Science Camp- Part III

By now you know that I'll do anything in the name of science. That is, of course, anything except that 10th-grade Science Fair project that I never turned in. But that was nearly ten years ago- water under the bridge. (For the record, I was never very good at math!)

Our third science experiment was comprised of a series of mini-experiments. And it took a loooong time. You could probably do it in less time if you're not limited to experimenting during your toddler's nap time.

I didn't take a picture of the necessary ingredients since I didn't know just how far we'd be taking this one, but here's a rough list- note that I used two of everything since I was working with two little scientists:

Eggs
Cups/glasses/bowls- whatever you've got to hold an egg with room for expansion
Vinegar
Water
Food Coloring
Corn Syrup
An Iron Stomach (yes, you'll need two of these)

Step One is easy enough.

That's an egg in each glass with enough vinegar to more or less cover the egg.

Step Two is harder- especially if you're a kid. That's because Step Two is waiting. There are no pictures of Step Two.

Step Three wasn't much more exciting.

Step Three is peering into the glass to see if anything has changed in the last 24 hours. You can see that there's a foaminess developing on top of the vinegar. Not much else was happening at that point.

Step Four was more waiting. Another 24 hours of waiting.

Step Five was the same as Step Three.

Those eggs don't look too exciting, do they? Hold on, let me remove them from the glasses so you can get a better look at them.

Pretty grody, huh? Those eggs are nude, naked, undressed, in their birthday suits (though I'm not sure that idiom applies to eggs). And they are very rubbery; they feel like super balls. But don't try to bounce them! It's not easy to see in the picture, but the eggs expanded while soaking and the membrane holding everything together is stretched really tight.

So we all learned that vinegar will eat the shell off an egg. And make it swell up like a tick.

But we couldn't stop there. There were so many more possibilities. What else could we do with naked, bloated eggs? We did what anyone with an over-abundance of food coloring in her cubbard would do.

I have completely lost track of what step we're on, but whatever number it is, it was to fill the glasses with water, stir in some food coloring and put the eggs back in.

After another full day of Step Two, we checked back and found this:

As you can see, the water level has gone down a bit. A-Train hypothesized evaporation. Not a bad guess for a six-year-old, but still wrong*.

Then I carefully scooped them out and put them on a plate for closer inspection.

Still rubbery and more swollen than ever. And check out that deep coloration-wish I could get my Easter eggs to look like that**!

You're probably hoping we're done now so you can get back to doing whatever you were doing before you started reading this post. Sorry, we're still going strong!

Next step- put the eggs in clean glasses and add corn syrup. Yes, corn syrup***.

You won't be able to completely cover the eggs because the corn syrup is too dense, but make sure you've got plenty in the glass.

You guessed it, more Step Two.

They're starting to look as weary as you are! And yes, I did brush Big D's hair that morning. And no, there's nothing that can be done to prevent him looking like a rooster.

Check back in about a day to find something like this:

The only word that truly does these things justice is flaccid.

Then, because you love your kids more than life itself, stick your hand in there and pull those eggies out and put them on a plate.

Again, some things are hard to tell in the picture. The yolks in these eggs were rock hard. I'll wait here while you go lose your lunch.

Guess what The Boys wanted to do next. Yep, make them expand again.

Back in the water they go.

And the next day:

The Boys wanted to shrink them again, but a mama has got to draw the line somewhere. This experiment had been going on for a week and my house had gone from smelling like I'd read too many Pinterest pins on how to make all-natural household cleaners to smelling like an Easter egg had gone undiscovered.



A few notes:

I used Wilton gel colors when coloring the eggs. I'm not sure if your colors would be as vibrant with standard grocery store food coloring.

The moving of the eggs in and out of glasses is best handled by a grown-up, or at least a big kid. I did all of the transfers very carefully with my bare hands rather than a spoon and we didn't have any casualties, but it seems like you could break one of these guys open pretty easily. If you do tear one, please leave a comment to let me know what it's like on the inside.

I don't recommend eating the eggs, mostly because they've been sitting out for a while. And also because they've soaked in vinegar and corn syrup- two mediocre tastes that I'm certain taste less-than-mediocre together.

That said, if you do eat the egg and live to tell about it, please leave a comment!


*Absorption, not evaporation.

**I don't think that could actually happen since in this case the color has crossed the membrane of the egg and it's colored on the inside and the outside.

***Corn syrup only has a little water in it, so the water will flow out of the egg and into the corn syrup.


And that concludes our rundown off Week One of Science Camp. There's another week coming up and I'll be sure to include you in all the fun!

Science Camp- Part II

Given the amount of cleanup that was required after our first science experiment, I thought it would be best to take things down a notch. There would be no microwaving or bubble making.

