(Last Update: 11:21 PDT 28 July 2009 )

Notes for Family Science Night 2008

I volunteered to run a committee to organize a Family Science Night at Spring Hill School again this year. The date, selected in conjunction with the school administrators, is Thursday 24 April 2008. This is during the testing week, when there will be no homework, and near the end of the week. It is also the same day as the afterschool Tech Club, so the Tech Club kids can help set up the tables.

Please see family-science-night-2007.html for notes from last year, including lists of projects done, projects considered, and sites for lists of projects.

There will probably be light refreshments provided by the Parent Club, but I'm not organizing that aspect of the evening. I think that some last-minute efforst by Tamara Meyer and Robyn Bortnick will be covering from my lack of planning on this aspect.

Planned activities for this year:

Activity NameOrganizerStatus
AtlatlCraig Hunterbeing testedMake an atlatl out of wood, bamboo, or pvc to throw darts made out of swimming-pool noodles (possibly reinforced with a pvc core).

Advantages: fun, high-energy activity.

Disadvantages: outdoors, needs some development work, may not have enough room on field.

Full-length pool noodles are too floppy—they fly better when thrown by hand (flex too much with the atlatl). Pvc pipe darts fly well, but may be too dangerous. Short (one-foot) sections of pool noodle around a pvc core seem to be a good compromise between stiffness and safety.

Vinegar rocketsJeremy Chatwintested, needs bottles and corks Launching corks with vinegar and baking soda

Possible problems: messy, could be hard to do in the dark. Needs to be outside. Also, kids might reasonably object that these are not rockets, as the cork is propelled, and not the bottle.

Soda-bottle water rocketsKevin Karplusneed to print instructionsbicycle-pump soda-bottle rocket Well-tested, have launcher already, requires a lot of space, may be hard to do at night. Pump requires more strength than most K or 1st grade kids have.

I should make a sign-up list for kids/parents who want to make their own soda-bottle rocket launchers (to replace a Tech Club one Thursday).

Al-foil boatsKevin Karplusready Same as last year's Al-foil boats
Balancing a ball on a stream of airKevin Karplusneed ping-pong balls This is the same project as last year, based on http://www.exploratorium.edu/snacks/balancing_ball/

I have a ShopVac which can give a pretty good stream of air (at least if I clean the filter). I also have several hair driers that I bought at the thrift store for filling a demo hot-air balloon, but that could also be used for floating ping-pong balls. I also have a "Vornado" fan that can (barely) balance a beach ball.

Pump it Up: How we get our O'sWendi Knapp This interactive a "mazing" activity shows how our blood moves throught the cardiovascular system delivering oxygen and disposing of carbon dioxide.

The activity involves a floor drawing (drawn on a paint drop cloth) of the heart and the participants wear blue or red to depict if they are venous blood or arterial. Its simple but fun and works kind of like musical chairs. I was thinking we could use helium balloons instead of shirts or vests and the kids can take them home.

Dare to Drink itWendi Knappneed to laminate instructions How our water is filtered. A self guided project demonstrating water filtration and different natural and man made methods of water purification.

You mix cool water and cocoa mix to make dirty water with sediment then the kids put together a filtration system with a plastic water bottle, coffee filter, gravel, coarse sand and fine sand. The water comes out "clean". I could also bring in some water plants and moss as examples of active water filters.

gumdrop structuresJeremy Chatwinlooking for gumdrops Build towers or bridges out of toothpicks and gumdrops. Need double-ended toothpicks and gumdrops.
Scratch gamesKevin Karplusin development Kids in Tech Club (or other kids) will demo their games and animations written in Scratch. We'll need to set up a few computers, either with access to the file server or with the scratch materials downloaded from the file server before moving the machines. (May need help from Norvin for set up.)
polymer glue goopDaleth Fosterinstructions written Science: GLUE molecules + BORAX molecules = long POLYMER chains

Procedure

  1. Mix 2 tablespoons Glue with 2 teaspoons Borax
  2. Stir
  3. Knead with hands until dry
  4. Dry Goop & clean up with paper towels

Purpose

  1. Observe CHEMICAL REACTION as the Goop POLYMER forms Chemical Reaction: A GIANT POLYMER MOLICULE (tangled structure of long, flexible, cross-linked chains) forms when Glue combines with Borax.
  2. Observe the ELASTIC behavior Bounce a ball of Glue Goop. Elasticity creates bounce - the ball flattens when it hits the ground and then springs back to its original shape, pushing itself off the floor and back up to you.
  3. Observe the BRITTLE behavior Stretch it quickly and see what happens.
black ink chromatographyDaleth Fosterinstructions written Science: Black ink is a combination of different colored pigments. The black ink separates into different pigment molecules as it move through the paper. The speed of each color depends on the molecule and how strongly the pigment is attracted to the paper.

This is a simple example of CHROMATOGRAPY where a mixture flows through a solid substance. The different ingredients in the mixture move through the solid at different speeds and end up in different places. Scientists use this technique to determine the ingredients of perfumes and pollutants.

