Read the full experiment at http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/puff-pop-how-to-make-a-co2-sandwich Mom always warned us never to play with our food… but no one said that the wrappers were off limits. Here’s a fun activity that uses some common items you’ll find around the house and a little creativity to explore the “pop” factor of vinegar and baking soda.
Read the full experiment at http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/solar-oven-s-mores There are just some things that are synonymous with “summertime snacks,” and we can’t think of a summer snack we enjoy quite as much as s’mores. But what would you do if you weren’t allowed to have a fire or just didn’t have the tools necessary for a fire? We came up with a pretty neat way to harness the heat and energy of the sun to create a solar powered cooker that makes a delicious batch of s’mores without a fire!
Read the full experiment at http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/storm-in-a-cup-erupting-wax When you hear about a volcano erupting, what do you think is going on? If you’re like us, you think of red hot chunks of rock being hurled thousands of feet in the air, flows of liquid magma, and plumes of smoke. That’s not always the case. Some volcanoes erupt underwater and their smoking hot by-products are immediately cooled. With the Storm in a Cup, you can see what happens underwater on a smaller, safer scale.
Read the full experiment at http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/blubber-gloves The animals of the Arctic and Antarctic circles spend their lives surviving subfreezing air temperatures and frigid water. Their secret is blubber, a thick layer of body fat that comprises up to 50% of some marine mammals. Is there any way for humans to replicate this cold-weather adaptation? With the Blubber Glove experiment, you’ll test a blubber substitute on a small scale and see what it’s like to take a dip in cold water without turning into a human popsicle.
Read the full experiment at http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/talking-cups From the soulful crooning of an R&B singer to the deep roar of thunder, sounds are created by vibrations. So, if you’re looking to make a cup speak, you have to find a way to make it vibrate. Combining the plastic cups with a toothpick and a length of string is the first step… but how do we make it talk?
Read the full experiment at http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/rocket-powered-skateboard Anyone who has tried the Mentos and Diet Coke Geyser will tell you that it is totally awesome! But how awesome would it be if you turned that geyser horizontal, strapped it to a skateboard, and made the whole thing an eruption-powered rocket car? You might not believe the amazing results.
Read the full experiment at http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/balloon-powered-race-car When it comes to powering a race car, there are a ton of different options. Some cars are powered by gasoline, diesel, or other combustible fuels, or you can even power miniature race cars using a mousetrap! In the Balloon Powered Car, we’ll show you how to build a racer that uses the power of air pressure to roll across a room.
Read the full experiment at http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/drag-racing-coffee-cups
What do Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, and Einstein Bros. have in common? They all use disposable cups. What do these disposable cups have to do with Sick Science? They make awesome drag racers! In the Drag Racing Cups experiment, you’ll construct a simple and fun racer that converts potential energy into kinetic energy. Now if your parents would hurry up with their caramel macchiatos…
Read the full experiment at http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/mousetraps-in-motion Use the spring-loaded action of a mousetrap to make a real working car. A mousetrap is a stellar example of converting potential energy to kinetic energy. The spring of the mousetrap is held back with a bunch of potential energy and, once released, snaps forward in a burst of kinetic energy. What if you could harness the release of energy to power a car? We’ll show you how with the Mousetraps in Motion experiment.
Read the full experiment at http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/wind-up-racer
Finding creative, hands-on ways to demonstrate the difference between potential and kinetic energy can be difficult. Not to worry… that’s why you have us! With some simple household items and a little creativity, the Wind Up Racer will have you racing a spool across the room in no time!
Read the full experiment at http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/cave-pillar-experiment
This crazy cave pillar forms in days, not centuries. If you’ve ever ventured into a naturally formed cave, you probably saw pillars stretching from the ceiling to the floor. They’re called stalactites and they take hundreds and thousands of years to form as precipitation drips from down from the cave’s ceiling. In the Washing Soda Stalactite experiment, you’ll cut the stalactite formation process down to just a couple of days.
Read the full experiment at http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/content/experiment/squeeze-bottle-rocket It’s easy to turn a juice bottle into a rocket launcher. How? Grab a few straws of different sizes, some modeling clay, and an empty juice bottle to make a launcher that will send the straw rocket soaring across the room. Don’t worry, you aren’t just playing. You’ll learn something about Newton’s Third Law of Motion at the same time.
