Halloween is right around the corner and there is nothing better than to mix up some dry ice concoctions for your Halloween party. Grocery stores sell dry ice, especially around this time of the year, so call around or visit the customer service desk in your local grocery store and ask if they carry it. Dry ice is -110 degrees and can burn if it comes in contact with your skin, so plan ahead and bring a cooler and gloves with you to the store. Also keep in mind that you must be over 18 to purchase dry ice.
Dry ice goes from solid to gas in a process called sublimation. It skips the liquid phase. Drop some dry ice in a cylinder filled part way with warm water and listen to the oohs and ahhs. The water burps and bubbles
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Halloween is our favorite holiday at the Spangler labs. Science and Halloween go hand in hand and there is nothing better than turning off the lights and bringing out spooky, glowing science to make all of the kids ooh and ahh. Whether you are planning a Halloween party, looking for unique decorations, or just wanting to have some fun with your own kids at home, here are some glowing activities you can do.
Phosphorescence vs. Fluorescence Some materials glow after all the lights are turned off. This type of glow is called phosphorescence. A phosphorescent material absorbs and slowly re-emits energy in the form of light. Our Glow Powder used below is phosphorescent.
Some glowing materials will only work in the presence of ultraviolet light. These materials have a chemical property called fluorescence. Fluorescent materials absorb energy …
We are honored to be included in the October edition of Moms Like Me Magazine. Our Halloween Science Kit was chosen to be featured in the Just for Fun section for safe Halloween activities.
Our Halloween Science Kit features some of the best Halloween science activities from bubbling potions, slimey glowing goo and spooky sounds. Perfect for a home or school Halloween party.
Moms Like Me Magazine is a free publication. It is published nationally but is not available in all regions. Check with your local Moms Like Me site for availability. The magazine is geared towards moms with kids 5 to 8 years old.
We love to see a twist or a new idea for one of our experiments and activities. One of our favorite bloggers Janelle at Brimful Curiousities, shared this idea on her blog. We loved it so much, we want to share it with our readers…
Janelle took our Screaming Balloon activity one step further and made ghosts with the balloons. First, she added the hex nut to the balloon and blew it up, just as the experiment explains. Then, she took white kitchen garbage bags and placed the balloons inside. She taped up the bag at the bottom of the balloon to keep the balloon from falling out of the bottom. Finally, she and her kids used black permanent pens to draw faces on the ghosts.
The ghosts can also glow by turning off the lights and placing a flashlight behind them.
The ghosts were named and played with for an entire evening. I’m sure her house was filled with whirring sounds and laughter. A science lesson about centripetal force also sneaked in.
An added bonus for using the garbage bags is if and when the balloon pops, the hex nut is
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Halloween season is the time to make bubbling potions, burping bubbles and low lying fog. The main ingredient in all of these concoctions (besides warm water) is dry ice. During the Halloween season, we get a lot of calls and emails from our customers looking for more information on dry ice. So here’s the low down on dry ice…please leave us a comment below if you have any additional questions on dry ice and our experts will do their best to answer.
What is Dry Ice?
Dry ice is frozen carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is part of the Earth’s atmosphere. Only about 0.035% of our atmosphere is made up of carbon dioxide. Most of the air we breathe is nitrogen (79%) and oxygen (20%). Plants use it for photosynthesis and we breath it out.
It is colder than ice made from water at -109.3°F (-78.5°C). Due to it’s extreme cold temperature, it must be handled with insulated gloves. It is used to keep food cold during shipping. When dry ice melts, it turns into a gas and not a liquid, like water.
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