The Science Van

Last week was a very special week. It was Science week! We did a whole bundle of experiments in class and in the hall!
We had some people from the 'Science Van' come to our school who travel all across New Zealand. They teach kids experiments like the bed of nails (when you hear that you might think OUCH!). It actually doesn't hurt... each nail is supporting your weight. If you were sitting on one single nail it would definitely hurt! A LOT!

But that's not all, there was another experiment called the waterfall effect. It plays a trick on the eyes and brain. If you focus on the center of the video attached, no blinking, no looking away, for 20 seconds, you will see. It supposedly used to hypnotize people, which I don't know if that works or not. What happens is your eye muscles start to freak out because they are working so hard to focus, your brain gets confused. Try it out then look at someone's head! We did, it was hilarious!

We also learned about Isaac Newton's 3 laws of motion and did some experiments around these! But that's a story for another time!

Remember science can be done everywhere, anytime and is all around us! We learned a lot of things about science and it was a blast! I hope I can go to the science van again one day.

Homemade Lava Lamp

In science week, people can do safe experiments inside the classroom!

One of the people who volunteered to be a science teacher for a day was Elise. She showed us how to make these amazing lava lamps which should be in our class forever because they look amazing!

She starts by adding water, then added cooking oil on top. The oil floats because it has less density than the water, its the same thing that makes the water strider floats!

Then she adds food colouring which sinks to the bottom of the oil layer but NOT the water because it has more density than the cooking oil, and it cushions on the thick layer of oil at the bottom, how amazing!

But that's not all, she adds a tablet that dissolves in the water (like Berocca), the tablet takes the dye with it, and when it "teleports" to the water (along with the surrounding colouring) it dissolves and makes the water blue, including blue bubbles that rose to the top! Everyone was wowed by this.

By Wilmer

Mentos and Coke

 VID_20180907_095126.mp4

At the beginning of science week, Room 1 & 2 did the classic Mentos in a coke bottle experiment. The carbon dioxide in the soda (coke) reacts with the mentos very suddenly, shooting up into the sky and drenching anyone within range of the bubbly, volcanic-like soda. When the mentos was dropped in, using a very clear contraption, the coke came funneling up instantly. It was huge! 
Click on the link to watch the video :)

Quote "Taller than Mrs. Cometti"

By Emma & Elise

Magic Cup

This is Zaina's Vacuum cup experiment. The method was .... 

1. put a layor of water on the plate. 2. light the match and allow it to burn using a lemon slice to hold it straight. 3. Place the cup upside down over the match.

The air around the flame is pushed in all directions. Warmer air needs more space than cooler air! So, the air pushes under the small gap round the rim of the cup and lets the water in, pushing the water upwards!

By Emma and Zaina.