Read the full experiment at http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/content/experiment/incredible-egg-geode Forgive the wordplay, but we love to do “eggs-periments.” Get it? We’ve made naked eggs, put eggs in a bottle, folded eggs, and we’ve even shown you how to determine whether an egg is hard-boiled or raw. We want to find something new and amazing to do with eggs, and the Incredible Egg Geode is “eggs-actly” what we are looking for.
On this episode of The Spangler Effect, Steve shares a few of his favorite science pranks to pull on April Fools Day! With a magnet, baby diaper, spray can and a Starbucks cup, you too can have your own fun on April 1st!
Read the full experiment at http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/content/experiment/build-a-light-bulb-circuit-science When you are conducting experiments and demonstrations using electricity, you’ll use the science of circuits. Amazing things are possible with circuits including alarms, radios, and lights. In the Build a Light Bulb experiment, you’ll use household items to construct a complete circuit that results in a homemade light bulb.
Read the full experiment at http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/microwave-lightbulb
We love to see what microwaves do to common household items. We’ve shrunk potato chip bags and turned Ivory Soap into a fluffy soap souffle. What more could we want to do? We heard that it’s possible to actually make a lightbulb light-up if you do it right. And sure enough, we figured it out.
Learn more at http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/tornado-in-a-bottle How long does it take to empty a soda bottle full of water? You’ll amaze your dinner guests and explore some of the scientific properties of air and water when you learn how to empty a full bottle of water in just a few seconds!
Learn more at http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/cloud-in-a-bottle-experiment Have you ever wondered how clouds form? Moist air rises in the atmosphere, cools, and water droplets form into clouds. Making your own cloud is a popular experiment in many science books, but it can be a little tricky. Sometimes the results are a little hard to see, but practice always makes perfect.
Learn more at http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/content/experiment/colorful-convection-currents
Convection is one of those words that we often hear used, but we may not completely understand its meaning. Weather forecasters show how convection currents are formed when warm and cold air masses meet in the atmosphere. Convection currents are responsible for warm water currents that occur in oceans. This activity demonstrates convection currents in a very colorful fashion.
Learn more at http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/content/experiment/weather-vane Early weathermen and women didn’t use Doppler radar or computers to forecast the weather, they relied on tools that were much more simple. Take, for instance, the weather vane. You have probably seen weather vanes atop barns, houses, or mailboxes and they are used to show wind direction. Even though weather vanes are usually made of welded metal, you can make an equally functional weather vane using supplies in your own home!
Water in rivers, in a glass, or falling from clouds obeys gravity. It’s going to fall towards the ground because of the physical pull of the earth. But, what if we told you that you could turn a glass of water completely upside down and the water wouldn’t fall to the floor? That’s what happens in the Anti-Gravity Water demonstration. It’s a simple experiment that dramatically demonstrates the amazing physical properties of water.
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:
Learn more at http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/homemade-compass There is one tool that is sure to give you guidance if you get lost, a compass. But what could you do if you forgot to pack this useful tool in your survival kit? Easy! Float a needle on top of a standing pool of water. Well, there’s a bit more to creating a compass out of a needle and some water, but you can do it right at home with just a few tools.
Learn more at http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/skewer-through-balloon Some things in this world just don’t mix – dogs and cats, oil and water, needles and balloons. Everyone knows that a balloon’s worst fear is a sharp object…even a sharpened, wooden cooking skewer. With a little scientific knowledge about polymers you’ll be able to perform a seemingly impossible task… pierce a balloon with a wooden skewer without popping it. Suddenly piercing takes on a whole new meaning!
Learn more at http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/erupting-peroxide-volcano Volcanoes have shaped history and science since the dawn of time. From the ultra-destructive Mount Vesuvius to the more recent Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland (good luck pronouncing that one), volcanic eruptions can dramatically alter the world with their massive blasts. Perhaps that’s why, for decades, students have been awed by the reproduction of volcanic eruptions by their teachers using vinegar and baking soda. We get that and have come up with a way that you can replicate a volcanic blast without the stench of vinegar in your nostrils.
Learn more at http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/walking-on-eggshells
The phrase “walking on eggshells” is an idiom that is often used to describe a situation in which people must tread lightly around a sensitive topic for fear of offending someone or creating a volatile situation. Literally walking on eggshells would require exceptional caution, incredible skill, and a sense of self-control that would be nothing short of amazing. But what if eggs were really much stronger than most of us imagine? What if nature’s design of the incredible edible egg was so perfect that the thin, white outer coating of an egg was strong enough to withstand the weight of your body? Wake the kids! Phone the neighbors! It’s time for the Walking on Eggshells challenge.
