Epsom Salt Crystals

I've had the total pleasure of teaching an elementary Chemistry class this year.

Once a week, twenty-two 5th and 6th graders would gather and we would

explore high school level topics with some elementary level fun!

A few weeks ago we studied solutions...saturated, unsaturated and supersaturated.

A fun way to demonstrate this is by making crystals.

Many of the kids had tried making crystals before, but it hadn't worked because

they missed this crucial step.....they did not make a supersaturated solution!

Here's my recipe for awesome crystals! 

(and the ones above are just beginning to grow!)

1/2 cups of water

1/4 cup of Epsom salt

Important....you must heat the water to near boiling or boiling.  More crystals are able to dissolve in the hot water.  You can even add an additional 1/4 cup

of Epsom salts to dissolve if the water is hot.

You will want to stir the water with the Epsom salts until it turns from cloudy

to clear.....this indicates that the salt is being fully dissolved in the water.

We took a pipe cleaner wrapped around a wood split (You can just use a 

pencil)and hung our pipe cleaner over a Styrofoam cup.

Some of the kids made really cool shapes with their pipe cleaners...snowflakes, circles, triangles, and double circles.

Place your cup in a warm, sunny place.  This aids the rate of evaporation of the water.  You want the water to evaporate.

If you notice our cup, it is now half-full of water.  It was 3/4 of the way full when we started.  

Be prepared for NOTHING to happen for up to a week!  We kept coming back and checking

and we had an empty pipe cleaner....but have faith, as the water evaporates, 

the crystals will grow!

I've also heard that you can pour the solution over a sponge and the crystals will grow on the sponge.

I'll keep you posted....we're still hoping for some bigger crystals!

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Oobleck

I am completely embarrassed to say that despite the fact that I've 

been a science teacher and homeschooled my kids...

....I've NEVER made Oobleck until recently!

Wow...what have I been missing!

This is a super easy experiment and you probably already 
have all the ingredients on hand right now!

Ingredients:
cornstarch
water


You want to mix the cornstarch and water until you get a mixture that is not a 
paste and not watery.  It will be about 3/4 cup of cornstarch to 1/2 cup of 
water.  You do not need to be exact.


What is so amazing is that this is a Non-Newtonian fluid.....when compressed
it turns into a solid.  When the pressure is released, it turns right back into a liquid!

Translation....beaucoup fun!!

I must warn you though...it will get messy!


 

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Science in a box

{A science box of fun!}

Is summer vacation looming somewhere in your near future???  Are you wondering what to do with your kids when they are home from school??  How about making them a science box of fun?

I saw this idea somewhere else....unfortunately, it was bookmarked on my computer that crashed at Christmas and I have absolutely no idea how to re-trace my route to finding it.....my brain just doesn't do "backward" really well....


Updated:  I just discovered that Brandy from GLUESTICKS was my inspiration!  Thanks, Brandy, for letting me know! 

So....I'm going to confess something to you all....please don't think less of me with this confession....I am....by trade....a chemistry teacher ............Yes...I know.....when I share that it's usually met with groans and grimaces.  It's the worst class you ever had......you have horrible memories of a weird lab partner lighting Bunsen burners....moles....and too much math!

Actually, I love science....it's fun....it's exciting....(and if you don't have a good teacher, it can be horrible!)  I really enjoyed my days in the classroom and it just warms my heart now that my boys wanted a Chemistry set for Christmas....and OF COURSE, they got it!!

My boys and I wanted to share our love of science with my nephews, so we made a "science box of fun" for them.

Everything they need for days of science fun gets packed into the box!

We compiled a bunch of simple experiments and packed each one into its own bag.  In the bag was everything needed to perform the experiment.

We also added step-by-step instructions for each experiment. 

I made each experiment a different color and then I laminated it and put it on a metal ring.

Here's a link to some of the fun experiments that we did:

Runaway Pepper

Swimming Fish

Speedboat Matchsticks

Shiny Penny

Bobbing Raisins

To keep things "thrifty," we just decorated an old shoe box with a paper bag, stickers and then hot-glued some glass beads and put a velcro closure on it.....simple and fun!

Happy experimenting!!

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