Group Experiment #4

You knew it was coming!  There were two groups that chose vinegar and baking soda to mix together.  This is how the first experiment went:

Materials needed:  

• baking soda and vinegar
• funnel
• test tube
• straw

Procedure:

1. Funnel in the test tube.
2. Vinegar poured in until it fills halfway.
3. Pour baking soda for the other half of the tube.
4. Mix with a straw.

Predictions:  

• The powder will turn blue and into al liquid.  It won't be soft anymore.
• The blue won't be a squid anymore.
• It will turn dough-y.

Taking pictures was hard, so all I have are still shots captured from video.  I am sure you can imagine what it looked like!

"Its making bubbles!"

"Oh... my.... gosh."

"Ahhhhh!"

"It made a doughy thing at the bottom.  So one of my guesses is right!"

Keeping things quiet was going to be hard for this group.  I couldn't imagine how much these scientists wanted to share their findings!

 

It explosion

It acted like a volcano

It exploded

Group Experiment #3

With every group and child I talked to, I got the feeling they wanted a big reaction.  I talked about it a lot with them.  Did they really think I would let something explode?  Would that be safe?  This convinced about half of them, but the rest of the class was holding strong in the hopes of something explosive.

Materials needed:  

• baking soda and corn starch
• funnel
• test tube
• straw

Procedure:

1. Pour the corn starch in a tube.
2. Pour baking soda in the tube.
3. Mix it with a straw.

Predictions:  

• It will explode!  Just kidding.  But maybe...

There aren't any pictures of this experiment, but here is the general consensus of the final results.  No explosion, but still fun to test out our hypotheses.  

Group Experiment #2

This is the story of the second group.

Materials needed:  

• vegetable oil and vinegar (the vinegar is dyed blue)
• funnel
• test tube
• straw

Procedure:

1. Put the funnel in the test tube.
2. Pour blue vinegar halfway.
3. Pour vegetable oil halfway.
4. Mix everything with a straw.

Predictions:  

• It will be a green liquid.
• It will turn orange.

Now keep in mind the vegetable oil is a pale yellow and the vinegar is dyed blue.  I used food coloring in the vinegar to throw the children off, and because I knew someone would choose this combination for their experiment.  It is surprising to see when two liquids don't mix.

The young scientists tried mixing and mixing and mixing, but did not get the result they were expecting.  

"It's not mixing."

"I don't want to do it anymore."

"But this is the problem.  It's all like this."

"I don't know."

"Maybe you mix it." (to the teacher)

So that is what happened.  With teacher help and a lot of shaking, the test tube was mixed as best as it could be.  Once the tube was set back on the table, it started to un-mix!  The liquids get back to their original places with the oil on top and vinegar on bottom.  Small bubbles were seen and they moved slowly to separate.  

The children couldn't explain it, but something abnormal was happening.  These are their findings.    "Oil and vinegar did not mix!"

Group Experiment #1

After identifying and working with the liquids and solids I brought in, we were ready to come up with plans for experiments.  Working in small groups, we first decided which two substances we wanted to mix together.  That was a hard task in itself to agree with others.  When that was established we thought about how we were going to set up our environment, what our procedure was, and what our predictions were.

When each student made their plans, one lucky group got to carry them out first.  Here is their experience:

Materials needed:  

• vegetable oil and corn starch
• funnel
• test tube
• straw

Procedure:

1. Put the funnel in the test tube.
2. Put corn starch into the tube about halfway.
3. Add vegetable oil for the rest of the way.
4. Mix everything with a straw.

Predictions:  

• Everything will turn hard and yellow.
• Corn starch will turn yellow.

And then came the experiment!  Following the procedure made up by the young scientists, they stuck to the plan.  Some pictures were taken, but it was hard to have a free hand!  You will also see the notes taken in their science notebooks detailing observations.  

It looked like ice cream.  It is creamy.

It turned yellow.  Liquid is soft.

This is only one experiment, so get ready for 5 more groups of student work.  Once everyone has finished with their experiments, they will spend time presenting their experiences to the class- and possibly recreating their experiment so everyone can see it firsthand!