Everything we needed for the experiment is here:

Let me rephrase that, everything you'll need is in the foreground of this picture. You won't need the fruit bowl, baby wipes or whatever that colorful thing is on the right.

So, to be clear, that's:

Empty Water Bottle
Vinegar
Baking Soda
Funnel (optional)
Measuring Spoon
Balloons
Kids (Not pictured and optional)

First you put a teaspoon of baking soda into a balloon. The funnel was really helpful with that part. Then, put three tablespoons of vinegar into the water bottle-- again, I recommend the funnel.

Stretch the opening of the balloon over the opening of the water bottle.

The kids were skeptical.

Or maybe just goofy.

Lift the balloon so that the baking soda pours out and into the bottle.

And then watch the magic happen!

Sorry, but the magic is not that the balloon changes colors! But it does expand. We did this several times with several balloons. It was a real crowd pleaser.

I liked this experiment a lot because it didn't require any special ingredients- we had everything on hand, it was easy enough for a three-year-old to actively participate and it was very quick. Within seconds the balloons started to rise.

Check back to read about egg un-shelling, dyeing (on the inside), expanding and shrinking!

Science Camp Part I

T.S. Eliot obviously didn't grow up in the South. Any Southerner knows that it is July, not April, that is the cruelest month. The kids have been out of school for a month and we're all plucking each other's nerves. And yet, there's still a full month to go before school begins again. Oh, and it's hot. Surface-of-the-freaking-sun HOT! And humid. Sauna humid.

I have to limit outside play so that no one keels over from dehydration or heat stroke. And the options of indoor entertainment that will suit a 1.5-year-old, a 3-year-old and a 6-year-old are few and far between.

I ease the burden on all of us by sending The Bigs to a few camps throughout the summer, but there's still more togetherness than we're used to. And a lot less routine than we're used to. We don't do well if we don't have a plan. So this summer I planned some at-home camps. So far we've had cooking camp, circus camp and science camp. There was a feeble attempt at sports camp, but that shriveled up and died in the 100-plus-degree heat.

Circus camp was fun because Cap'n led the charge with his ability to juggle and spin plates and do all sorts of other fun things that I am far to busy (read: uncoordinated) to do. And cooking camp was as much fun for me as it was for The Boys. But the stand- out has been science camp. So much so that I think there will be another session in the coming weeks.

I like to start things out easy and work up to the big finale. (I'm like a fireworks display.) So with the help of my two best friends, Google and Pinterest, I set out to find some simple and fun science experiments*.

Let this picture serve as a warning of what will happen to your bathroom if you put too much trust in my buddies Googs and Pinnie.

Here's what you'll need to have a bubbly bathroom just like mine:

2 Bars of Ivory Soap
1 Microwave
Microwaveable Plate
At least 2 small children
1 Bathtub in need of a scrubbing

Things started off well-enough. We dropped our Ivory in a bowl filled with water alongside another bowl in which we'd dropped a bar of Dove. The Boys hypothesized about why different things happened in the bowls.

Then we put the first bar on a big plate, put it in the microwave and set the timer for 2 minutes. As we all huddled around soaking up micro-waves, it became obvious that 2 minutes was about 1 minute too long.

When the soap started to reach the walls of the microwave we took it out. And because I'm so smart and forward-thinking, we then did the exact same thing with the next bar!

There's another view of it on the kitchen counter.

The Boys thought it felt like paper- and it did. It's what I imagine papyrus must feel like- very fragile. Very cool, indeed. After much crumbling and attempted sculpting I was ready for the soapy goodness to go away. And that's when inspiration struck.

I think all of the Ivory fumes coming from the microwave must have gone to my head, and I decided to fill my garden tub with water, Ivory flakes and The Boys. I'll remind you that this is TWO FULL BARS of soap. Once everyone was settled in, I slipped out of the bathroom to steal a few minutes to myself.

When the crying started about ten minutes later, I went back in to find Big D with bubbles all over his face. And in his eyes! I'd forgotten to mention that Ivory is not tear-free! Once I'd helped him clean up, he wanted back in the tub, and really, what little boy wouldn't want to play in this:

The following morning I still had about six inches of bubbles in my tub.

So, what lessons did we learn with this experiment?

-If you put a full bar of Ivory in your microwave for 2 minutes, you're likely to be chased from your home by a foaming mass of 99.94% pure bubbles!
-Even at 99.94% pure, Ivory still burns the eyes.
-Green beans steamed in the microwave used for this experiment will have a mild soapy flavor.
-The smell of Ivory lingers in the home and hair for at least a week.


Stay tuned for more excitement from science week!

*Yes, I know, there is very little experimenting going on here. To hell with the Scientific Method!