Carbon dioxide is a gas that we interact with every day. For instance, CO2 enables plants to perform photosynthesis, you exhale CO2 when you breathe, and CO2 can extinguish fire. You probably knew all those facts, but did you know that you can get really science-y and extremely creative when putting out flames with CO2? It’s as simple as pouring the gas onto fire. Pouring? You better believe it!
Milk goes great with a lot of things: cereal, cookies, cake, and pie. You know what’s even more incredible to mix with milk? A big ol’ bottle of soda! We know what you’re thinking, “Soda and milk would be disgusting, together!” You’re absolutely correct, but you aren’t supposed to drink the mixture! Instead, watch the magic happen when you mix the two.
Our Insta-Snow® powder has become pretty famous for being the most realistic faux snow on the market. What many people don’t know is that you can make instant snowballs from the fake snow! Insta-Snowballs might not work for snowball fights, but they’re remarkably easy to make, and ridiculously cool!
We’ve shown you how different sodas will either sink or swim in plain tap water, but what’s the deal with eggs? Drop as many eggs into plain tap water as you want, but they’ll all sink to the bottom. In the Floating Egg experiment, we’ll show you how the addition of something as simple as table salt, can drastically alter what happens to eggs in water.
Did you know that the majority of burps are simply caused by swallowed air? It’s true! Burping is a natural human phenomenon, but it’s also possible for a bottle to burp. Say what?! Believe it… bottles can belch just like a human. All it takes is a bit of science know-how, especially when it comes to the properties of air and water.
Table tricks are all the rage when it comes to post-dinner “oohs” and “ash.” That’s why you need to keep the hits coming! For instance, give the Balancing Glass Trick a try. All you need are some knives, bottles, and a drinking glass. Before you know it, you’ll be wowing your audience with a glass that seems to defy gravity and the laws of physics.
Slime is a staple of Halloween, chemistry, and science, in general. What could be better than stretching a glob of goo between your hands or letting it run between your fingers? Well, if you’re like us, you want to be able to eat it. With this Edible Slime recipe, that’s exactly what you can do. What are you waiting for? Mix up a batch of your own.
Steve Spangler is a celebrity teacher, science toy designer, speaker, author and an Emmy award-winning television personality. Spangler is probably best known for his Mentos and Diet Coke geyser experiment that went viral in. Spangler is the founder of www.SteveSpanglerScience.com, a Denver-based company specializing in the creation of science toys, classroom science demonstrations, teacher resources and home for Spangler’s popular science experiment archive and video collection. Spangler is a frequent guest on the Ellen DeGeneres Show and Denver 9 News where he takes classroom science experiments to the extreme. For teachers, parents or DIY Science ideas – check out other sources of learning:
Blowing up balloons can be quite the task. You’ll spend a ton of time huffing and puffing while blowing your breath into the rubbery orb. Don’t waste all of that time and energy making yourself light-headed! Try dropping a piece of dry ice into a balloon instead, and watch what happens.
Here’s an easy-to-do experiment using only a balloon and a hex nut from the hardware store. This is the perfect science of sound activity because kids will love it and parents will be left shouting, “STOP!” Be sure to buy enough supplies for all of your friends. This is also the perfect Halloween experiment for making spooky sounds.
It looks like an ordinary glass of water… crystal clear water. But hiding just below the surface of the water is an amazing collection of large, jelly-like marbles that become invisible when submerged in water. The Jelly Marbles become invisible due to an identical index of refraction with the liquid. In other words, they vanish like magic! As you’ll see, there’s more to this experiment than meets the eye.
Everyone knows that water can’t flow uphill. Not so fast… When a small amount of Polyox (polyethylene oxide) is mixed with water, it dissolves, forming a thick, slippery, gooey, mucous-like gel. Oh, the visual imagery! When the gel is poured back and forth between two beakers, the gel mysteriously siphons from the higher held beaker to the lower one. Maybe water can flow uphill. You have to play with the stuff to believe it.
It’s a demonstration that almost has to be seen in person to believe. Otherwise, you’re likely to say, “It’s fake… there’s no way that could happen!” As you’re watching the video, please remember that there is absolutely no trick photography. When disbelievers see the demonstration performed, the reaction is nothing short of astonishing. Based on our past experience, we know that color mixing is not a reversible process. Mix red and blue and you make purple. Separating the colors back into their original form is not only tricky but incomprehensible for many of us. Watch the video… you’ll see why we call it a “Twist in Time.”
