XZ YOUNG SCIENTISTS CLUB

S.Y 2011-2012

Name & Level ____________________ Date _____________________

ACTIVITY # _________________

FIZZY EYE

Materials:

Citric Acid Powder (obtained from

drugstore)
Baking Soda
Vegetable oil
Plastic spoon
Plastic cup
Wax paper The Science:
Markers
Citric acid powder is an acid and
baking soda is a base. When the
Procedure:
two are mixed with the vegetable
1. Add 1 spoonful Citric Acid oil they don’t react because
powder to cup.
water is needed to start the
2. Add 2 spoonfuls Baking Soda to
cup and stir to mix. reaction. When the Fizzy Eyeball
is placed in water the acid and
3. Add one spoonful Vegetable Oil
and stir till thoroughly mixed. base react in a fizzy chemical
4. Mixture should be a thick
reaction. Carbon dioxide and
paste- a bit drier hydrogen bubbles are released.
than toothpaste- not drippy or
runny. Add a couple drops of oil
if too dry or a little baking soda
if too wet.
5. Roll mixture into one or two
small balls and place on wax
paper to dry for 24 to 48 hours.
6. After 24 – 48 hours, draw a
pupil, iris and red veins so it
looks like a real eyeball.

Place the Fizzy Eyeball in a glass of

water and watch what happens. Tell
observers the water is super strength
hydrochloric acid for a spooky science
 illusion!

XZ YOUNG SCIENTISTS CLUB

S.Y 2011-2012

Name & Level ___________________________________ Date _____________________

ACTIVITY # _________________

SWIMMING SPAGHETTI

What You Need:

 uncooked spaghetti
 1 cup of water
 2 teaspoons of baking soda
 5 teaspoons of vinegar
 tall clear glass

What You Do:

Put water and baking soda in the glass. Stir until the baking soda is dissolved. Break
spaghetti into 1-inch pieces. Put about 6 pieces in the glass. They will sink to the
bottom. Add vinegar to the mixture in the glass. Observe what happens to the pieces of
spaghetti. Add more vinegar as the action starts to slow down.

What’s Going On:

When baking soda and vinegar are mixed together, a chemical reaction occurs. It
produces a gas called carbon dioxide, which forms lots of bubbles on top of the mixture
and smaller bubbles at the bottom of the glass. These little bubbles stick to the
spaghetti and make it float to the surface, just as you do when you sit on a swimming
pool noodle! When the spaghetti reaches the surface, the bubbles pop and the
spaghetti sinks to the bottom.
Concluding Questions:
1. Did you observe a physical or a chemical change? Explain how you know this
particular type of change occurred.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
2. Recall that we learned about reversible and non-reversible changes using paper. An
example of a reversible change is folding paper and an example of a non-reversible
change is cutting paper. What type of change, reversible or non-reversible, occurred
during this experiment?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
3. The spaghetti pieces are no longer floating up and down in the water, but are simply
lying at the bottom of the glass. What could you do to get the spaghetti moving once
again?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
4. Your mother was baking and left a cup of vinegar on the table and one cup of water.
Without smelling or tasting the liquids, how would you be able to tell which one was
which?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
5. Explain how bubble-covered spaghetti pieces are similar to a person in a life jacket.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
 XZ YOUNG SCIENTISTS CLUB

S.Y 2011-2012

Name & Level ___________________________________ Date _____________________

ACTIVITY # _________________

BLOBS IN A BOTTLE

What you need

 A clean 1 liter clear soda bottle
 3/4 cup of water
 Vegetable Oil
 Fizzing tablets (such as Alka Seltzer)
 Food coloring

What you do
1. Pour the water into the bottle.
2. Use a measuring cup or funnel to slowly pour the vegetable oil into
the bottle until it's almost full. You may have to wait a few minutes for
the oil and water separate.
3. Add 10 drops of food coloring to the bottle (we like red, but any color
will look great.) The drops will pass through the oil and then mix with
the water below.
4. Break a seltzer tablet in half and drop the half tablet into the bottle. Watch it sink to the
bottom and let the blobby greatness begin!
5. To keep the effect going, just add another tablet piece. For a true lava lamp effect, shine a
flashlight through the bottom of the bottle.

How does it work?

