What are some free, and safe household science experiments.

Question

What are some free, and safe household science experiments.

Answer 1

Most free-experiments are for the younger science students, but here are a few.

One important thing to know is what "volume" is. You will see that word used a lot through science. One good way to demonstrate volume is by filling a cup with ice, and then pouring water up to the top. Ask the child, "What will happen when the ice cubes melt?" Chances are, they will say it will over-flow. Let it melt and when it doesn't over flow, ask them why they think that is. After this is all over, explain to them what "volume" is, and how the ice has the same amount of water frozen as it does liquified. This is also a great demonstration to explain the basic scientific process... having a question, a hypothesis, observations, and conclusion.

Another good experiment shows the process of photo-synthesis. Take a clear plastic container, and fill it up with water. Make sure you can cleary see the contents of this contianer. Put a leaf from a tree in this water, and wait for some air bubbles to appear. Explain how the leaf is releasing oxygen, and they can clearly see it through the water.

This next one will demonstrate the states of matter. For this you will need a frying pan, a large block of frozen water, and the stove turned up to medium to high heat. Show this ice cube, and explain that it is in the solid state. Put the ice cube in the frying pan, and wait for it to melt into liquid water. Explain that the heat causes the substance to liquify. If the child is old enough, explain why this happens on the atomic level. When the water boils, explain that it is now entering the gaseous form.

Another experiment shows the difference between mass and weight. Have the subject weight him/herself. To continue, chart this weight as both the weight on Earth, and as the mass of the subject. Then use the formular weight = mass * gravity to calcuate the weight of the subject on different planets. For this, you need to know the gravity of the planet. For example, Jupiter is 2.53. Chart the mass and the weight for each planet. Have the child notice that although the weight changed on location, the mass never changed. This experiment shows the basics of physics, while incorporating basic mathematics. It is important to know the different between weight and mass.

Answer 2

Take a wide mouth bottle.  Light a match to a small piece of paper and drop in the bottle.  Quickly place a hard boiled egg on of the bottle.  The heat drives out the air, so when it cools down, it creates a vacuum.  The egg gets sucked into the bottle.

Look for egg bottle trick on youtube.

Also, you can crush empty cans using air pressure.  Get a boiling pan of water, place the can in it using tongs, then turn it upside down into a pan of ice water (careful!).  Can will crush itself.