Halloween Bubbles

I missed posting this on Halloween like I wanted to, but I still wanted to share this spooky demonstration.  Dry ice experiments are useful for a variety of lesson plans, and adding a bubble to the mix only increases the possibilities for using this demonstration in a science class.  Since Halloween is close to the start of the year, this would be perfect for early classes on diffusion or osmosis in a biology lesson.  It could also be used for my chemistry lessons on partial pressure to explain why the gas from the dry ice sinks to the ground instead of rising.  Either way, it is a visually impressive demonstration that would be perfect for an end of October class.

Ethalpy: Candy Style

This is a very extreme experiment that I believe many students would love to watch.  A gummy bear, which is comprised mainly of sucrose, is added to a test tube of potassium chlorate.  The reaction between these two ingredients is a very intense, exothermic reaction that gives off a huge amount of fire and heat.  I would use an experiment such as this at the start of a class on enthalpy or exothermic reaction to help my students understand how an object they've probably seen everyday could be involved in an impressive scientific reaction.

The Science of Smashing

As I said in some of my previous blog posts, I hope as a science teacher to create lessons my students are interested in and can relate to.  Well, is there anything easier to relate to than wanting to just take a rock and smash something with it?  In this demonstration, a rock is dropped into several different beakers, each containing a liquid with a different viscosity.  Despite its simplicity and messiness, this demonstration would take a new science term put it in a context that students would enjoy watching and learning about.  Even though it would involve a lot of cleanup and would require students to keep back in case of broken glass, I would like to perform this demonstration firsthand to start my class with a real kick.

Science: 70s Style

When I was a kid, I had a lava lamp that I absolutely loved.  I kept it right next to my bed, and I loved watching the weird red globs of mystery goo float around as I fell asleep.  I never really cared too much about how it worked, I just knew that I loved it.  As a science teacher, it's important to always relate your material to something the students are interested in.  This video demonstrates how to make a trippy homemade lava lamp of your own, and could be used as an introductory demonstration to have students make their own lamps.  Being able to give my students a fun way of learning about density and a cool project to work on and take home with them seems like a win-win situation to me.

Science is Everywhere!

I've always found that one of the biggest challenges a science teacher faces is getting students to see that science is something that directly affects their lives.  The image that many high school students have of 'SCIENCE' is that of a bunch of old, grey-haired men in lab coats performing boring experiments.  To get students more interested in their lessons, it's important to show them that science is fun and interesting, and its effects can be seen all around them.  The video I link to in this post is kind of silly, but it also has an important message: science can be done anywhere, and if students keep an open mind to it they can be surprised at how cool it can be.

The Death of the Earth?!

This is actually the video I used in the first class I taught.  The class was on the life cycle of the stars, from nebulae to black dwarf.  This class can be fun for students because they are almost always interested in the sun and what will happen to the solar system when it changes into a red giant.  The video is very dramatic, and it gives the viewer a good sense of the size difference between a yellow dwarf and red giant.  It helped motivate my class and keep them interested in the rest of my lecture, so it is definitely a video I plan to keep using in the future.

Whoosh Bottle!

This was always one of my favorite experiments to perform in high school.  The presenter puts a few drops of alcohol into a 20 liter bottle, and drops a lit match inside.  The result is a huge stream of fire that shoots out the top of the bottle.  Not only is this experiment a lot of fun to watch, it has a lot of applications in the classroom.  Obviously, it could be used as an introduction to a chemistry class on combustion reactions, followed by students describing what they observed.  It could also be used in a class on pressure and volume, as when the bottle is ignited, a large change in both occurs.  This can be a somewhat difficult lesson for students to understand, so incorporating an exciting experiment like this one would definitely make the lesson more enjoyable for them.