To begin, the oil stays above the water because the oil is lighter than the water or, more
specifically, less dense than water. The oil and water do not mix because of something called
"intermolecular polarity." That term is fun to bring up in dinner conversation. Molecular polarity
basically means that water molecules are attracted to other water molecules. They get along
fine, and can loosely bond together (drops.) This is similar to magnets that are attracted to each
other. Oil molecules are attracted to other oil molecules; they get along fine as well. But the
structures of the two molecules do not allow them to bond together. Of course, there’s a lot
more fancy scientific language to describe density and molecular polarity, but maybe now you’ll
at least look at that vinaigrette salad dressing in a whole new way.

When you added the tablet piece, it sank to the bottom and started dissolving and creating a
gas. As the gas bubbles rose, they took some of the colored water with them. When the blob of
water reached the top, the gas escaped and down went the water. Cool, huh? By the way, you
can store your "Blobs In A Bottle" with the cap on, and then anytime you want to bring it back to
life, just add another tablet piece.
Make it an experiment
To make it a true experiment, you can try to answer these questions:
1. Does the temperature of the water affect the reaction?
______________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
2. Does the size of the bottle affect how many blobs are produced?
______________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
3. Does the effect still work if the cap is put on the bottle?
______________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
4. Does the size of the tablet pieces affect the number of blobs created?
______________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
 XZ YOUNG SCIENTISTS CLUB

S.Y 2011-2012

Name & Level ______________________________ Date _____________________

ACTIVITY # _________________

MAKE A LAVA LAMP

What you need
 A clear drinking glass
 1/4 cup vegetable oil
 1 teaspoon salt
 Water
 Food coloring (optional)

What you do
1. Fill the glass about 3/4 full of water.
2. Add about 5 drops of food coloring - I like red for the lava look.
3. Slowly pour the vegetable oil into the glass. See how the oil floats on top - cool huh? It gets
better.
4. Now the fun part: Sprinkle the salt on top of the oil.
5. Watch blobs of lava move up and down in your glass!
6. If you liked that, add another teaspoon of salt to keep the effect going.

How does it work?

First of all, the oil floats on top of the water because it is lighter than the water. Since the salt is
heavier than oil, it sinks down into the water and takes some oil with it, but then the salt
dissolves and back up goes the oil!

Make it an experiment
To make it a true experiment, you can try to answer these questions:
1. How long will the effect go on if you keep adding salt?
_________________________________________________________________________
2. Do different kinds of food oil give different effects?
_________________________________________________________________________
3. Will other substances (sand, sugar. etc.) work the same as salt?
_________________________________________________________________________
4. Does the height or shape of the glass affect the experiment?
________________________________________________________________________
 XZ YOUNG SCIENTISTS CLUB

S.Y 2011-2012

Name & Level ______________________________ Date _____________________

ACTIVITY # _________________

FIRE EXTINGUISHER
What you need
 Candle

 Wire Coat Hanger

 Two 1 liter plastic soda bottles

 Matches

 Baking soda

 Vinegar

What you do
1. Bend the coat hanger wire in a creative way to make a candle holder. Wrap one end of
the wire around the candle. Make a long straight piece with the rest and bend the
opposite side for a handle. Now you have a holder to lower your candle into the plastic
bottle.
2. Light the candle and lower it into a soda bottle to prove it will not go out by itself when
lowered into one of the plastic bottles. Then blow out and remove.
3. Add three ounces of vinegar to one of the plastic bottles. Add one ounce tablespoon of
baking soda to the vinegar. A chemical reaction will occur and the mixture begins to fizz
and bubbles will appear. Carbon Dioxide gas has been created. Do not move the plastic
bottle when making the chemical reaction. Leave it still on the table.
4. Once the bubbling has stopped. Repeat step 2. It does not go out because the bottle has

enough oxygen inside to keep the flame burning.

5. Now this is the cool part. Pick up the bottle with the invisible Carbon Dioxide gas and
pour it into the other "empty" bottle. Be careful to not pour any liquid into the other
container. You are actually pouring an invisible gas!
6. Light the candle again and lower it into the container in which first held the Carbon
Dioxide gas (the one you mixed the vinegar and baking soda in, then poured out into the
other). The candle stays lit since you poured the gas into the other container.
7. Now lower the lit candle into the container in which you poured the Carbon Dioxide gas
into. The candle goes out and you have successfully transferred an invisible gas from
one container to another.

How does it work?

