We have reached Day #3 in our 12 Days of Wonder in our quick ascent towards the holidays. Today’s spotlight science toy is Instant Snow Day.
Steve Spangler Science is celebrating the 12 Days of Wonder and highlighting our top 12 science toys and kits that are perfect to put under the tree. As blog editor, social media coordinator and mom of two budding scientists, I will share my review of each product. Steve Spangler Science also found 12 respected, popular mom bloggers to each test and review one of our 12 science gifts. I will include a link to their blogs and their honest reviews of each gift idea at the bottom of this post. Today, Jackie from Monkey Mayhem shares her review. The kit is also the Deal of the Day. So check our blog every day for the next few weeks to learn all about our 12 Days of Wonder.
Teachers, chemists and science geeks worldwide know about our instant snow polymer (Insta-Snow®) that turns from a powder to fluffy white snow when you add water. As part of their Olympic coverage, the Today Show featured this product as part of a story on the business of making snow.
It’s not supposed to snow in Iraq… but that didn’t stop the 34th Infantry Division of the U.S. Army stationed in Iraq. Shelli Markgraf shared these pictures of her husband’s division making a pile of snow in seconds by adding water to our Insta-Snow® powder. By looking at the additional pictures, you might be lead to believe that this was just a fun activity for our soldiers to pass the time… but you would be wrong.
In fact, the eruption of snow was used as a small scale experiment to see what would happen if millions of pounds of Insta-Snow were dropped from helicopters, instantly mixing with water, erupting into massive mountains of snow, with desert winds whipping the snow into a blizzard-like frenzy. Yes, this would confuse the enemy.
After pondering the idea for a few seconds, someone asked, “Where are we going to find the water in the desert to make the reaction work?” It took exactly 1.3 seconds to completely abandon the blizzard idea, and the soldiers resorted to making snow angels on the surface of the sun.
It looks like our Insta-Snow® or (Instant Snow as many people call it) is showing up on lots and lots of “Top Gift Ideas” lists that are prevalent on so many blogs. Just add water and the powder instantly erupts into amazing artificial snow that looks and feels like the real thing. Technically, it’s a superabsorbent polymer (if you really want to know), but it looks and feels like the real thing. It’s so realistic that it’s being used in indoor snowboarding parks and by special effects artists in movies. Once you start playing with the stuff, you just can’t put it down.
Here’s how it works… Just mix a cup of water with a scoop of Insta-Snow polymer and within seconds, the liquid turns into a solid and then erupts into a fluffy white, snow-like material (no mixing required). Watch in amazement as it instantly expands up to 100 times its original volume. It’s not sticky like the Insta-Snow imitations. UnIike real snow, Insta-Snow doesn’t melt, which makes
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By Blog Editor Susan Wells
