Planning a summer of science fun

We've been doing Physics, Chemistry and Ecology in Science (God's Design by Answers in Genesis) this school year. There never seems to be enough time in our day to do everything that we want to do, like awesome science experiments. So this coming summer, I decided that it would be fun to have an at home Science Camp (We're calling it Mommy's Mad Scientist Day Camp). I have been searching places like Pinerest for ideas of experiments we might try. I also have some books of science experiments. My plan is to do 2 or more experiments a day with Lil' Man. I think he'll have a great fun doing them. I know I will have fun doing them with him. Look for blog posts this summer on our experiments.

Health Experiment with an Egg and Vinegar

This is an experiment that we recently did in health, regarding teeth and the importance of brushing them consistently. The experiment is a simple one, all you will need is 1 fresh egg (do not crack or break it, it needs to be whole), a small container with a lid and vinegar (enough to cover the egg). The egg represents your teeth and the vinegar represents the acids that food create in your mouth. It shows what the acid does to the enamel on your teeth overtime if you didn't brush regularly (it eats away at the enamel, which is why you get cavities). This experiment will take 96 (4 days) hours to conduct. I had my son look at it everyday, so he could notices the small changes that were going on with the egg. Place your fresh egg in the small container and pour the vinegar over the egg. I found that over the time, the gases that are building up seemed to push the lid off the container if I completely sealed it, so just place the lid loosely over the container (it helps to cut down on the smell). After 4 days, you can throw this experiment away, but I think that what really made the point to my son was when he gently poked the egg with this finger and it broke the egg so easily. He was able to see that only the thin lining of the shell was left, all the actual shell was gone.
Please note: that our enamel on our teeth is made of calcium and that the shell on the egg is made of similar material. When we eat food, the saliva in our mouth helps to break down the food. But it can also break down the enamel on our teeth. Below are pictures from our experiment over the 96 hours.


24 hours after we placed the egg in the vinegar


48 hours after we placed the egg in the vinegar


72 Hours after we placed the egg in the vinegar


96 Hours after we placed the eggin the vinegar (last day of the experiment)


After lil' man gently poked the egg with his finger


What is left of the shell after 96 hours in vinegar

Kansas Cosmosphere Field Trip

Space Shuttle on next to the Cosmosphere

Taking a picture with the Astronaut Statue out front of the Cosmosphere

Astronaut Soda

Posing in front of the Astronaut Display

Space Shuttle Display

Trying out a space shuttle seat

Up Close to the space shuttle

Star Trek Display (Sorry it is sideways!)

holding up the moon (not quite a moon walk but it will do for now)

Space Shuttle Simulator

We are learning about Astronauts and Space in God's Design Science this month, so I took Edward to the Kansas Cosmosphere for a Mommy and Edward Field Trip. We had a great time. It was the first time we have gone to the Cosmosphere here in Kansas, so it was a lot to take in.

Planets

We have been learning about the planets for part of our science (we do 2 sciences), God's Design. I bought this mobile model for us to assemble. I really like it. It was hard to get them to even out when we first hung them, mainly because I had some the planets backwards according to their (hard to read) diagram. I added a little sand to the smaller planets and that seems to have even them out some. I will have to take a picture of the completed Model and add it to the blog, I thought I had taken one but I guess I hadn't. Anyway, we had to hand paint each planet. Edward had a blast doing this project. We did it when Daddy was gone overnight and it worked out great as a diversion for Edward.

Science Project with a Control

Control and cups 1-4

Cups 3-5 and the Mystery Cup

We are learning about having a Control in a Science Experiment so we did a Science Project with Carnations. We put 1 carnation in plain water. Then we put 5 carnations in water (each glass had 2 cups of water) with red food coloring (the first glass had 1 drop of coloring per cup of water, the second glass had 2 drops of coloring per cup water, the third glass had 3 drops of coloring per cup of water, the fourth glass had 4 drops of coloring per cup of water and the fifth glass has 5 drops of coloring per cup of water). We had an extra carnation so we did a mystery color (6 drops of blue and 6 drops of red food coloring). Our experiment was to see if the coloring in the water would change the color of the leaves of the carnations. We found that the water does change the color of the veins in the carnations and the tips but not the whole leave of the carnation. The more food coloring the darker the the color. Cup 1 (not the control) and cup 2 (also not the control) the veins color change was hardly noticeable due to the small amounts of food coloring in the water. In the Mystery cup, surprisingly the color was not purple that we got but more bluish. This was very noticeable but like the other the color only was in the veins and the tips of the carnation. We also noticed that after the week was over the only flower not dying was the control, we feel that the food coloring was poisoning the flowers.

A New Respect

Today we made butter from scratch. It was quiet an interesting experience. It took a whole lot of shaking and time to go through the process. We started with Heavy Whipping Cream, a little salt (to taste) and empty, clean baby food jar. It took about an 30 to 45 minutes over all of total shaking.We put the jar in the refrigerator every 5 minutes to let it get cold again, it helps to quicken the process. It is quite tasty. Edward was amazed at how it went from a milky liquid to a butter.