Sorry to Burst Your Bubble…
Our segment here involves one of the more popular “parlor tricks” of Victorian Science. A chapter of a famous book “La Science Amusante” by Tom Tit (Librairie Larousse, Paris 1883) is devoted to these elegant bubble experiments. Tit’s book of French Science experiment was reprinted at least 42 times.
In the segment, Dan introduces simple geometric forms into a solution of soap and water. The forms features in the segment include three regular polyhedra (a term we use to describe solids having faces (or surfaces) that take the shape of regular polygons. Further, each of the faces, edges and corners of these regular polyhedrons (also called “Platonic Solids”) are, interestingly, idendtical.
Our segment is one that could be examined in a simple or in a complex way. In producing it, we were surprised by how easily we were able to form the bubbles in the soap solution, and by how durable the bubble forms were. You may see Dan adjusting the bubbles in the footage, and removing extra “distortion” bubbles with the tip of a paper towel.
The interesting idea involved in the formation of these interior surfaces is that they all occupy the least possible surface area. The phenomena was first studied formally by a French physicist named Joseph Plateau, and later analyzed mathematically by several theoretical mathematicians, most notably and conclusively by Jesse Douglas and Tibor Rado. The mathematical basis for the formation of the surfaces depicted in our segment was a complex and elusive problem called “The Plateau Problem” by a series of mathematicians who worked to solve it. One key involved the energy associated with each surface formation (for example, blowing on the bubble surfaces formed in the interior spaces in the geometric frames “displaces” and deforms the bubble, yet it returns to its most stable form, or that which is associated with the lowest energy level.
We offer this segment as part of our plan to examine the overlap between science and other disciplines (here principally Math). In our concept notes, we’d also like you to encourage Videoscience participants to examine a microscopic organism called Radiolaria.
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Gallium Plating - Part 1
Celebrating the international year of Chemistry we're taking a look at Gallium and a simple way to demonstrate phase change.
We're going to mirror plate a bottle from a small amount of slightly heated Gallium pellets.
Items you'll need:
- Gallium Pellets
- Heated Water
- Small Bottle or Jar
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Gallium Plating - Part 2
Adding heat energy changes the phase of the solid Gallium to a liquid. Spinning the bottle plates the inside of the glass, spreading in a thin coat.
Items you'll need:
- Gallium Pellets
- Heated Water
- Small Bottle or Jar
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Copper Ions in Solution
Items you'll need:
- Box of nails
- Acetic acid (vinegar)
- Pennies (older than 1981)
- Superfine steel wool
- Beaker
- Glass stirring rod
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Neon Fluid Spiral
A very simple and inexpensive black light can be easily configured from a "Clamp Lamp" from the hardware store and an inexpensive UV light from the reptile section of a pet shop.
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Walk of Conduction
We want you to examine the reason certain materials feel colder than others, so we offer an experiment that involves a qualitative examination of materials chosen for their conductive properties.
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Neon Waterfall
We include this segment to illustrate the internal reflection of light in a column of water that is “guided” downward by the force of gravity. The rays of light, traveling in a column of water in a darkened lab make for a stunning, “illuminating” example of the behavior of light.
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Spacesuit Simulator
Our version of a manipulative model developed by NASA in the early 1990s to illustrate the mechanism by which engineers protect astronauts from the extreme heat of the sun during spacewalks and remote operations is designed to get students thinking about aerospace science.
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Laser Web
In teaching about the behavior of light, the laser is one of the most dramatic and effective teaching tools. The cost of lasers has come down significantly in recent years, to the point where colored lasers that were once extremely expensive can now be purchased quite reasonably.
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Piezoelectric Cannon
A classic, easily replicated demonstration of the principles involved in internal combustion of a fuel. An arc of electrons traveling through a sealed canister of fuel activates a chemical reaction, releasing heat and light energy.
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Air Cannon
This is a simple experiment you can do for a bit of fun. Aim your "air cannon" at the flame and try to extinguish it. Add a laser on top for aiming accuracy and have a contest for fun!
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Dissolving Plastic
Let's take a look at how a non-chemical reaction dissolves waste materials and think about how we could avoid waste.
Items you'll need:
- Acetone
- Beaker
- Packing Pellets
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"Green" Plastic
Break down packing pellets and show kids the advantage of milk-based vs. polyvinyl alcohol vs. poly styrene.
Items you'll need:
- Packing Pellets
- Glass Beaker
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Color Wheel
This is a classic demonstration showing the mixing of colors to make white light. You can make your own color wheel very inexpensively by printing a color wheel template and attaching it to a rotating drill.
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Light Physics
We have a simple light physics experiment as part of a series we're putting together for elementary school through to high school level. In this experiment, students compare the wavelengths of visible light that are emitted by different light sources, with various levels of sophistication depending on their level.
