone in the audience who you've never met and trust that you won't let them sink into a pit of cornstarch goo. Watch the Cornstarch Water Walk Video View more photos at The Science Behind the Goo - Photos from the Ellen Show

September 13, 2007

Ellen DeGeneres Wants Giant Smoke Rings!

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.