As a penny balances precariously on the hook of a wire hanger, you might think any sort of movement would send the penny flying. With a bit of physics know-how, you can spin the entire hanger around in a circle without losing the 1¢ coin. When it comes down to it, you just need to thank Sir Isaac Newton.
Grow and color jelly-like crystals, then layer them in a plastic tube so you can see the colors blend and change. Our baby soda bottle “test tube” makes it easy to see the scientific results, and it’s small enough to carry your “rainbow” wherever you go! Included is a science activity guide to teach you all about crystals and color!
Steve’s son, Jack Spangler, decided that it is just too hard to pour soft drinks by turning a 2-liter bottle of soda upside down. The bottle is just too heavy. So Jack decided to use the power of Mentos and Diet Coke to fill 6 glasses at once and solve his problem. It’s a fun, creative, hands-on way to utilize the epic Mentos Geyser in a way that harnesses it for your drinking pleasure.
The Energy Stick makes quite the “buzz” when you’re using it. To the untrained eye, it appears to be a plastic tube with a jumble of wires inside and two silver bands at each end. Well, those silver bands are actually electrodes. All the wires on the inside? They’re a solid state sensing circuit, tone generator, sound transducer, battery power supply, and LED lights. The perfect use for the Energy Stick is as a simple, yet fun, tool for learning about continuity and circuits. So… how do you turn it on?
It’s that time of the year when kids are heading back to school. After our science guy Steve Spangler walked his kids to school this morning, he’s here to share some secrets that parents and teachers can use to foster the excitement of a new school year.
Steve Spangler is a celebrity teacher, science toy designer, speaker, author and an Emmy award-winning television personality. Spangler is probably best known for his Mentos and Diet Coke geyser experiment that went viral in. Spangler is the founder of www.SteveSpanglerScience.com, a Denver-based company specializing in the creation of science toys, classroom science demonstrations, teacher resources and home for Spangler’s popular science experiment archive and video collection. Spangler is a frequent guest on the Ellen DeGeneres Show and Denver 9 News where he takes classroom science experiments to the extreme. For teachers, parents or DIY Science ideas – check out other sources of learning:
All it takes is a slight tug and the long string of beads literally pull itself out of the container and onto the floor. Best of all, fifty feet of beads empty from the container in under five seconds! How does it work?
You might think that you can’t fit many drops of water on the surface of a penny. Pennies are just so small! In the Drops on a Penny experiment, though, you’ll experience surface tension and cohesion at their finest. How many drops of water can you fit? There’s only one way to find out… by adding one drop at a time!
We have all experienced wind and, like it or hate it, it affects us. Moving air can jostle your hair about, fly a kit, or, in extreme cases, tear entire buildings from their foundation. Did you know that this moving air actually creates low pressure, though? It’s true. On an exceptionally windy day, you can even see tall buildings bowing towards each other near their tops! We’re going to recreate this phenomenon using ping pong balls in the Ping Pong Pressure experiment. – See more at: http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/lab/experiments/ping-pong-pressure#sthash.HINuLOio.dpuf
Vision and the way our brains perceive what we are seeing are incredible. Just think of optical illusions, 3D images, the fact that your eyes are processing the world around you upside-down! A fun trick to play on your eyes and brain uses a zoetrope. This fantastic tool is able to change multiple still images, into a moving animation that would make Walt Disney jealous.
Do square bubbles really exist? That’s the question of the day and the answer is yes… if you know the science secret. Square bubbles are easy to make and serve as a great learning tool as students explore the concepts of soap films and surface tension. Get ready to amaze your friends.
Not all sunscreen lotions are the same, as can be evidenced by a lobster-like appearance after a day of working outside. SPF 15 just didn’t do the trick. Instead of using your skin as a detector of ultra-violet light (UV), try experimenting with Energy Beads or UV Beads. These indicator beads change color when exposed to UV light. It’s an amazing way to test the effectiveness of sunscreen or to see if UV light is really blocked out by filters in sunglasses.
