My son and I are continuing our shared quest for scientific enlightenment. I admit that it is his sudden and insatiable appetite for scientific knowledge is driving this new relational venture. It’s fantastic! I am shocked at the joy offered me by participating in the most basic of scientific experiments for kids. Our latest science adventure was focused upon “Surface Science” or “Surface Tension”.
So we learned that flowing liquids have no fixed shape and often will take on the shape of whatever container one places it in. We learned that this is a direct result of the atoms or molecules upon which flowing liquids are built. A flowing liquid’s atoms or molecules are spread much further apart than they are in solid materials. My son was amazed! We then talked about those strange little insects which actually walk across the top or surface of water. How do they do it? We set out to find out by trying a surface tension experiment with some household items. We gathered together a small bowl filled with water, a needle and a bit of tissue paper. We dropped the needle into the bowl of water and it sank quickly. We fished the needle out of the water and dried it off. We then placed it atop the tissue paper and then placed the tissue paper and needle atop the water in the small bowl. The tissue absorbed a bunch of water and slowly sank. Wait! The needle remained atop the water as the tissue sank and separated from it! Wow! The needle was floating! Why? the surface tension of the water was altered by the tissue paper. Interesting! Who said that science is not – or can not be – a scared venture? It is more than sacred … especially when its discovery is sought after by a parent and child, together. Amen.
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If you can get a faucet to drip one drop at a time, there’s a really cool trick:
Take a glass and put a very small bit of toothpaste in it. Rinse the glass out. Now, if you fill the glass almost all the way to the top and let the water drip into the cup, eventually, the water will have a meniscus slightly above the top of the glass. If you do it right, water drops falling onto this will form tiny oblate spheres that will float on top of the water! They’ll skitter around for a while and then either fall off the edge or burst and merge with the water in the cup.
The trick is the toothpaste. You need a small amount of toothpaste — too much and it won’t work. Glasses that are rinsed that you would think have no toothpaste left work the best.
Tricky to get this to work, but if you can, it’s worth it.
Cool! Thanks Rob! My son and I will give it a go and let you know how it worked out. Thanks again.
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