Science experiments - Science4Fun

Inflating the balloon with vinegar and baking soda is a classic experiment. Perform this experiments with your friends, and explain to them what is happening? You won’t need to buy anything, all the materials you will find in your kitchen easily.

In this experiment, you will learn how the gas (carbon dioxide) produced from chemical reaction inflates the balloon.

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.

You Will Need

An empty plastic bottle
A Half-Cup of Vinegar
A Balloon
2 to 3 Spoons of Baking Soda
Water

Procedure

Pour the half cup of vinegar and one-fourth cup of water in the plastic bottle.
Inflate and deflate the balloon with your mouth 2 times to make it lose.
Pour 2 spoonful of baking soda into the balloon using a funnel (If you don’t have a funnel, you can make one from paper and scotch tape).
Stretch open the mouth of the balloon, and carefully put it over the neck of the plastic bottle. Let the end of the balloon dangle to prevent the baking soda from falling into the bottle.

Your inflating balloon is ready!

When you want to inflate the balloon just hold the mouth of balloon tightly on the neck of the bottle. Then, let the baking soda in the balloon to fall in the bottle.

Now, observe the inflating balloon and chemical reaction.

What is Happening?

When the baking soda is added to vinegar, an acid-base reaction takes place. In this reaction, carbon dioxide gas is produced which develops pressure inside the bottle and starts to inflate the balloon. The balloon is being inflated with carbon dioxide gas, so it won’t float in the air. Because carbon dioxide is heavier gas than air.

Try It

If you want to slow down the reaction, so that balloon inflates slowly. Just, add water to the bottle to dilute the vinegar.

Making delicious rock candy at home is a fun and good science experiment. It will help you to understand saturated and supersaturated solutions. You will love to see how crystals grow on a wooden stick as time passes. You can taste and eat the crystal that you will make.

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

3-4 Cups of sugar
Glass
Clothespin (Larger than the mouth of the glass)
Wooden Skewer OR Popsicle stick

How to Make

Wet the Wooden Skewer in water, then roll it on the sugar crystals. Then, make sure that granules of sugar have stick on the surface of the skewer.
Place the Skewer aside and let it dry completely so that granules of sugar firmly stick to it. If sugar does not firmly stick to Skewer, it will fall in the glass and crystallization will not take place.
Boil 2 cups of water into a pan.
Add a half cup of sugar to the boiling water while stirring. Keep adding more sugar to the pan until it stops to dissolve further.
Note: Each time you add sugar to the pan, it will take time to dissolve it so be patient and keep stirring.
Pour the hot sugar solution into the glass and fill it completely.
Clip the dry end of Wooden Skewer into the clothespin near to the spring. Now gently place the Wooden Skewer in the hot sugar solution by putting clothespin at the mouth of the glass.
Put a piece of paper on top of the glass, and place it in a safe place to cool-down.

The sugar crystals will start to grow, and it may take 3-7 days to complete the process.

How it Works

When sugar is dissolved in water at room temperature, it has specific point after which the sugar will nor dissolve further. This point is called saturation point. When sugar stops to dissolve further in the water then it is said to be a saturated solution. When you heat that solution at boiling point, you further dissolve more sugar. Again, a point will reach where sugar will not dissolve further, then the solution will be called supersaturated solution.

You made the supersaturated solution and placed it to cool. When this solution becomes cool, it becomes unstable, and sugar starts to form crystals in solution. The sugar granules that were stuck on the Wooden Skewer are served as seed crystals on which dissolved sugar will cling to form crystals.

Try it

Try to add food coloring to the solution for colored rock candy.

If you want to make several candies of different colors. Use different glass for each color. You can make sugar and water solution in one container. Then, mix the color separately in each glass.

It is commonly observed that eggs will sink to the bottom of the water when they are placed in ordinary tap water. So, how this happens? And how eggs float in salt water? We will do a simple classic salt water and egg experiment to understand the science behind it.

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

Ordinary water
Table salt
Tablespoon
Wide drinking glass
Egg

What to Do

Fill the glass with ordinary tap water.
Place the egg in it, and watch the egg sinking to the bottom of the glass.
Now take-out the egg from the glass and add 4 to 5 tablespoon full of salt in the water
Stir the water in the glass to completely dissolve the salt.
Again, place the egg back into the glass and watch the floating egg.

What is Happening?

When the egg is placed in common tap water it sinks to the bottom, because the density of water is less than the density of egg. But, when you add table salt in the tap water, its density is increased. When the density of water became higher than the density of egg, the egg floated.

Try it

Try to float an egg in the middle of the water.

To do this, follow these steps:

Fill the glass half-way with water and add 4 tablespoons of table salt, then stir well.
Fill a cup with ordinary tap water.
Now, gently add the water from cup to half-filled glass so two layers of different density water don’t mix together.
Now place the egg in the glass gently.

If two layers of water are not mixed together, the egg will float in the middle of the glass.

Do you want to write some secret messages that no one can see without you? Learn how to make invisible ink from household materials, and start writing your secret messages and symbols. This is a very interesting science experiment, you will get a lot of fun.

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.

Method 1 – Using Lemon juice

Things You Will Need

Lemon
Cotton swap
Light bulb

How to Make

Cut a lemon into two pieces and squeeze their juice into a cup.
Add few drops of water to the lemon juice, and mix it well.
Dip a cotton swab into the mixture of water and juice. Then, start writing your secret message on a white paper.
Allow your message to dry completely.

When the paper dries, the message will disappear. When it is time to show your message just heat the paper with a light bulb by holding it over the bulb.

Method 2- Using Grape Juice and Baking Soda

Things You Will Need

Baking Soda
Cotton swap or fountain pen
Grape Juice

How to Make

Put 2 spoonfuls of baking soda into the cup.
Pour some warm water into the cup. Then, stir well.
Dip a cotton swab (or use a fountain pen) into the solution and start writing a message on a white paper.
When you finish your writing, place the paper aside and let it dry until there is no sign of your message (you can dry it in sunlight).

When you want your message to be visible, then dip any drawing brush into Grape juice and start painting it on your message.

An Electromagnet is the kind of magnet, which uses electric current to create a magnetic field. It can attract and magnetize ferromagnetic materials like Iron, Nickel, and Cobalt. It is easy to make a simple electromagnet at your home from household materials.

Things You Will Need

Thin Plastic insulated wire
5 volt AA Battery
Iron Nail

How to Make

Wrap 20 turns of insulated wire on an iron nail tightly
Trim about an inch of plastic coating from both ends of the wire.
Connect one end of the wire with the positive terminal of the battery, and other with negative terminal. Use the electric wire tape if necessary.
Get some paper clips and bring your electromagnet near them. You will see the paper clips will be attracted towards your electromagnet.

Disconnect wires from the battery, if wire or battery gets hot.

How it Works

When you connect the wires to the battery, an electric current flows in the wires. This electric current produces the magnetic field around the wire. The iron nail acts as a magnetic core. Magnetic cores are used to enhance the magnetic field.

Try It

Try to use two 1.5 volts AA batteries, and connect them in series. Then, connect the wires to this battery and observe the effects. Find out, does it affects the strength of the electromagnet
Use thicker wire instead of thin wire, and wrap around the iron nail. Then, observe the strength of an electromagnet
Use thick iron nail or bolt. Then, observe does it affect the strength of an electromagnet.

Try above methods, and note down your result. In the end, you will find which method is affecting the strength of electromagnet most.