Dynamic Water!

Hi Y'all!  Sorry for the delay - Morna has been in Mexico to develop our bilingual yoga program for kids - so Ben has been standing in on the blog :)

In our first water activity the children explored the 3 water phases: solid, liquid and gas.
Then they painted water color pictures that remined them of the 3 phases.

We did experimental trials to see if salt changes how fast frozen water can be melted into a liquid. Each group of kids had a block of ice to melt. One group had fresh water to pour over the block. The other group had water with a high concentration of salt dissolved in it.

The salty water meted the ice block much faster!!

We also learned how to measure the volume of water in mililiters!

We did a series of cool experiments that explored the property diffusion. I think diffusion is cooler than magic, because it explains how seemingly invisable things can move around, cause weather and keep us alive!! Diffusion is the movement of molecules from areas of high concentration to areas of low concentration. If you put food coloring in a jar of still water eventally the coloring will move all around the jar until the color is all spread out!! Wow the molecules are moving!

Next we wanted to see if we could get the molecues to move from one jar to another. What do you think - can they do it?
The kids folded up paper towels to act as a syphon from one jar to another!

Will the yellow and blue water molecules move to the empty jar?
What color will the water be in the center jar?

5 year old after 45 minutes "Wow the molecules are really moving!!!"

After two hours the levels are almost equal!

After 24 hours the levels have become equal and reached equilibrium!
Nature likes to be balanced!! Science is even more amazing than magic!!

We also did a classic experiment to see what would happen to the carbon dioxide dissolved in water when Mentos candies are introduced. The kids worked in groups to develop trigger mechanisms that would allow the Mentos to be released into the carbonated water as quickly as possible.

The kids really explored whay happens when they mix and create with the primary colors!

We also explored using this prism to see how sun light has every color of the rainbow in it.

See you next time!