Thursday, January 6, 2011

Photos I Wanted to Post Last Month...

There were quite a few pictures I wanted to post during December but couldn't because we were restricting our internet use.  So now I need to catch up!

Our last day of Science class, we did a couple of fun projects.  The first was some some chromatography - we made bars of color with non-permanent marker on a paper towel, then let that edge dip in the water.  As the water soaked upwards on the paper towel, the different color molecules in the ink wicked up as well, separating (we're told) by weight.



The other demonstration was also showing molecule movement - a dish of milk (NOT skim milk) with three colors of food coloring added around the edge.





At first nothing happens - the spots of food coloring pretty much stay where we put them.  Next we added a couple drops of liquid dish soap in the center of the bowl.







According to our textbook, the reason this happens is that the fat molecules in milk keep the food coloring molecules from spreading out.  When we added dish soap, the detergent attracts the fat molecules (just like they advertise!) allowing the food coloring molecules to swirl out and mix.  I hope I explained that right...

I also intended to post some pictures from our field trip to the bakery.  The kids were given cookies and cupcakes to decorate as they chose.  Kennady and Landon both did this field trip, but for Kennady it was extra special.







Unfortunately, I did not take pictures of the finished creations before we attempted to take them home.  Some didn't survive the trip intact.

They really looked pretty before they tipped over in the box!









Okay I feel a little more like I'm caught up now.

1 comments:

Annie Kate said...

What a lot of fun! I worked with surface chemistry/physics for a while in grad school, and it's such an interesting field. We homeschool moms are so lucky that we get to learn all these neat things!

As for not wanting to teach 2 million homeschool kids, I'm with you on that! LOL

Annie Kate

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