Great Sites for Kids

If your child enjoys reading science articles, then this is an excellent website:

http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/

To get information on the North Carolina Science Curriculum for your child’s specific grade level, go to:

http://www.ncpublicschools.org/curriculum/science/units/elementary/

This is an excellent site for science fair information

www.sciencebuddies.org

Fun Science Games online

http://www.primarygames.com/science/nutrition/games/amazingfooddetective/index.htm

Fun Brain Games that will challenge your mind.

http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/chgames.html

We are going to expand this page to include safe, online games for children of all ages.

MYGEMS SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS
"T.K. the Chemist" has prepared some special projects for you to try at home with adult supervision. However, we must warn you that SAFETY IS FIRST!!!!!

Disclaimer : The information on this website is designed to provide the best tools needed to create the experiments as outlined. We take care to provide you with practical, reliable information. However, please make sure that you do your own 'due diligence' when performing any experiments provided by the MYGEMS Science Center. While the science experiments we do are generally considered safe and a low hazard, please use care when performing any science experiment. Adult supervision of kids is always recommended. We expressly disclaim all liability for any occurrence, including, but not limited to, damage, injury or death which might arise from the use of any project or experiment here. You assume all liability and please use these projects at your own risk.

You may use this experiment, however please provide the MYGEMS Science Center credit with the activities provided. Thanks! Tabelech K. Shipp

It's that time of year again when parents and children are stressing over the infamous science fair projects. I know that many parents have great intentions of helping their children, but time doesn't always appear to be on their side. With work and other family responsibilities, parents do not have a lot of time. The MYGEMS Science Center would like to help parents by providing resources for them.

We are offering a special plan for parents who would like to receive help for their child's science fair projects. For a special consultation fee of only $25 per hour, we will help your child organize their science fair projects and display boards so they can achieve the best project in their class and school.

When you do a science fair project you become a scientist. You go through the same investigative steps as a scientist to find the answers to such questions as: Can you tell the temperature from the chirping of crickets? Which brand of batteries last the longest and why? In what kind of soil do plants grow the best? The possibilities are endless but the project should always be based on what interests you.

What is the Scientific Method?

For thousands of years, scientists have applied the scientific method when completing experiments. The scientific method has several steps that allow you to figure things out in an organized manner.

• Ask a question that you are curious to learn more about.
• Take a guess as to what you think the answer might be. This is called the hypothesis.
• Test your hypothesis by coming up with ways in which you can determine whether or not your hypothesis is correct.
• Observe and record. Keep your spiral notebook handy so you can jot down anything that occurred while doing your experiments. Make careful notes. Also, take pictures of the various steps and procedures you are doing. This will be great to include them onto your display board in the form of a graph, chart, table, or diagram.
• Get organized. Keep all of your science fair materials together in a box and separated from school work and other unnecessary items. Do not place items in this box that are not relevant to the science fair project.
• Does your data support your hypothesis? Do you have to start over and develop another hypothesis and design a new experiment? Maybe. Maybe not. If your hypothesis agrees with your experimentation then you may be able to come up with a theory. A theory is the best possible explanation for the data you collected.
• Develop an abstract. It is a brief summary of your project (no more than 250 words). It includes a brief description of the problem, hypothesis, procedures, results, and conclusions.
• Share your results. Put all of your data together onto your display board.
  

Here are some examples of Science Fair Project Ideas. We can help you design and modify the topic titles to develop your hypothesis. These project ideas will work if you are pressed for a deadline that is under 6 weeks.

Here are just a few to consider:

• Under what conditions will a plant grow the best? Using distilled, spring, microwave, or soapy water.
• Which brand of batteries last the longest?
• Why do Fall leaves change color?
• Which cereal has the most iron?
• Which fingerprint is the most common?
• Which laudry detergent cleans clothes the best?
• Which brand of cookie has the most chocolate chips?

Science concepts
A polymer is a molecule made up of many smaller molecules joined together. You will be able to explore the changes in physical properties of a polymer as a result of cross-linking the chemicals necessary to make this concoction.

• Make sure that you layer your workspace with newspaper. This slime experiment is very messy and sticky. It is hard to remove the slime from carpet. Adult supervision is a must when conducting this chemistry project. What’s happening?
• You can use chemistry to make your own bouncing ball. Once you understand the basic technique, you can alter the recipe for the ball to see how the chemical composition affects the bounciness of the ball, as well as other characteristics.

Bouncing Polymer Ball Materials
Here's a list of materials you need to gather to make bouncing polymer balls:

• borax (found in the laundry section of the store)
• cornstarch (found in the baking section of the store)
• white glue (e.g., Elmer's glue - look for it in the school supplies section)
• warm water
• food coloring, optional
• measuring spoons
• spoon or craft stick to stir the mixture
• 2 small plastic cups or other containers for mixing
• marking pen
• watch with a second hand
• metric ruler
• zip-lock plastic baggie
• newspaper to cover your work area

Procedure

1. Label one cup 'Borax Solution' and the other cup 'Ball Mixture'.
2. Pour 2 tablespoons warm water and 1/2 teaspoon borax powder into the cup labeled 'Borax Solution'. Stir the mixture to dissolve the borax.
3. Pour 1 tablespoon of glue into the cup labeled 'Ball Mixture'. Add 1-2 drops of food coloring if you want color, and then add 1/2 teaspoon of the borax solution you just made and 1 tablespoon of cornstarch. Do not stir. Allow the ingredients to interact on their own for 10-15 seconds and then stir them together to fully mix. Once the mixture becomes impossible to stir, take it out of the cup and start molding the ball with your hands.
4. The ball will start out sticky and messy, but will solidify as you knead it.
5. Once the ball is less sticky, go ahead and bounce it!
6. You can store your plastic ball in a sealed Ziploc bag when you are finished playing with it. It will become moldy after a few days.