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3D Modeling
Science math and science are closely related, this experiment makes a nice integration between the two. If you're teaching about volume as a 3 dimensional construct, it can be difficult for kids to make the distinction between a 2 dimensional and 3 dimensional object. In this experiment we construct 3 dimensional objects from templates, and investigate how changing the size of the 2 dimensional template affects the volume of the resulting solid.
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Microscope Dissection
We have a companion segment to the "Rewind your Mind" segment we produced last year involving some simple engineering lessons for kids. The idea of this lesson is to have kids learn how science equipment is engineered, in this lesson a microscope, by taking it apart and reassembling it again.
Items you'll need:
- Old Microscope
- Set of screwdrivers
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Liftoff! : Just A Lot of Hot Air
Adding heat energy to gas particles causes them to move faster, spread apart and occupy a larger amount of space (in science, called volume). Learn about how this applies to hot air balloons and why they float.
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Melting "Plastic"
Part of a series of polymer chemistry lessons and experiments under development for Video Science, we offer this particular segment as a "tickler" to encourage students to consider the chemistry and materials science involved in the objects and tools they handle day to day.
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Bubble Racing
These bubble tubes are beautifully engineered pieces of science equipment for physics labs. You can get a set where each tube is filled with a liquid of different viscosity. Try filling them with your own liquids and have your students guess the liquid by the speed at which a bubble moves down the tube when it is angled at an incline.
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Classroom Barometer
Turn your classroom into a weather station by making your own air pressure barometer from cheap and recyclable materials. Watch the water level go up and down each day as the air pressure changes.
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Pinhole Viewer
If you're teaching light physics to middle school kids, you can show what happens to optical images when light passes through a pinhole aperture. Students love this experiment and it's very simple to setup. For homework, get your students to construct a simple ray diagram showing how the rays of light enter the pinhole viewer and form the image. You can also incorporate a lesson on how the human eye does the same.
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Cryogenic Pumping
This experiment looks at how the volume of a gas changes with heating and cooling. You can make a cold bath using isopropyl alcohol and dry ice (the alcohol can get very cold - much colder than water - without freezing). Then take a water bottle and run it under hot water. Put the cap on, submerge it in the bath and see what happens.
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Trapping Gas with a Surfactant
For a fun addition to the previous experiment, add some liquid soap or detergent to generate a giant spout of bubbles. Pop the bubbles to release carbon dioxide gas, or leave the experiment to bubble away - it can last for hours.
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Carbon Dioxide Race - Lap 2
This experiment is a variation on the first carbon dioxide race, where this time we watch the carbon dioxide extinguish the flames from the bottom of the tank to the top as a thicker layer builds up and spills over the beaker. Why does a layer build up from the bottom? Ask your students - they may remember from an earlier experiment
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Volume of a Sublimed Gas
Add dry ice to water and watch it sublime! Put some food coloring into the water for an eye-catching demonstration. You can collect the gas in a large balloon and calculate the volume of gas by measuring the circumference of the balloon.
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Investigating Charles' Law
Charles' Law states that the volume of a gas is proportional to the temperature of the gas. Let your students figure out this law experimentally, by seeing what happens when a marshmallow or a bar of ivory soap (hint this soap works best as it is full of air bubbles) is put in the microwave.
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Rewind your Mind
As your school or library discards old videocassettes, consider using them in a simple engineering lesson before recycling the materials in them.
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Sound Wave Oscilloscope - Scaled Up
Scaling up an experiment allows students to compare the data gathered from different forms of lab work to see if, how and why results may change when the size of the experimental components is altered.
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Sound Wave Oscilloscope
Teaching sound physics and related topics presents an excellent opportunity to have students build a simple oscilloscope to examine and study the nature of sound waves.
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Pressure Gradient
Try out this scaled up variation on the classic "Egg in the Bottle" experiment. Light a match inside a large container (such as this old lava lamp), place a balloon on top and watch as it gets sucked in. Give your students some clues about why this happens and see if they can figure it out (hint: a pressure gradient is created). Then, once the balloon is inside the bottle, ask if they have a suggestion that will get it back out.
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Density of Two Liquids
This experiment teaches about the density of liquids, through a demonstration that kids find surprising. Fill two containers with two clear liquids - one water, the other isopropanol, and observe how an ice cube will float in one, and sink in the other. Don't tell your students that the liquids are different - let them discover for themselves.
Items you'll need:
- Beaker
- Rubbing (Isopropyl) alcohol
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A Density Problem
If you drop a can of soda and one of diet soda into water, one will float and one will sink, because they have a different density. You can take this experiment a step further, by turning it into a richer lab investigation for your students.
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Atomic Force Microscope
How do scientists know what an object looks like on the atomic level? This lesson lets kids understand how, by scaling up the atomic force microscope into a manipulative model, where students use a "probe" to discover what's hidden inside their box. This is a great activity for math and graphing as well. Ask the kids to take their plotted points home and figure out what their object is for homework.
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