Everything Kids' Magical Science Experiments Book Read Online Free Page A

Why can't they just relax and enjoy themselves for an evening, and let you do the same? Then again, it is nice to eat dinner on clean plates, and have clean clothes, and not to have to step over garbage to get to the front door, so maybe chores aren't the worst way to spend your time. But what if you could make your chores into interesting, even magical, science experiments?
    Did You Know?

    The Basilisk lizard is a creature that can literally walk on water. It uses the water's surface tension to support itself as it runs on two legs across the surface of water. For this talent, it has been nicknamed “The Jesus Lizard.”
    There's no guarantee that doing chores will ever be a task you would consider “fun,” but there are probably items lying around your house that, in your capable hands, could produce some interesting activities. See what you can find in your “fun” house. In this chapter, you'll explore racing toothpicks, balancing candles, magic bouncing balls, and metal in cereal.
Try This: Racing Toothpicks
    See if you can find a hiding place where your family keeps toothpicks. If so, then you are ready for a racing game to see just how fast you can make them go in water. But be careful— you don't want to make a big mess that you'll have to clean up afterward.
    Question: Can you make toothpicks race through water?
Materials
Several toothpicks
Aluminum pie pan or similar
Water
Liquid detergent
Procedure
Fill the pan with enough water to float the toothpicks.
Arrange toothpicks on the surface of the water in the shape of your choice. You might want to try a triangle, a square, or a pentagon. Be sure to lay the ends of each toothpick across the ends of another, so they don't float away.
Take one additional toothpick and dip one end in the liquid detergent.
Carefully place the soapy end of the extra toothpick as close as possible to the center of the arranged toothpicks in the pan.
The toothpicks should shoot out of formation.
The Science Behind the Magic
    This experiment demonstrates the surface tension of water. At the surface of the water, the molecules are held together and this tension is what helps the toothpicks stay close together. Liquid detergent breaks that surface tension, and causes the toothpicks to move away suddenly. It doesn't take much detergent to cause this effect, so it's possible that if you were to try this again using the same water, nothing would happen. You may have to dump the first batch of water and start again.
Follow-Up
    Would you like to see your toothpicks in a race? Set up the experiment again with a fresh batch of water in the pan. Carefully place a set of “racers” in the pan all pointing toward the far end of the pan. Dip an entire toothpick in liquid detergent and drop it behind the lined-up toothpicks. Be sure to place it perpendicular to the toothpicks that will be racing. Which one moves the farthest? The fastest?
    This experiment can also be done using pepper sprinkled across the surface of the water in the pan. Try it and watch the pepper scurry away!
    SURFACE TENSION: A force that keeps water molecules stuck together near the water's surface.
Try This: Personal Water Fountain
    Most schools provide drinking fountains for their students. These machines pump water from the school's water supply up through a series of pipes and out a faucet. To bring the water from under the ground up to where you can drink it takes a lot of effort. But to make water flow the other direction, downward, doesn't take any effort at all, thanks to gravity. In this experiment, you will see how gravity affects water pressure and how you can produce different streams of water from the same container just by adjusting the height of the water.
    Question: How does gravity affect water streaming out of a container?
Materials
Empty 2-liter plasticc soda bottle
Scissors
Adult helper
Plenty of water
Large cake pan or cookie sheet with sides
Procedure
Ask your adult helper to use