Grow a Bear Osmosis

 

Osmosis is the movement of water from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration. Jelly bears are made from gelatine and don't contain any water so we are going to see what happens when you add the sweets to different liquids 

The first thing that we are going to do is set up our 6 glasses/ containers. You will want to label your containers so that they don't get muddled. You will want to add one of water, salt water, sugar water, bicarbonate of soda dissolved in water, milk and vinegar into each container.

You are then going to add a jelly bear sweet to each container and then leave them overnight

So when you go back and have a look at your sweets you will find that they will all have grown but some will have grown more than others. You should see that the bear that was in the normal water will have grown at a faster speed than the other bears. This is because there is a bigger difference in the concentration of water between the inside and the outside of the bear so the water will move into the sweet.

You could try this activity with some other liquids and see what happens. You could also leave your bears for longer and see if they grow any bigger or see what happens to them

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

Bear-ing Up...

  

For our next science activity we are going to be learning about Osmosis by growing some Jelly Bears!

We will be releasing this activity on the Surrey Libraries Facebook page on Thursday 7th January at 4:30pm. 

For this activity you will need:

• Some Jelly Bear Sweets
• 6 containers
• Water
• Salt
• Sugar
• Milk
• Vinegar
• Bicarbonate of Soda

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

Dissolving Candy Canes

 Some substances dissolve when you add them to water or other liquids. When something dissolves it might look like it has disappeared but it has just become mixed in with the liquid and become see through/ transparent. If something can dissolve in water it is called soluble and if it can't dissolve it is called insoluble.

The first thing that we are going to do is set up our 4 glasses/ containers. In each of the glasses we are going to have a different liquid. We are going to add the same amount of hot water, cold water, oil and vinegar into each glass. We are going to label each glass as well so that we know what is in each glass

We are now going to add a candy cane to each glass and leave them for 10 minutes

After 10 minutes we are going to take out the candy canes and have a look at what has happened. You should see that the warm water was the best at dissolving the candy canes and the oil was the worst. The reason for this is because the candy canes are made from sugar and the sugar molecules are very good at dissolving in water. When the water has been heated the candy cane can dissolve quicker as the heat will help break apart the bonds holding the sugar molecules together  

If you don't have candy canes, or you want to repeat this activity, you could experiment with other sweets, like hard boiled sweets, and see what happens. You could also try some other liquids and see what effect they have on dissolving sweets

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

Christmas Candy

  For our next science activity we are going to be looking at how things dissolve using candy canes!

We will be releasing this activity on the Surrey Libraries Facebook page on Thursday 31st December at 4:30pm. 

For this activity you will need:

• 4 candy canes
• 4 glasses or containers
• a watch/ clock / or timer
• hot water
• cold water
• oil
• vinegar

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 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