Learn more at http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/how-to-make-a-newspaper-tree Newspapers are made from trees and trees grow… so it only makes sense that you should be able to grow a newspaper tree, right? What? You have doubts? Roll several sheets of newspaper into a tube, tear the tube in a few spots, and an eight foot tall tree suddenly appears!
Learn more at http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/secret-message-heat-friction-ink Give that special someone a note that requires the heat of a romantic candle to decode the message. You won’t believe what the ink in this pen will do. Your message can appear or vanish on command… and most people don’t even know that the ink works this way.
Learn more at http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/content/experiment/magic-crystal-snowflake
Bringing real snowflakes inside individually is next to impossible. So, to work around this conundrum, we’ve come up with the Magic Crystal Snowflake. This special snowflake is just a beautiful and unique as a snowflake from the sky, but it won’t melt! The Magic Crystal Snowflake uses some fun hands-on chemistry and makes a perfect holiday experiment.
Learn more at http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/lab/experiments/magic-crystal-tree/ Impress your friends by creating a colorful Christmas tree out of salt crystals, cardboard, and a few other household items. Within a day, you’ll have a colorful snow-covered tree that seemed to magically sprout from nothing!
Learn more at http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/pressure-cooker-shrinking-cup The pressure cooker is Mom’s secret weapon when it comes to making that savory stew in less than an hour. This amazing device is also the kitchen scientist’s favorite tool for subjecting ordinary things to high pressure to see what happens. For this experiment, our subject is a Styrofoam cup. Under extremely high pressure, will the cup expand, contract, melt or turn into a cute little puppy?
Cause a packet of ketchup to rise and fall on command in a bottle of water. People will think that you have the ability to move objects with your mind! Telekinesis? No, just cool science!
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:
Learn more at http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/lab/experiments/straw-through-a-potato/ Sometimes you have to stop and ask yourself, “Who comes up with this stuff?” No one ever uses a straw to eat a potato, but science nerds seem to like to find ways to poke straws through potatoes. There must be a deeper meaning… and there is!
Learn more at http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/move-a-match-with-your-mind The ability to move an object with your mind is called telekinesis. Magicians and psychics claim to have this amazing ability… and you will too once you’ve learned the science secret behind the Sympathetic Match trick. If you like to annoy all of your dinner guests by running your finger along the rim of a wine glass to make it sing, you’ll soon have your friends convinced that you can move objects with your mind!
This is a kid-safe version of the popular Elephant’s Toothpaste demonstration using common household materials. A child with a great adult helper can safely do this activity and the results are wonderful.
The term goldenrod is typically used to describe a color of paper – golden yellow. However, our goldenrod paper contains a special dye that turns bright red when exposed to solutions that are basic, like ammonia water or washing soda. We’ll show you how to use this special color-changing paper to develop a hidden message and make dripping, bleeding paper… complete with your own handprint marked in “blood.” It’s a great acid/base lesson for the Halloween season.
Exploration into the fascinating world of dry ice is never boring, and the same goes when you add in some bubbles! We’ve filled bubbles with dry ice smoke in our Boo Bubbles experiment, but did you know that bubbles will float on dry ice smoke like it was water? We’ll show you how to do it and, of course, teach you the amazing science behind this very cool trick.
For years, Steve has taught people how to shrink and grow heads without actually, you know, permanently changing the size of their head. In addition to being temporary, it’s also an extremely fun optical illusion. In mere moments, you’ll go from staring at a black and white spiral, to a state of shock with this stunning illusion.
Learn more at http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiments For years, Steve has taught people how to shrink and grow heads without actually, you know, permanently changing the size of their head. In addition to being temporary, it’s also an extremely fun optical illusion. In mere moments, you’ll go from staring at a black and white spiral, to a state of shock with this stunning illusion.
Learn more at http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/the-force-of-sound-sick-science If you’ve ever watched an action movie in a theater, you’ve seen and felt an onscreen explosion. Did you know that what you were feeling was actually waves of sound from the theater’s speaker system? We’ll show you how you can visualize the sound vibrations and explain why, even though you can’t always see it, you can feel sound.
Learn more at http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/index-card-tricks-sick-science What if we told you that you can fit a quarter through a dime-sized hole in an index card? Would you believe it was possible? It is possible, and we can even show you how to fit your entire body through an index card. Don’t believe us? Try it for yourself!
