Make Plastic Christmas Decorations

 Plastics are a group of materials that are made up of long chains of repeated molecules. There are lots of different types of plastics with different properties. The differences between plastics are caused by using different molecules in the long repeated chains.

To make the plastic Christmas Decorations the first thing that you need to do is measure out 250 ml of milk and then heat it in the microwave for about a minute so that it is hot but not boiling.

The next thing that we are going to do is add 4 teaspoons of vinegar and stir them together 

Now you should see that the milk starts to clump together. This is because the acid in the vinegar starts to break down the proteins in the milk. 

You are going to continue to stir this for a few minutes and then once the mixture has cooled, we are going to scoop out the white clumps (or curds) and put them onto the kitchen roll.  

Use the kitchen roll to absorb any excess liquid and then you can knead what is left into a ball of dough. This is the plastic and you can add food colouring to it to colour it.

You can shape it either by hand or if you have some Christmas cookie cutters you can use them to make your Christmas decorations. When you are happy with your shapes make a hole in the top with a cocktail stick so they can be hung up and put them on some kitchen roll to dry. You will need to leave them for 2 days to dry out and then they will be ready to decorate your Christmas Tree!

You can make milk into plastic as milk contains protein molecules. When you heat it, and add vinegar (an acid), you can make the protein molecules unfold and reform into a long chain. 

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

Deck the Halls...

  

 For our next science activity we are going to be making plastic Christmas Decorations!

We will be releasing this activity on the Surrey Libraries Facebook page on Thursday 17th December at 4:30pm. 

For this activity you will need:

• Milk
• Vinegar
• A Jug
• A teaspoon
• Some Kitchen Roll
• Food Colouring
• A Cocktail Stick

If you have some Christmas cookie cutters you may like to use these for this activity as well

For more information watch this short information 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

Bath Bombs

If you have ever used a bath bomb before you will know that when you add it to the water they start to fizz and produce lots of bubbles. The reason this happens is because two of the ingredients inside start to react together when the bath bomb goes into the water and this produces lots of bubbles of carbon dioxide.

To make our bath bombs the first thing that we are going to do is add the dry ingredients together in a bowl. So we are going to add 2 spoons of bicarbonate of soda, 1 spoon of Epsom salts and 1 spoon of citric acid and then mix them together.  

We are then going to add 2 drops of essential oils, and 2 drops of food colouring and give it a mix. This might not look like a lot of colour but it spreads and you can add more at the end if you want to. 

You are then going to add 5 drops of oil and give it a mix, and then 5 drops of water. Now you will want to be careful when you add the water as you don’t want to add too much. When you add the water you will see that there is a small reaction starting to happen where you add the water drops. This is the bicarbonate of soda reacting with the citric acid as you have an acid and an alkali in your bath bomb, and these react together. 

Make sure that you mix you bath bomb mixture well. At this point your mixture should start to look like breadcrumbs and this means that it is ready. If you need to you can add a couple more drops of food colouring and then it's time to put it into your moulds. Now you may have bath bomb moulds but don’t worry if you don’t as you could use ice cube trays or even something like a plastic yogurt pot. What you want to do is pack your bath bomb mixture inside and then you are going to leave in inside to harden for about 24hours. After that you can take it out and it will be ready to use! 

If you want an alternative to citric acid you can replace this with cream of tartar. You could even try making bath bombs once with citric acid and once with cream of tartar and compare the results! You could also try experimenting with different colours, flavours and different shaped moulds...

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

Bath Bombs away...

 For our next science activity we are going to be making bath bombs!

We will be releasing this activity on the Surrey Libraries Facebook page on Thursday 10th December at 4:30pm. 

For this activity you will need:

• Bicarbonate of Soda
• Citric Acid
• Epsom Salts
• Food Colouring
• Essential Oil
• Olive Oil/ Vegetable Oil
• Water
• A bowl (or something to mix everything in)
• A spoon
• A pipette (or something to measure with)
• A mould for the bath bombs

For more information 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 Surrey Libraries YouTube Channel

Virus Structure

 Viruses are very small particles that can infect animals and plants and make them ill. They are made from a small amount of genetic material - either DNA or RNA (similar to DNA) and a protein shell. Viruses can come in a range of different structures but for this activity we are just going to be looking at one example.

Covid - 19 is caused by a virus, from a type of viruses called coronaviruses. The structure of these viruses are made up of a piece of RNA surrounded by a protein shell, covered by a lipid membrane, with proteins on the outside. 

To make a model of this the first thing that you need to do is take a piece of silver foil and roll it into a ball. This is going to represent the RNA centre surrounded by the protein shell.

You are then going to cover this with a layer of butter, to represent the lipid membrane. Lipids are fats. Butter is also made from fats so it will work in a similar way. We can then add some sprinkles to represent the proteins on the surface of the virus.

You are going to need 2 virus models for this activity so you will need to make a second model in the same way.

We are now going to test our models to see what happens when we wash our hands. In one bowl we are going to add some warm water and in the second bowl we are going to add warm water and some liquid soap. We are then going to add one virus model to each bowl

Give each bowl a mix and so that the virus model gets covered, just like it would do when you wash your hands and leave it in the water for a minute so that you can see what happens

After about a minute take the virus models out of the water and see what has happened... What do you see? You should see that the model that was in the bowl with soap and water had broken down more than the model that was in the bowl with just water. This shows that it is best to wash your hand with soap and water as if the virus breaks down it can't cause illness.

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

What's bugging you???

 

 For our next science activity we are going to be learning about the structure of Viruses!

We will be releasing this activity on the Surrey Libraries Facebook page on Thursday 3rd December at 4:30pm. 

For this activity you will need:

• Silver Foil
• Butter
• Sprinkles
• Warm Water
• Liquid Soap
• 2 Bowls (or similar containers)
• A Butter Knife
• A spoon

For more information 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 Surrey Libraries YouTube Channel