Science experiments - Science4Fun

Color changing liquid is one of the most interesting magic tricks behind which lies the principle of science. This experiment demonstrates a clock reaction in the chemistry in which a clear liquid suddenly changes its color to dark blue.

The time to turn a clear liquid into a dark blue color can be changed by changing the amount of substances inside the liquid. You have to go to a pharmacy store for a few materials, but other materials can easily be found in your kitchen.

Things You Will Need

3 empty plastic glasses
Measuring Cup – (Or anything to measure the water in milliliters)
1 Spoon
1 Permanent Marker
1 tablet of 1000 mg Vitamin C – (from a pharmacy store)
Iodine tincture (2%) – (from a pharmacy store)
Hydrogen Peroxide (3%) – (from pharmacy store)
Liquid laundry starch – (Or corn starch, but it will make liquid slightly cloudier)

How To Make?

Precautions: Before you do any experiment, always wear your safety goggles, hand gloves, and safety apron. Also, perform the experiment in the presence of your parents or an adult.

Take a permanent marker and write “Glass A” on one glass, “Glass B” on second glass, “Glass C” on the third
Place a tablet of vitamin C in a clear plastic bag and crush with the help of spoon until it becomes powdery. If you have mortar and pestle in your kitchen, you can also use it for crushing the tablet.
Put the powdered vitamin C tablet into Glass A, then pour 60 ml (about 2 ounces) of warm water in it. Now, stir the liquid well to mix the powder well with the water – the liquid may become slightly cloudier. NOTE: You need to measure water accurately before pouring it in the glass.
Take a spoonful (about 5ml of liquid from Glass A and pour it into Glass B. Then, pour 60 ml of hot water and one spoonful (about 5ml) of iodine tincture also in the Glass B. Stir the liquid in the Glass B well and you will watch the liquid carefully; the brown colored iodine tincture will become clear.
Get the Glass C and pour in it 60 ml of hot water, 15 ml of hydrogen peroxide, and half spoon (2.5 ml) of liquid laundry starch. Stir the liquid in the Glass C well and keep it aside.

Everything is now ready now, let’s start the fun part!

When you want to perform the experiment in front of your friends and family members, just pour all the liquid of the Glass B into the Glass C and mix the liquids well by pouring it between the two glasses about 3 times. Now place the well-mixed liquid in the glass and observe it carefully. It will suddenly turn into dark blue in a few minutes!

How It Works

You have just performed a chemistry experiment which uses the iodine clock reaction to turn the liquid color after a certain amount of time. The reason for adding “clock” in the name of reaction is because you can change the amount of time needed to change the color of the liquid (check below section more information).

When liquid from Glass B, which contains vitamin C and Iodine, is added to Glass C the reaction begins. In this reaction, starch is trying to turn the iodine into dark blue color but vitamin C is preventing it from doing so. When starch takes over vitamin after a certain amount of time, the color of liquid suddenly changes and gives you a magical effect.

Try This Also

Try to increase the amount of liquid that you pour from Glass A to B and see does it affect the timing of color changing.
Try to use cold water in place of hot water and try to find out its effects on the reaction speed.

Soap bubbles are one of the most interesting activities of childhood. Let’s make soap bubbles at home with the materials from the kitchen. You will learn how to make a soap bubbles solution and the wand to blow bubbles. Find out! How bubbles work and tips for long lasting bubbles.

Things You Will Need

Clean water
Liquid dish soap
Glycerin
Pipe cleaner or straw

How to Make

Pour 3 cups of clean water and a half cup of liquid dish soap into a container.
Stir solution slowly to keep the foam from forming in the solution.
Measure a ½ tablespoon of glycerin and add it to the container. Then, stir the solution again and place it aside.
If you have any materials which have a circular hole in it, then it can be used as a bubble Otherwise, you can build one with a pipe cleaner or straw.
To make the wand from straw, just bend its top tip into a circular shape, then fasten it with tape.

Now it is time to blow some bubbles.

Take your bubble wand and dip it into the solution and blow slowly in the hole.

How it Works

The boundary of the bubble solution is made of three thin layers of soap, water, and again soap. That means water is sandwiched between two layers of the soap. This boundary is called soap film. When water evaporates from layers of soap than the bubble pops. Glycerin is mixed with the solution to make layers of soap thick which keeps the water from evaporating quickly. In this way, bubbles become stronger and last longer.

Try it

Try using different sizes of bubble wand to blow bubbles of different sizes.
Add some drops of food coloring to the solution to make colorful bubbles.

