Make a Solar Oven

The Sun is the largest source of energy for the Earth. More solar energy hits the planet in one day than could be used in 27 years. In areas without electricity solar ovens could be a great option to cook food. Solar ovens are low cost, reduce carbon emissions and can reach temperatures between 120^◦C and 175^◦C.

To make your model solar oven, the first thing that you need to do is get your shallow cardboard box and draw a square on the top of your box about 4cm away from the edge. With the front of the box facing you, cut along 3 sides of the square, leaving the last edge as a hinge.

Cover the inside of the cardboard box and the inside of the cardboard flap with silver foil 

Put a piece of black paper on the bottom of the box, and cover the hole in the top of the box with cling film. Make sure that you tape the cling film in place. You may need some help with this part!

Your solar oven is now ready. You can use your wooden skewer to prop the lid open. 

Why not try putting something inside and seeing what happens...

You could start with something that melts easily like cheese or chocolate as your solar oven will take longer to heat things up than a regular oven.

The video tutorial for this activity is available on the Surrey Libraries Facebook Page or the Surrey Libraries YouTube Channel

Feel the Heat!!!

For our next science activity we are going to be making a model solar oven!

We will be releasing this activity on the Surrey Libraries Facebook page on Thursday 6th August at 10.30am.

For this activity you are going to need:

• A shallow cardboard box (like a pizza box)
• Silver Foil
• Cling Film
• Black Paper
• A Ruler
• A pen or pencil
• A pair of scissors
• Tape
• A Wooden Skewer

For more information please watch this short introduction video. 

Follow Surrey Libraries on Facebook and Twitter for the latest information and don't forget to visit Science Club on the 

Make a Balloon Hovercraft

Hovercrafts are amphibious, which means they can travel over both land and water. 

To make your balloon hovercraft the first thing that you need to do, is take the pop top from your plastic bottle and place it over the hole in the middle of your CD. You are then going to secure it in place. You can either do this with a glue gun or with strong tape. You will need to make sure that no air can escape at the join.

Once you have attached you pop top to your CD, make sure that it is in the closed position and you can then blow up your balloon and pull it over the top. 

When you are ready to release your model hovercraft you can open the pop top and the air from the balloon will start to be released and the hovercraft will move.

The way the hovercraft works is that air from the balloon is released and gets trapped beneath the CD. This trapped air reduces the friction between the floor and the CD. As air is released from the balloon it allows the hovercraft to glide across a surface on a current of air.

You may like to try out your hovercraft on different surfaces and see how they compare.

You could also try swapping the CD base and trying something like a paper plate and see if this makes a difference...

The video tutorial for this activity is available on the Surrey Libraries YouTube Channel

Can You Hover?

For our next science activity we are going to be making a balloon hovercraft!

We will be releasing this activity on the Surrey Libraries Facebook page on Thursday 30 July at 10.30am. 

For this activity you are going to need:

• An old CD
• A Balloon
• A pop top from a plastic drinks bottle

You will also need either:

• A glue gun or
• Strong tape and a pair of scissors

For more information please watch this short introductory video. 

Follow Surrey Libraries on Facebook and Twitter for the latest information and don't forget to visit Science Club on the Surrey Libraries YouTube Channel

Make a Rocket Rover

The Rocket Rover is balloon powered. It converts potential energy that you store in the balloon when you blow it up, into kinetic energy when you let it go. 

You may need an adult to help you with parts of this activity!

The thick piece of cardboard will be the base of the rocket rover. The first thing that we are going to do is make the wheels for it. The milk bottle tops are going to be the wheels. You will need to make a hole in the middle of each milk bottle top and then thread two onto a wooden skewer with a small piece of straw in between. You will need two pairs of wheels for the rocket rover

You will next need to attach your wheels to your rocket rover. If you want to decorate your rocket rover the best time to do it is before you attach the wheels! Stick the wheels to the bottom of the card base on the piece of straw. This will allow the wheels to spin freely. Make sure that the wheels do not come into contact with the base. If you have excess skewer you may like to cut the end off.

You now want to attach the balloon to power the rocket rover. You will want to tape a balloon to a straw. Make sure that you use lots of tape so that no air escapes. You will then tape the straw to the top of the rocket rover but make sure that the straw hangs over the edge of the base. This will make it easier to blow up the balloon.

Your rocket rover is now ready to test! When you release the balloon air is pushed out the end of the straw and this propels it forward. 

The video tutorial for this experiment is available on Surrey Libraries Facebook page and Surrey Libraries YouTube channel. 

Blast Off!!!

For our next science activity we are going to be making a Rocket Rover!

We will be releasing this activity on the Surrey Libraries Facebook page on Thursday 23 July at 10.30am. 

For this activity you are going to need:

• Some thick cardboard (eg. cardboard packaging)
• 2 wooden skewers
• 2 straws
• 4 milk bottle tops
• Tape
• A pair of Scissors
• A Balloon

You may also like to collect some colouring pens/ pencils/ crayons to decorate your Rocket Rover 

For more information please watch this short introductory video. 

Follow Surrey Libraries on Facebook and Twitter for the latest information and don't forget to visit Science Club on the Surrey Libraries YouTube Channel

Invisible Ink

We are going to be experimenting with lemon juice as an invisible ink. When you use it to write on paper nothing will be visible but if you want to see your message all you need to do is heat your paper. When you do the carbon in the lemon juice reacts with the air and starts to turn brown.

To make your invisible ink the first thing that you are going to do is squeeze some lemon juice into a bowl and add a little bit of water. Give this a mix, and then you are ready to use it to write a message on your paper:

Leave your message to dry and it will stay invisible until you heat your message. It will then become visible. You could hold it over a lightbulb, iron the paper, put it in the over, or do whatever you want to heat the paper, but you may need an adult to help you.

There are other things that you can also use as invisible ink in the same way. Vinegar, Milk, Orange Juice, Soapy Water, Apple Juice and Honey also work in a similar way so you may like to experiment with some of these other things and see what works best!

The video tutorial for this experiment is available on Surrey Libraries Facebook page and Surrey Libraries YouTube channel.