Notes: Don't eat the materials used to make the ball or the ball itself. Wash your work area, utensils, and hands when you have completed this activity. Do not put the slime in your eyes or near them. You must have adult supervision when using these chemical products.

Things to Try with Bouncing Polymer Balls
You will make observations throughout the experiment. After you have followed all the procedures to make a bouncing ball, you can vary the procedure and use your observations to make predictions about the effects of the changes.

• Observations you can make and then compare as you change the composition of the ball include the diameter of the finished ball, how sticky it is, how long it takes to solidify into a ball, and how high it bounces.
• Experiment with the ratio between the amounts of glue, cornstarch, and borax. Adding more cornstarch will make a ball that stretches and bends. Using less borax will produce a 'goopier' type of ball. Add more glue for a slimier ball.

After you conduct the experiment write your lab experience in a lab notebook and include the following:

• What is a polymer? How did a polymer form as a result of the chemicals used in this experiment?
• What happened when you added all the chemicals together?
• What was the general response from the group you conducted this experiment with? Include any quotes or reactions within your response.
• What did you do to alter the experiment? What was the outcome once you altered the quantities of your experiment?
• Place the slime inside a plastic sandwich bag and then place the bag inside the freezer for at least 1 hour. You could also place this bag inside the microwave for less than a minute. Be VERY careful once you remove the slime bag from the microwave because the hot slime can burn your skin.

Try this! Sinking and Floating Soda Cans

Imagine a hot summer day. You’re at a picnic and go to the cooler where the sodas are staying nice and cool. Which cans are floating in the ice water, and which have sunk to the bottom? We will discover the science behind this phenomenon. When submerged in water, the cans of soda will do something unique according to a specific property inside each can.

What you need:

• Two different brands of soda, the same size
  
• A large bin or pail to place water inside of it. Fill the bin at least 3/4 full.
  

Complete these answers before you do the actual experiment. When submerged in water, the diet can of soda will sink/float. Explain your answer.

When submerged in water, the regular can of soda will sink/float. Explain your answer .

Submerge the diet can of soda first. Describe what actually happened.

Submerge the regular can of soda next. Describe what actually happened.

What's the science behind this activity?

This is a fascinating demonstration, and is an excellent way to learn about density. We are all familiar with the basic concept of sinking or floating. Objects less dense than water float, and those more dense than water sink. Empty cans float, rocks sink. This is only possible because of differences in density. If both cans could be placed on a double pan balance, it would be clear that the regular soda is heavier than the diet soda. This demonstrates the difference between mass and volume.

Mass refers to how much stuff exists within an object. If something is heavier than another object, it contains more mass. Mass is measured in grams. Volume, on the other hand, refers to how much space an object occupies. For fluids, volume is usually measured in liters (L) or milliliters (ml). There are 1000 ml in one liter. Since both cans have the same volume, the heavier can must have a greater mass. We can now conclude that the heavier can is denser than the lighter can.

Diet sodas usually contain aspartame, an artificial sweetener, while regular sodas use sugar. Take a look at the nutritional information on the side of the cans. Notice how much sugar is in a regular soda (look under carbohydrates). Most regular sodas have about 41 grams of sugar. How much is 41 grams? Try 18 packets of sugar like the ones you might find at a restaurant! Diet soda is flavored with a relatively small amount of an artificial sweetener (like aspartame) which is 200 times sweeter than an equal amount of sugar. Therefore, only a tiny amount of aspartame is needed. Both sugar and aspartame are denser than water, which can be easily demonstrated by adding small amounts of each to a container of water. So it is actually a matter of how much of each is used. The 41 grams or so of sugar added to a can of regular soda makes it sink. The relatively tiny amount of aspartame used in diet sodas will have a negligible effect on the mass, enabling the can to still float.

So why then do cans of diet soda float? It is all due to the fact that there is a little bit of space, called "headspace," above the fluid in each can of soda. This space is filled with gas, which is much less dense than the soda, itself. It is this space above the soda that lowers the density of diet drinks just enough to make them float. Sugared drinks still have this headspace, but the excessive amounts of sugar added makes the can denser than water.

Reference: http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/00000051

FORENSIC SCIENCE "-OLOGY" WORDS

Match the forensic science term in column A with the correct definition in column B.

Column A                                                    Column B: (The study of....)

1. Anthropology                                             A. Pollen

2. Ballistics                                                     B. Insects

3. Criminology                                               C. Poisons

4. Cryptology                                                D. Blood serum

5. Dactylography                                           E. Corpses

6. Entomology                                               F. Hair

7. Odontology                                               G. Projectiles (like bullets)

8. Palynology                                                H. Fingerprints

9. Pathology                                                 I. Humans

10. Serology                                                J. Crime

11. Toxicology                                            K. Secret messages

12. Trichology                                             L. Teeth

13. Fractography                                       M. How things work

Answers:

1: I       2:G       3:J     4:K

5:H     6:B         7:L    8:A

9:E     10:D      11:C   12:F    13:M