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Description

Science badge over 2 weeks

Resources

Cress seeds
Empty egg shells
Small pieces of cotton wool (use soil instead of cotton wool to make it deeper?)
Water
Colouring pens

Distilled vinegar
Wire wool
Glass containers (2 ramekins per cub, 1 drinking glass)
Bicarbonate of soda
Dirty copper coins (green if possible)

Paper
Sellotape
Colouring pens
Empty plastic drinks bottles (bigger ones are better)

Spaghetti
Marshmallows

Light corn syrup
Concentrated dish soap – like Dawn
Water
Vodka or other alcoholic spirit
Canola Oil
Large jar or clear glass cylinder
Food coloring (optional)

Instructions

Week -1
Plant cress seeds in empty egg shells with small pieces of cotton wool, water, and seeds.
Decorate eggs with faces
(use soil instead of cotton wool to make it deeper?)


Week 1
Base 1 - Vinegar
Do in kitchen

Experiment 1
Small pieces of wire wool into ramekin
Pour vinegar over wool
Pour vinegar out
Wait 1-2 minutes
Look at rust forming

Explain: wool is made of iron. The wool has a light oil coating to stop it rusting. Once it is washed off (by washing up liquid) it is exposed to the air and starts to rust. To speed it up we’re using vinegar; and acid. Rust is a chemical reaction called oxidation. What is the scientific name for iron rust? Rust is Iron Oxide.

Iron oxide is formed when iron and oxygen react in the presence of water or moisture in the air. Iron oxide is very common, because iron reacts easily with oxygen in the air. ... Rust occurs when iron or its alloys, such as steel, corrode.

Experiment 2
Few millimeters of vinegar in ramekin
Stand coin up in vinegar (putting flat doesn’t work)
Wait 1-2 minutes
Look for clean line below the vinegar

Explain: Coin is made of copper. Ask what the green stuff is on the coins - Copper rust (copper doesn’t rust, it corrodes).

Copper turns green because of chemical reactions with the elements. Just as iron that is left unprotected in open air will corrode and form a flaky orange-red outer layer, copper that is exposed to the elements undergoes a series of chemical reactions that give the shiny metal a pale green outer layer called a patina.

Experiment 3
Do on draining board
Roughly 5cm of vinegar in drinking glass
Add a heaped teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
Watch the bubbles
How much vinegar s left (less)
Where has the vinegar gone?

Explain: Baking soda and vinegar have chemistry. Furthermore, we know that these two substances react with each other because of an acid-base reaction. Baking soda is bicarbonate (NaHCO3) and vinegar is acetic acid (HCH3COO). One of the products this reaction creates is carbon dioxide, which makes the bubbles.

When vinegar and baking soda are first mixed together, hydrogen ions in the vinegar react with the sodium and bicarbonate ions in the baking soda. The result of this initial reaction is two new chemicals: carbonic acid and sodium acetate. The second reaction is a decomposition reaction.

If you have a match, hold it above the bubbles? Does it go out? Yes. Proof of CO2


Base 2 - Air rockets


Base 3 - Cress
Collect opinions from cubs about height, colour etc
Reveal cress
Measure cress using sticks provided, making different heights in different colours
Using a ruler measure marks on stick
Put measurements on graph
Compare

Week 2
Base 1 - Pulse
Experiment 1 - At rest
Sit cubs down, explain they have to sit still and calm to do the experiment
What is a pulse?
How to find it? Best way is in the neck
Count beats in 1 minute
Write on a piece of paper

Experiment 2 - Running
Run around for 3 minutes
Count beats in 1 minute
Write on a piece of paper

Experiment 3 - Yoga
Yoga pose for 3 minutes
Count beats in 1 minute
Write on a piece of paper

Experiment 4 - Sit ups/push ups
Sit ups/push ups for 3 minutes
Count beats in 1 minute
Write on a piece of paper:
Findings
What do they notice about the difference between their pulse rate after each activity?
Does it increase/decrease?
Why does it increase after physical exercise?
Move blood around body
Blood carries nutrients and oxygen to organs and muscles which are needed for them to work

Base 2 - Tower
Spaghetti and marshmallow tower
Build the tallest self-supporting tower

Base 3 - Densities
https://childhood101.com/density-experiment/

Hints & Tips:
Supervise children carefully during this experiment. For children under the age of 12, it might be best for the adult to do the pouring. Use your best judgement.
If you do not wish to use a form of alcoholic spirits, you can substitute rubbing alcohol. If you do this, the canola oil layer will go after the water layer, and the rubbing alcohol layer will be the final layer at the top of the density tower.
How to Build Your Density Tower:
1. Begin by pouring the light corn syrup into the bottom of the jar. The layer should be about an inch tall.

2. If you wish to color the light corn syrup, add a few drops of food coloring now, and stir with a fork or other object. We added a few drops of yellow food colouring to ours.

3. Next, pour the dish soap into the jar to layer on top of the oil.
For best results – each time you pour a new liquid into the jar, tip the jar to the side slightly and pour the liquid down the inside wall of the jar. Alternatively, use a turkey baster to put the liquid into the jar, again pouring the liquid down the inside wall. This will keep the pouring liquids from disturbing the liquids already in the density tower.

4. Mix a few drops of blue food coloring into some water and pour it into the jar. This will form your third layer.

5. Add a few drops of food coloring to your clear vodka or other alcoholic spirit. We used purple but you may want to use a different colour if you want there to be a drastic difference between your layers. Pour the alcohol into the jar to create the fourth layer.

6. Top off the density tower with canola oil. You can color this with food coloring too if you wish.

7. Place a lid tightly on the jar, so that none of the contents will leak out.

8. Let kids have fun tipping the jar upside down and on its side, and then watch as the layers of the tower separate themselves once the jar has been placed face up again on a flat surface. Do not shake the jar, as this may cause some of the layers to combine.

How Do Density Towers Work?
An object’s density is calculated by dividing its mass (weight) by its volume (the amount of space it occupies). Liquids have density too. This experiment uses several different types of liquid to determine which is more dense. Lighter liquids are less dense than heavier liquids so they float on top of them.
For a density tower to work you also need to use the right types of liquids – those in neighbouring layers must be immiscible -that is, they do not mix. Learn more about this in our Oil and Water Experiment.

Tags

• science

Badge Links

• Scientist - Cress
• Scientist - Densities
• Scientist - Pulse
• Scientist - Rocket
• Scientist - Tower
• Scientist - Vinegar
• Skills - Activity
• Skills - Creative