Experimenting Part 2

The day of experimenting finally came!  As soon as the children saw the vials they couldn't stop talking about it.  Each day a group of children carefully took notes as they experimented.  Ms. Amy worked with each group for 45 minutes!  Together they predicted, wrote down ideas, and took turns pouring.  We made it very important to not talk about what happened in the classroom because only one group could work a day.  The other children had to wait until the next day.  It was very hard to keep it quiet, but we did it!  When each group finished they would come in one-by-one into the classroom and walk around with an all-knowing smile on their face and white powder on their hands. They would then walk right up to me and whisper in my ear what they experienced.  They had to tell someone!

Once everybody had the chance to experiment, we got to take a big breath and declare the exciting news... 

It exploded!  

Well, more like fizzed and spilled over, but still exciting.

We also noticed some changes to the other less-exciting substances- like turning to milk, liquids not mixing, and bubbly blue.  Below are some pictures of the first round of experimenting.  For more pictures (and great faces) check out the Snapfish website.

I chose to dye the vinegar because it would be easy to see when it separates from the oil.  And fizzing vinegar and baking soda is a lot more fun when it's blue.  

One very cool side-effect of the mixing was the way corn starch and water react with each other.  When they are the right consistency, it can both be a solid and liquid.  The behavior is different from what we are used to, as it can be stringy, chunky, liquid-y, hard, and squishy.  If you squeeze it you can make a ball, but as soon as you let go, it "melts."

These experiments are an easy (slightly messy) thing to do at home.  Let your children show off what they learned in school!