Science Revisited

Although Zach has continued to work independently on science, I haven't cracked open Gloria's science book since the molecule/gumdrop debacle. Zach had an experiment he needed extra hands on today, however, so Gloria and I pitched in. The point of the experiment was to show the "profound effect that oxygen has on combustion". For once I had all the necessary components for the experiment- a candle, matches, hydrogen peroxide, bakers yeast (OK, I don't keep this on hand, but I did plan ahead!!), a balloon, a plastic bottle and a reasonably large glass jar.

It was actually very fun watching the ingredients in the jar fill up the balloon with oxygen. We then used the oxygen inside the balloon to keep the candle burning even when covered by the glass jar.

The experiment was such a success that I was inspired to get out Gloria's chemistry book. Her experiment called for water, oil, food coloring, and a large bottle:

She had fun watching the oil and the colored water separate:

Good thing I had Zach on hand to explain all the technical reasons this happens. He studied cohesion and adhesion in depth a couple of years ago and he was able to explain the process to Gloria.

Gloria took it a step further and made pretty colors. . .

All of this prompted the kids to make an experiment of their own. They grabbed the ingredients they had been working with and selected a few things out of the cupboard including baking soda and vinegar and headed outside. . .

This is what happened next: