Get Into Wow-Factor Science

35 Pages·2018·3.095 MB·English

by  Janice Dyer

JANICE DYER
CONTENTS
Author: Janice Dyer Photographs
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Written and produced for Crabtree Publishing
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Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Dyer, Janice, author Names: Dyer, Janice, author.
Get into wow-factor science / Janice Dyer. Title: Get into wow-factor science / Janice Dyer.
Description: New York, New York : Crabtree Publishing Company,
(Get-into-it guides) [2018]
Includes index. Series: Get-into-it guides | Includes index.
Issued in print and electronic formats. Identifiers: LCCN 2017029308 (print) | LCCN 2017031466 (ebook) |
ISBN 978-0-7787-3643-1 (hardcover).-- ISBN 9781427119636 (Electronic HTML)
ISBN 978-0-7787-3652-3 (softcover).-- ISBN 9780778736431 (reinforced library binding : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-4271-1963-6 (HTML) ISBN 9780778736523 (pbk. : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Science--Experiments--Juvenile literature.
1. Science--Experiments--Juvenile literature. 2. Scientific Classification: LCC Q164 (ebook) | LCC Q164 .D94 2018 (print) |
recreations--Juvenile literature. I. Title. DDC 507.8--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017029308
Q164.D94 2017 j507.8 C2017-903617-3
C2017-903618-1
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CONTENTS
THE EXCITING WORLD OF SCIENCE 4
LET’S TALK ABOUT COLORS 6
AWAKEN THE FORCES 8
WACKY SLIME TIME 12
S-NAUGHTY SLIMEBALLS 14
MAGNETIZE IT! 16
EXPLOSIVE SCIENCE MADNESS 18
I HAVE THE TOOTHPASTE—
WHO HAS THE ELEPHANT? 20
IT MAKES NO SENSE! 22
SEEING IS BELIEVING—
OR IS IT? 24
GET ELECTRIFIED! 26
SPOOKY SCIENCE 28
LEARNING MORE 30
GLOSSARY 31
INDEX 32
THE EXCITING WORLD
OF SCIENCE
Do you like getting your hands dirty? Do you ask a lot of questions?
Are you curious? Then science is for you! Science is all about
understanding the strange, mysterious, and complicated things that
happen in the world around us. Scientists search for truth. To do this, they
ask a lot of questions, then conduct experiments to find the answers. The
spectacular hands-on experiments in this book will help you learn about
nature and how things work—and they’ll also make you say “Wow!”
S T T
cience hrough ime
Our world is constantly changing. As advanced cultures developed,
discoveries in math and science were made in Greece, India,
Egypt, China, and other civilizations. A new age of
science started more than 700 years ago during
the Renaissance in Europe. People wanted
to understand the world around them.
They started using experiments to help
them understand.
In present times, science is all around
us. Science, engineering, and math come
together to create new technology for
home, school, and work.

Try to imagine a world
How to Use
This Book without video games or
The experiments in this book smartphones. It was
are meant to inspire you to get
science that brought
into science and keep learning. You
can follow the steps provided, or use them to our lives not
your imagination to change the
very long ago.
experiments with different ideas
and materials.
4 5
g i i !
eT nTo T
i c B y !
T ould e ou
Some people think science is serious and
Some discoveries come from
boring. Nothing could be further from the years of research, but others are
happy accidents. Thomas Adams
truth! Scientists need wild imaginations to
was seeking a substitute for
ask new questions and look at old problems rubber in 1870. He tried chicle,
the sap from a South American
in a new way. Being able to laugh at things
tree, but it failed. Seeing that
is also part of studying science. In fact, that’s local people chewed the stuff,
Adams tried it, liked it, and
why we have Silly Putty! It failed as a new
turned it into a popular chewing
type of rubber, but the scientists working on gum! In 1928, Alexander Fleming
made one of the greatest
the project in 1943 had so much fun playing
accidental discoveries when
with it that a new toy was born.
he found penicillin growing on
moldy lab dishes. Accidental
Today, you can learn science from books,
or not, many great discoveries
videos, classroom lessons, and even funny are waiting to be made by new
generations of scientists—and
cartoons. One of the best ways to learn,
that could include you!
though, is to do your own experiments
and see for yourself how science works.
S i
afeTy nSTrucTionS
Science experiments are fun activities that help you learn new things.
However, safety is the number-one consideration. Make sure to follow
these rules to stay safe while doing science experiments.
1. Do not touch chemicals without
permission.
2. Make sure a parent or adult
is in the room.
3. Don’t eat, drink, or fool around.
4. Read the labels on materials carefully.
5. Wear safety goggles if you are
mixing harsh materials.
6. Let objects cool down before
touching them.
7. Wash your hands before and after.
To protect your eyes from spills and fumes,
wear your safety goggles.
4 5
LET’S TALK ABOUT COLORS
Ready to make water walk to form colorful arches?! This experiment is a fun way to
see how colors mix and learn how liquids move by capillary action, which is the way
plants get water from their roots to their tops. Colors are divided into three main
groups, and you can make new colors by mixing them in certain ways as explained
on page 7. Follow the steps below to see how paper towels, which are made from
plants, can help create a walking water rainbow!
We are going to use seven glasses and three
WALKING WATER RAINBOW
primary colors for this experiment. The capillary
You Will Need: action will mix the primary colors and create
■■7 empty glasses secondary colors—green, orange, and violet!
■■jug of water
You can make your own experiment using fewer
■■blue, red, and yellow food coloring
glasses and different combinations of colors.
■■stir stick or spoon
■■6 paper towels Using only two colors and three glasses
■■scissors Time: will get you spectacular results as well.
Preparation:
10 min
Results:
1–3 hours
1 Place 7 clear glasses on 2 Add 20 drops of red food 3 Tear off a sheet of paper
a table in a row. Add coloring to the outside towel, fold it several times
water to every other glass. glasses. Add 10 drops of yellow lengthwise to form a strip
Make the outside glasses food coloring to the third glass about 1.5 inches (4 cm) wide.
almost full, the two middle from your right. Then add 10 Then fold the strip in half.
glasses half full. Leave the drops of blue food coloring to the You will need 6 strips. Measure
other 3 glasses empty. third glass from your left. Stir well. the height of the glasses and
cut the strips so they fit the
height of the glasses.
Tip If the water seems to move very slowly, try a thinner
6 7
paper towel. The less the paper towels absorb, the better.
W W c
orking iTh olorS
P
A color wheel is a tool that artists use to help T T
S S
understand colors. It shows what colors look
like mixed together, and helps to give
T T
an idea of how different colors are related.
P P
It also shows which colors look good together,
and which ones don’t. T T
S
There are three types of colors on a color
P – Primary colors
P
wheel: primary colors, secondary colors, and
S – Secondary colors
tertiary colors. Primary colors are blue, red, and s T – Tertiary colors
yellow. These colors can’t be made by mixing Yellow and blue are two neighboring
other colors together. Secondary colors are primary colors. Mixing them together
will create the green secondary color.
green, orange, and violet or purple. These P
colors can be made by mixing two primary
Why
colors together. For example, red and blue It Works
together make violet. Tertiary colors are made
In this experiment,
by mixing a primary color with a secondary capillary action
happens because there
color that is beside it on the color wheel.
are attractive forces
between the water and
the cellulose fibers in the
paper towels. The water
climbs up into tiny gaps
between the fibers,
defying gravity like
a ninja climbing
walls.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
4 Place the strips into glasses as 5 Let it sit for about 2 hours, then look at the results. The water
shown to connect each pair walked over from the water-filled glasses into the empty
of neighboring glasses with one strip. ones, making the level of water the same in all 7 glasses.
The colors walked too, creating new colors! Primary red and
yellow colors from glasses 1 and 3 mixed in glass 2, creating
Tip
a secondary orange color. Primary yellow and blue colors from
Arrange 6 glasses
glasses 3 and 5 mixed in glass 4, creating a secondary green color.
in a circle to make
And, primary blue and red colors from glasses 5 and 7 mixed
your own color
in glass 6, creating a secondary violet color.
wheel. Than watch
6 the show—LIVE! 7
AWAKEN THE FORCES
Why do we fall over when we lean too far to one side or the other? How do tightrope
walkers stay upright? It’s all about the center of gravity. An object’s weight is evenly
spread around a point that is called its center of gravity, and it will fall if this point is
not supported. People have a center of gravity, too. We stay balanced by keeping our
center of gravity above our support base—our feet! If we get unbalanced, we fall.
By using the center of gravity, we can balance almost anything, including the spoon
and fork in this experiment.
You Will Need:
BALANCING UTENSILS Time: ■■fork
5 min ■■spoon
■■toothpick
■■glass
■■matches or a lighter
Safety Tip
Grown-up help needed!

1 2 Why It Works
The center of gravity is
Connect a fork and spoon of Insert a toothpick through below where the toothpick rests
equal weight by inserting the the prongs so about 0.4 inch on the rim of the glass, so the fork
spoon under the outer prongs (1 cm) sticks out from and spoon stay balanced even if
of the fork. the back. the toothpick is gone. Think of the
connected utensils as working in
the same way as the long stick
that a tightrope walker uses to
stay balanced.
3 4
Balance the toothpick on the Ask an adult to use a match or lighter
rim of a glass, halfway between to light the part of the toothpick inside
the end of the toothpick and the glass. Be careful not to knock it.
the fork and spoon. Point the
handles of the fork and spoon 5 That part of the toothpick will burn
inward toward away, but the fork and spoon seem to
8 9
the glass. be balancing on virtually nothing.