The Monkey Tree - Chaos Theory

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Chaos Theory

AIM: To make science fun and relieve the boredom of a rainy winter day.
EQUIPMENT: Bored kids, some everyday things from around the house, a sensible adult.
METHOD: Follow the instructions below!
RESULTS: Lots of laughter, shouts of ‘how did you do that?’ and smug parents.
CONCLUSION: It is possible to make science fun! AIM: To make science fun and relieve the boredom of a rainy winter day.

EQUIPMENT: Bored kids, some everyday things from around the house, a sensible adult.

METHOD: Follow the instructions below!

RESULTS: Lots of laughter, shouts of ‘how did you do that?’ and smug parents.

CONCLUSION: It is possible to make science fun!

The Magic Breakfast

Equipment – rice crispies, a plastic spoon

Don’t tell the children you are going to do this one – give them a bowl of rice crispies for breakfast (without milk). Vigorously rub a plastic dessertspoon on your woollen jumper about 10 or 12 times and then hold the spoon over the cereal and watch the rice crispies ‘jump’ onto the spoon.

Static electricity will attract the rice towards the positively charged spoon. The plastic spoon is an insulator holding onto electrons and their energy. Tip: We found it quite hard to create enough static with a jumper but my two ‘researchers’ soon discovered that rubbing the spoon on their head make the experiment work better!

(It is suggested for hygiene reasons to dispose of food after experiment).

Make an air-powered boat

Equipment – a water bottle, a drawing pin, a balloon, a bath of water/pond/paddling pool.

Get a plastic water bottle (a rectangular shaped one is best) with a sports cap. Get the adult to pierce the bottle with the drawing pin towards the top but not in the tapered bit. Blow up the balloon and try to get it over the bottle top without releasing too much air. Place the bottle, with the pierced side down, in the water and watch what happens. The air leaves the balloon, going into the bottle and slowly out through the hole, giving just enough thrust to propel the bottle gently through the water. It even makes a quiet motorboat sound! Children can make one each and race them on a pond! Of course, I’m sure you’re all aware that this demonstrates Newton’s 3rd law of motion: that every action has an opposite and equal reaction. No? Me neither!

(Recycle water responsibly).

Make a phone

Equipment – 2 plastic or paper cups, 2 metal paperclips and a long piece of string.

Cut a small slit in the bottom of a cup and thread one end of the string through the slit and tie the paperclip to it. Pull the string tight to make the paperclip flat on the bottom of the cup. Do the same with the other cup. Each ‘scientist’ to take one cup and walk away from each other until the string is stretched tight. When you speak into your ‘phone’ the bottom of the cup picks up the tiny air movements and cause the string to vibrate. These vibrations pass along the string and the opposite cup picks up the vibrations and recreates the sound by forcing the air in the cup to move. Think of the money we could save if only all our children could communicate by string phones! Tip: Keep the string stretched and try to keep it free from obstacles such as doorposts. We found it better over the banister and down the stairs.

For My Next Trick…

Equipment: A silky piece of material, 3 mugs, a table.

Spread the material on the table and make it as smooth as possible. Place the mugs in a triangle. Grip the cloth tightly and pull towards you as fast as you can, trying not to pull upwards. Hopefully, if you have silky enough material and you pull fast enough, the cloth will come off and the mugs remain on the table. Although it seems like a magic trick, it does explain how friction is all around us. When you apply force (by pulling) to the cloth, it moves. The only force the mugs feel is friction. As the cloth is very shiny there is little friction. Use a rougher cloth to demonstrate what happens when the friction is greater. Tip: Okay, I admit it. We were too scared to use mugs! We started off with plastic beakers, but they weren’t heavy enough and moved on to small bottles of water, which were great. The next challenge was trying to capture the moment for the camera!

The Soda Fountain

Equipment: A packet of mint mentos, a bottle of diet cola and a thin plastic tube (we used a Vitamin C container), a sensible adult.

I’m sure that plenty of you have seen this on the Internet but it’s an easy, messy experiment that the kids will love – you also need to do this in the garden! Unwrap the mentos and place in the plastic tube. Take the top off the cola and pour the mentos very quickly into the bottle. Stand back!

The mentos and cola create a chemical reaction that results in loads of tiny bubbles. As bubbles take up more space than liquid, the pressure in the bottle increases and explodes out of the top. Be careful, you could be covered in very sticky cola or even hit by a flying mint – definitely leave this to the adult.

Please be aware that all experiments can be dangerous and children must be supervised at all times.