Procedure

  1. Cut a large circle from the coffee filter
  2. Make a black ink line about 1/3 up from the bottom of the paper.
  3. Put a little water in a cup. Curl the paper and place the water, but don't get the ink wet.
  4. What happens when the water reaches the line?
  5. What color reaches the outer edge first?
Peripheral VisionTim Dreszerready Peripheral vision It is one of Tim's favorites, since it is such a surprise that the fovea is so narrow. Teams of two. Some pre-setup, but Tim has the materials. Kids can tape images to popsicle sticks then try it out.

another site for peripheral vision

Persistence of VisionTim Dreszerready, could use another tube and another copy of instructions Persistence of vision Not as interesting to me, but the kids will have fun waving the long tubes, and it also shows how we can get away with such a small fovea.
Hole in the HandTim Dreszerready Hole in your hand This one is really just an excuse for kids to roll up paper and waste tape. Still, the hole in your hand is a neat optical illusion and materials are easy.
Mini Optics ExperimentsClaire Guparts arrived, projects tested The website for these experiments is http://acept.asu.edu/PiN/opticskit/expt/experiments.shtml The experiments are
  1. LENSES
  2. MAGNIFIERS
  3. GALILEAN TELESCOPE
  4. KEPLERIAN TELESCOPE
  5. FRESNEL LENS
  6. PROJECTOR
  7. DIFFRACTION GRATING
  8. POLARISERS
  9. MIRRORS
  10. HOLOGRAMS
  11. OPTICAL FIBERS

I will have the participant pick a card with the description of an experiment on it then test it out on the site. Some of these can run in parallel. Claire's kids tried some of the experiments. Some are easy—others might require some alignments.

How big is your hand?Tracy Valleequipment ready, need poster Measuring the volume of hands, comparing the size of dominant and non-dominant hands
Uncrushable EggKamela Aryatesting Supposedly one can't crush an egg just by squeezing it in your hand. I suspect that the wording of the challenge needs to be careful, or we'll have a lot of "cheating" solutions that make a mess.
Two BallsKamela Aryatesting Dropping two balls of different sizes together and when they hit the ground, the smaller ball jumps up dramatically because the energy from the larger ball is transferred and then squared. Kids can try first just dropping each ball and then together and also different balls of various sizes together.
K'nex topsBryan Largayready

Goal: Provide kids a fun experience learning about angular momentum, stability and color blends

Strategy: Kids build tops and see which ones spin the longest, which ones balance, and how colors blend while the tops are spinning.

Materials: Kid K'Knex parts and pieces, plastic dinner plates, sample tops, instruction sheets

Methods: Kids assemble tops and spin them on the plates, which keep the tops from wandering off.

Things to notice: What makes a top stable? What affects how long they spin? What affects how fast they spin? How big can a top be without falling apart? What distribution of mass increases stability, speed, duration? What colors result from the blending of the primary colors of the tops as they spin?

Options: Races to see which spin the longest, or which end up balanced. Battle of the tops - see which tops are more stable in a collision with another top.

Besides repeating successful projects from last year, here are some ideas we had for new projects this year:

Marble maze
Get some lengths of PVC pipe and some screw-together plumbing connectors and have kids build marble mazes.

Advantages: fairly cheap, reusable, fun.

Disadvantages: may require some thought on how to get interesting behavior out of the marble maze. (For example, may want to cut open some of the pipe, and make deflectors or jumps.)

Big suction cups
Get a few large suction cups (like the Bondo Suction Cup Dent Puller) for kids to try to separate.

Advantages: cheap (about $4 per suction cup), demonstrates air pressure.

Cancelled activities for this year:

Activity NameOrganizerStatus
Truck PullJeremy ChatwintestingPulling two trucks together with block and tackle

Couldn't find a block and tackle sturdy enough and cheap enough to do this. (sturdy OR cheap, not both)

Pinhole MagnifiersKamela Aryarejected http://www.exploratorium.edu/snacks/pinhole_magnifier

Kamela found this project somewhat unsuccessful in her prelimnary tests, so changed projects.

BristlebotsKevin Karplusgetting parts to test Evil Mad Scientists has a design for a bristlebot, a small vibrobot that needs only a toothbrush, a button battery, a pager motor, and some foam tape to hold them together. (OK, a little wire and solder too.)

Parts cost:

Advatanges: fun, quick to build, can have races. Kids can take home a bristlebot.

Disadvantages: requires soldering. Perhaps we could presolder leads onto a number of motors, so that only mechanical manipulation is needed to build bristlebots? Perhaps Tech Club could make some earlier? Costs about $2.50 per bristlebot.

Status: I bought 10 pager motors and batteries to test, and Joe Valle gave me half a dozen toothbrushes to test. Soldering on leads was a bit tricky (the motor leads are held in place by plastic, and I melted off the leads when trying to solder on wires for the first motor), but the bigger problem is getting a reliable connection to the battery. Working with the tiny motors is difficult and getting a solid connection to the batteries that doesn't virbrate off almost immediately is difficult.

This seems to be too fiddly for young kids, so I'm cancelling this project.

Crushing bottlesJeremy Chatwininsufficient forceCrushing bottles by burning candles in them to reduce O2

I suspect the problem is that the standard demo relies on heating air in a bottle, then capping it and letting it cool. Just burning a candle in a closed bottle will not change pressure much as O2 changes to CO2. See http://www.uen.org/Lessonplan/preview.cgi?LPid=16337 for some of the standard bottle crushing demos.

optics experimentsClaire GuFound website with better optics experiments some mini experiments with lenses or fish tank and laser pointer. Perhaps something like laser jello Or something from Optics for Kids

Meeting 31 March 2008 at Caffe Pergolesi (7 p.m.)

Attending: More possible projects: Repeat projects:

Meeting 21 April 2008 at Caffe Pergolesi (6:30 p.m.)

Attending: Kevin Karplus, Craig Hunter, Jeremy Chatwin

Outside activities: 6:30-7:30 (sunset is at 7:51, according to http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneDay.php Atlatl, vinegar and baking soda, soda-bottle rocket.

Need more soda bottles for both vinegar and baking soda and soda-bottle rocket.

Craig will help with table setup.