Sometimes, gardening and planting seeds can be very boring. This can especially be the case if you are a young scientist that loves action and excitement! Thankfully, there are gardening methods that can offer a bit more kick than just digging holes and planting. Introducing Seed Balls, the method of gardening that allows you to throw to sow!
Have you ever seen a blue flame? What about green or purple? When you’re expecting a regular flame, these colorful changes can be an incredible surprise! What you may not know is these spectacular colors result from the presence of specific metals. We’re going to show you a couple of household materials that contain metals that are easily identifiable during a Flame Test!
Popsicle sticks are great for holding frozen treats and reading the occasional joke off of, but did you know they’re excellent for demonstrating potential and kinetic energy? It’s true! If you weave popsicle sticks together just right, you can create a chain reaction that will create a dazzling display of flying popsicle sticks!
Our science guy, Steve Spangler, is an expert at making science fun, but you get an extra dose of fun when the science is ooey, gooey and slimy. Steve is with Kim today to uncover the real science behind making the perfect batch of slime.
Steve Spangler is a celebrity teacher, science toy designer, speaker, author and an Emmy award-winning television personality. Spangler is probably best known for his Mentos and Diet Coke geyser experiment that went viral in. Spangler is the founder of www.SteveSpanglerScience.com, a Denver-based company specializing in the creation of science toys, classroom science demonstrations, teacher resources and home for Spangler’s popular science experiment archive and video collection. Spangler is a frequent guest on the Ellen DeGeneres Show and Denver 9 News where he takes classroom science experiments to the extreme. For teachers, parents or DIY Science ideas – check out other sources of learning:
Bubbles usually only come as individual spheres of soap and water. Sometimes, if you’re lucky, you can get a whole bunch of bubbles in one cluster… but it always seems random. Luckily, we’ve found a spectacular way to create entires snakes made of bubbles and teach you how to make them in all the colors of the rainbow!
Have you ever wondered why shaking a soda results in a great explosion when it’s opened? What causes a 2-liter bottle of soda to go flat? Is there anything that can be done to keep fizz in a bottle of soda? Get ready to uncover some amazing soda secrets that will change your soda drinking habits.
Marshmallows are a delicious, fluffy staple of summer, campouts, and barbecues. Did you know that there isn’t really much to them? It’s true. The best way to see what really comprises a marshmallow is to put it to the Marshmallow Masher pressure test. You’ll use the power of air to demonstrate what you’re really eating when you roasting ‘mallows this summer.
Density can be a difficult scientific property to grasp, that’s why we like making it colorful, fun, and (most importantly) simple! The Salt Water Density Straw is the epitome of kitchen science. You’ll use materials are right in your house, and with just a bit of salt, you’ll create a colorful experience that will have young scientists understanding density in moments.
M&Ms have the slogan of melting in your mouth, but not in your hands. You wanna know something cool? The special melting property is totally scientific. The results are an amazing phenomenon that we call Floating Letters.
You’ve seen Steve Spangler use blow dryers or industrial-sized blowers to levitate ping pong balls, beach balls, and send toilet paper flying through the air. You can replicate this levitating object phenomenon on a smaller scale using objects that are right in your home! The Floating Ping Pong Ball trick uses amazing principles of air that are sure to amaze anyone, from your science teacher to your parents to your neighbors!
Putting an item into an empty soda bottle is a piece of cake. Just drop the object through the mouth of the bottle, right? Well, we have a challenge for you. Place a small item in the mouth of a bottle and attempt to blow the object into the bottle using a straw. Not so easy, now is it?
Hard candies are known for their bright colors, delicious tastes, and, well, having a ton of sugar. While having a handful of candy every once in a while is definitely a good thing, we like conducting experiments with them! We especially love Gobstoppers. They have layers of colors that, when they dissolve into water, do something very peculiar…
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If you’ve experienced our Sick Science!™ series before, you know that the videos are all about bringing science to life for young learners. The best part? The hands-on science exploration can be done using items found right in your own home or classroom! Each volume of the Sick Science DVD series features 10 experiments that leave young scientists with a question. Sometimes, they may be asked to figure out why the experiment works. Other times, they may be asked to determine a mystery component of the activity. The entire experience is designed to encourage investigation and inquiry… a sure-fire way to keep everyone engaged and wanting more.
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