Thursday, May 15, 2014

Chemical Reactions: Baking Soda and Vinegar

What happens when you combine baking soda and vinegar???

  1. Although fun to watch, the fizz you observe when baking soda and vinegar are put together, actually has some cool science behind it! In the world of chemistry, baking soda is called sodium bicarbonate and vinegar is known as acetic acid.  Read the information below and then watch the videos to find out more!  Have fun learning :) 

Big Brain Science Explanation

Ask a Scientist



Monday, May 12, 2014

Experiment Videos

Here are the videos that correlate with the experiments you will be conducting this week. Make sure and watch the videos before you start the experiments. Good luck and have fun learning!!!

How Paper Towels Absorb
Toilet Paper Rope 
Fingerprint Forensics 
Mythbusters Fingerprinting
What Are Bubbles?
Steve Spangler Bubbles 
How Many Licks?
Tootsie Pop Science Project 

Thursday, May 8, 2014

I Scream. You Scream. We ALL Scream for Ice Cream!

Have you ever wondered about how they make ice cream?  Ice cream actually has to do with SCIENCE!  How?  Let's find out! :)

1.  History of Ice Cream
2.  Chemistry of Ice Cream


Scientific iMovies

Here are the links to the Scientific iMovies we made in science this week.

Friday, May 2, 2014

Scientific iMovie

Ready?  Set?  ACTION!

You and your partners are going to create an iMovie about a concept from the 8th grade science core. This project will give you a head start on concepts you will learn next year in Science.

Choose any of the I Can Statements from 8th grade to base your movie on.  You will only use ONE "I Can" statement for your movie.  You need to make sure your movie makes sense and has a beginning, middle, and end, etc.  Also, make sure you follow the requirements listed on the grading rubric.



The videos below will help answer questions you may have about using iMovie.

Remember to BE CREATIVE and HAVE FUN!

Here is a link to the grading rubric that will be used to grade your iMovie project :)

PLEASE REFER TO THE VIDEOS FOR HELP.  They are only 2-3 minutes each and will be a great resource to help you.

1.  iMovie: Basics
2.  iMovie: Media Management
3.  iMovie: Adding Images and Video
4.  iMovie: Recording Audio
5.  iMovie: Adding Audio
6.  iMovie: Adding Titles
7.  iMovie: Creating a Rough Cut
8.  iMovie: Adding Transitions and Effects
9.  iMovie: Exporting and Publishing


Is your Science iMovie complete?  CLICK HERE to find out how to upload it :)

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Bouncy Birth of Silly Putty

Ever wonder where Silly Putty came from??? Inquiring minds want to know! :)

 Additional Info: The history of Silly Putty is quite amusing. In 1943 James Wright, an engineer, was attempting to create a synthetic rubber. He was unable to achieve the properties he was looking for and put his creation (later to be called Silly Putty) on the shelf as a failure. A few years later, a salesman for the Dow Corning Corporation was using the putty to entertain some customers. One of his customers became intrigued with the putty and saw that it had potential as a new toy. In 1957, after being endorsed on the "Howdy Doody Show", Silly Putty became a toy fad. Recently new uses such as a grip strengthener and as an art medium have been developed. Silly Putty even went into space on the Apollo 8 mission. The polymers in Silly Putty have covalent bonds within the molecules, but hydrogen bonds between the molecules. The hydrogen bonds are easily broken. When small amounts of stress are slowly applied to the putty, only a few bonds are broken and the putty "flows." When larger amounts of stress are applied quickly, there are many hydrogen bonds that break, causing the putty to break or tear.

Now for a little research: (answer these on the backside of your Weird Science paper)

What is a polymer?

What are 10 polymers we use everyday? 

How long have natural polymers been around?

How long have man-made polymers been around? 

List 6 things that are polymers. 

Will it blend? 

Original Silly Putty Commercial


Fun with Steve Spangler

What are Steve and Ellen up to?  All kinds of great science fun! :)