Egg in a bottle is an easy-to-do classic activity, which you can perform in your kitchen. In this activity, a hard-boiled egg (peeled) is set on the mouth of a bottle and egg is sucked in the bottle magically (actually scientifically). You will learn how pressure difference can cause push and pull and helps the bottle to suck the egg.

Precaution: Always wear safety goggles and hand gloves when dealing with chemicals. Also, take the permission from your parents for the experiment, or involve them.

Things You Will Need

Boiled Egg (peeled)
Large-mouthed bottle ( a little less than the size of the egg)
Hot water

Procedure

Place the bottle on the table and fill it with hot water.
After 30 seconds, empty the bottle.
Quickly, place a boiled egg in the mouth of the bottle.
Just wait!

As the bottle will become cool, your boiled egg will be sucked into the bottle.

What is Happening?

When you poured the hot water into the bottle, it raised the temperature of the air inside the bottle. Hot air expands, so some of the air escapes from the bottle. When bottle cools again, the air inside it also becomes cool. As a result, it contracts and pulls the egg down into the bottle. Since the egg is rubbery so it changes the shape according to the mouth of the bottle, and easily goes inside it.

Try It

If you want to remove the egg from the bottle then hold the bottle upside down so that the egg falls on the mouth of the neck. Now, blow into the bottle with your mouth as hard as you can. The egg will start to come out of the bottle because the air pressure inside the bottle is higher due to your strong blow.

You have probably seen planes; all with flat wings. But, have you seen anything flying with curly or round wings. Can a curled wing plane fly in the air?

Let’s do an experiment to find out what will happen if we replace the flat wings of a plane with hoops. Let’s see how a plane with hoops can fly in the air?

Things You Will Need

1 Drinking Straw – 6 to 10 inch long is recommended.
Stiff paper, File card, or Index card
Scissors
Tape

How to Make

Take a sheet of stiff paper and cut it into 3 pieces. Each piece measuring 5 inches long and 1 inch wide.
Take one piece of stiff paper and curl it to overlap its end edges, then tape them together to form a small hoop required for a glider.
Take two other pieces of stiff paper and tape their end-edges together to make a long strip.
Curl this long strip to overlap its two end-edges, then tape them together to form the second hoop of larger size.
Tape the two hoops that you made in previous steps with straw. One hoop at one end of the straw, and another hoop at its second end. Straw should be kept inside of the hoops at the time of taping, and make sure that both hoops are aligned.

That’s it! Your glider is ready.

When you want to launch your hoop glider, just hold it in the middle of straw and throw it in the air like you do with a paper plane.

NOTE: Both hoops should be on the top when you hold the straw, and smaller hoop should be facing in the direction of your throw at the time of launch.

How it Works

Two hoops in this glider are used to keep the straw balanced in the air while flying. Small size hoop keeps the glider from turning, and big hoop creates air resistance which keeps the straw leveled. Since both hoops have different weight so you may be thinking why the glider does not turn over? Actually, due to gravity lighter and heavier objects fall at same speed. That’s why the glider maintains its upright position.

Try it

Try to change the length of the straw and see what happens.
Find out! What happens, when the number of hoops is increased? First, try using 3 hoops, then 4.

Balloon rocket is a simple science experiment to understand the newton’s third law. Which states that, “Every action has reaction”. You will build a simple rocket out of a balloon and a straw that will slide over a string by producing thrust.

Precaution: Always wear safety goggles and hand gloves when dealing with chemicals. Also, take permission from your parents for the experiment, or involve them.

You Will Need

1 Balloon
10 to 15 feet of string
1 Drinking Straw
Tape

How to Make

Bring two chairs and place them 10 feet apart.
Tie one end of the string with one of the two chairs.
Pass another end of the string through the straw. Then, tie it with the second chair tightly, so that string tied between two chairs become flat.
Blow up the balloon. Then, pinch its mouth with your hand, so that no air escapes from it.
Tape the balloon with a straw while holding the mouth of balloon closed (ask your friend to help you).

Just leave the mouth of the balloon, when you want your rocket to slide over the string. The air from the mouth of balloon rushes out.

Watch your rocket!

How it Works?

When you allow the air to rush out of the balloon, it creates thrust which propels rocket forward. So, how this thrust is produced? Actually, balloon forces the air to rush out of it which in turn pushes the balloon in opposite direction of air. That’s what the Newton said, “Every action has a reaction, which acts in opposite direction”. To summarize this all, if the air rushes leftward then balloon will propel to rightward.

Try it

Use two same size balloons in place of one. Tape both balloons with straw in opposite direction and see what happens!