A fire requires oxygen, fuel, and heat to burn. It's called the fire triangle. If any other these
things are missing it goes out. In this experiment we add carbon dioxide gas to the air
surrounding the flame, essentially depriving it of the oxygen it needs to burn. Carbon dioxide
has a density greater than air. Because of this it settles to the bottom of the plastic bottle once
filled with air. It does this by forcing the air up and out of the bottle. This property makes it
simple to fill bottles, beakers, or glasses with carbon dioxide and to pour it over the candle
flame.

One empty 35mm plastic film canister and lid. These are getting harder to find, but stores that
develop film should have some. (The white canisters work much better than the black ones do.)
If you have trouble finding canisters, you can get them HERE.

One fizzing antacid tablet (such as Alka-Seltzer - Get this from your parents)
Water
Safety goggles

1. Put on those safety goggles and head outside - no really, when this works, that film canister
really flies! If you want to try the indoor version, do not turn the canister upside down in step 5.

2. Break the antacid tablet in half.

3. Remove the lid from the film canister and put a teaspoon (5 ml) of water into the canister.

Do the next 2 steps quickly

4. Drop the tablet half into the canister and snap the cap onto the canister (make sure that it
snaps on tightly.)

5. Quickly put the canister on the ground CAP SIDE DOWN and STEP BACK at least 2 meters.

6. About 10 seconds later, you will hear a POP! and the film canister will launch into the air!

Caution: If it does not launch, wait at least 30 second before examining the canister. Usually the
cap is not on tight enough and the build up of gas leaked out.

There's nothing like a little rocket science to add some excitement to the day. When you add the
water it starts to dissolve the alka-seltzer tablet. This creates a gas call carbon dioxide. As the
carbon dioxide is being released, it creates pressure inside the film canister. The more gas that
is made, the more pressure builds up until the cap it blasted down and the rocket is blasted up.
This system of thrust is how a real rocket works whether it is in outer space or here in the
earth's atmosphere. Of course, real rockets use rocket fuel. You can experiment controlling the
rocket's path by adding fins and a nose cone that you can make out of paper. If you like this
experiment, try the Exploding Lunch Bag. Be safe and have fun!

The project above is a DEMONSTRATION. To make it a true experiment, you can try to answer
these questions:

1. Does water temperature affect how fast the rocket launches?

2. Does the size of the tablet piece affect how long it takes for the rocket to launch?
3. Can the flight path be controlled by adding fins or a nosecone to the canister?
4. How much water in the canister will give the highest flight?
5. How much water will give the quickest launch?

A wooden skewer (you can also use a clean wooden chopstick)

A clothespin
1 cup of water
2-3 cups of sugar
A tall narrow glass or jar

Clip the wooden skewer into the clothespin so that it hangs down inside the glass and is
about 1 inch (2.5 cm) from the bottom of the glass. (as shown)
Remove the skewer and clothespin and put them aside for now.
Get a helpful adult!
Pour the water into a pan and bring it to boil.
Pour about 1/4 cup of sugar into the boiling water, stirring until it dissolves.
Keep adding more and more sugar, each time stirring it until it dissolves, until no more will
dissolve. This will take time and patience and it will take longer for the sugar to dissolve each
time.Be sure you don't give up too soon. Once no more sugar will dissolve, remove it from heat
and allow it to cool for at least 20 minutes.
NOTE: While it is cooling, some peole like to dip half of the skewer in the sugar solution and
then roll it in some sugar to help jump start the crystal growth. If you do this, be sure to let the
skewer cool completely so that sugar crystals do not fall off when you place it back in the glass.
Have your friendly ADULT carefully pour the sugar solution into the jar almost to the top.
Then submerge the skewer back into the glass making sure that it is hanging straight down the
middle without touching the sides.
Allow the jar to fully cool and put it someplace where it will not be disturbed.
Now just wait. The sugar crystals will grow over the next 3-7 days.

Want colored rock candy? Add food coloring to your sugar water and make sure sure that it is
pretty dark in color for the best result.

When you mixed the water and sugar you made a SUPER SATURATED SOLUTION. This
means that the water could only hold the sugar if both were very hot. As the water cools the
sugar "comes out" of the solution back into sugar crystals on your skewer. The skewer (and
sometines the glass itself) act as a "seed" that the sugar crystals start to grow on. With some
luck and patience you will have a tasty scientific treat! Enjoy!