Make Christmas Poppers

 

These Christmas poppers work in a similar way to the ball launcher that we made in session 8. The Christmas popper converts potential energy, that you add to it, into kinetic energy, when you let go.

The first thing that you will need to do is tie a knot in the end of your balloon and then cut off the tip.

You can then stretch the balloon over the end of your toilet roll tube. You may find it is easier to stretch your balloon if you blow your balloon up first and then let the air out

You then need to tape around the edge of the balloon to seal it in place

Your Christmas popper is now ready to test!

Remember not to aim it at anyone!

You might like to collect some different things and see what happens when you shoot them from your Christmas popper. Does the weight of the object change how far it can fly? Does how far you pull back on the balloon make a difference? What is the longest distance you can make something travel?

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

Get the party started...

 

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

We will be releasing this activity on the Surrey Libraries Facebook page on Thursday 24th December at 4:30pm. 

For this activity you will need:

• A toilet roll tube
• A balloon
• Tape
• Scissors

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

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