Learning Science is Fun Archives - Dayton Parent Magazine

Build your own Fidget Spinner

Katy Mark — Sun, 02 Jul 2023 10:53:24 +0000

If you’re reading this blog post, you probably already know how crazy popular fidget spinners have become in the last 3 months! It’s absolutely insane, but playing with these toys can be a great way to begin fidgeting in the world of science!

Fidget spinners work because of physics! That’s right! Kids sit, play and spin these toys, but may not understand why the fidget spinner can spin so freely and for such a long time. It’s rather simple! BEARINGS and torque! To begin understanding how it works, give this little experiment a try:

Part 1

Grab two large soup cans
Stack them on top of one another
Try turning the can on the top
What happens? How does it feel?
That sensation… that resistance… is what we call FRICTION! It’s the resistance that one surface or object encounters when moving over another.

Part 2

Now…Grab a few marbles and set them between the cans (You may need to wrap a small piece of cardboard around the seem to prevent the marbles from falling out).
Try spinning the top can again.
What happens? How does it feel now?
The marbles act like bearings and help reduce friction and permit the can on top to spin freely.

This is what’s happening inside of the bearing of the fidget spinner. If you were to open the bearing in your fidget spinner, you’d see small little bearings in between the inner and outer rings which allows this fidget spinner to spin freely! Science is so cool!!!

So you might be saying to yourself, “Self, I want a fidget spinner!”

If you’re like every other American who has have fallen in love with these spinners, you can build your own at home for just a few dollars! Plus, it’s a great way to explore physics with your little scientists at home.

I’ve included two of my videos below that walk you through the process. Check out the videos and then head to your local skate shop – Zumbies at the North Fairfield Mall – to grab some cheap bearings and then “roll” with this experiment! Sorry, I couldn’t help but include that pun!

Building your own fidget spinner is so much fun because you can explore the world with these simple toys! Have fun and leave a comment here on the blog or visit my Facebook page www.facebook.com/originalmisterc to share a photo of your homemade fidget spinner!

Video: Make 5 Handy Spinners!

Video: Rubber Band Fidget Spinner

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DIY Fire Extinguisher Experiment

Katy Mark — Sun, 02 Jul 2023 10:53:24 +0000

Alrighty Parents, this next experiment is one that you’ll definitely be working with your kiddos on to ensure safety. Remember, handling items like fire and flames can be dangerous and children should never be left unsupervised! In fact, it’s important that parents are also careful – Mister C gets his fingers really close to the flame at one point. Don’t worry, you’ll see it happen in the video! Toasty!

Creating your own DIY at-home fire extinguisher is lots of fun because it allows you to explore the magic of science. Kids, and parents, get a kick when doing this activity because it really seems amazing that an “invisible” gas like carbon dioxide (CO2) is actually extinguishing the flame! Creating your own fire extinguisher is not only fun, but it’s a great way to explore chemical changes. Plus it’s super dooper easy! Grab the following items and let’s get started!

Materials:

Clear plastic cups or jars – You’ll use these to contain the chemical reaction and capture the released carbon dioxide
Votive candles – These don’t need to be fancy at all. Just functional!
Matches
Baking Soda – I used the old stuff from the fridge! Worked beautifully!
Vinegar – Who doesn’t love to make their house smell like vinegar!
Water
Paper Towels – We alway need paper towels, so you’ll see them on almost all of my lists!

Getting started:

Have some fun mixing the baking soda and vinegar to get a feel for the reaction that takes place. Try different amounts of each to see how the two agents interact. It’s fun to make a mess, so enjoy this time with your little one and talk about the bubbles you see and why they are occurring when you mix these two items together. **Remember, chemical changes create something new and cannot go back to their original state.
Once you’ve practiced a little, it’s time to extinguish some flames
Light the candles
Create your chemical reaction
Carefully pour the CO2 over the candles (be careful not to pour liquid over them though)
Watch in amazement as the candles extinguish.

Fun info:

The chemical reaction you have created produces Carbon Dioxide which is heavier than Oxygen. Fires need oxygen to breathe and continue burning. When you pour the carbon dioxide over the flame, you are suffocating the flame by replacing the oxygen with carbon dioxide and the flame goes out! Pretty cool right! It’s not magic…It’s Science!!!

For more Mister C Hair Raising Science be sure to check out www.learningscienceisfun.com or visit his Facebook page www.facebook.com/originalmisterc

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DIY Snow Globe

Katy Mark — Sun, 02 Jul 2023 10:53:24 +0000

Winter break can bring on severe cases of winter boredom! When the weather outside is frightful, don’t let getting stuck inside get you down! Use existing materials and find creative ways to explore the science hiding in our everyday lives! For today’s activity, I enlisted my favorite little scientist, my daughter Little C, and set out to make some beautiful snow globes! The items that you will need to do this at home include:

A container – We chose a mason jar that we picked up at the craft store but you may already have empty jars in the kitchen. Things like pasta sauce or other reusable containers from items you have already used up could be repurposed so long as they seal well enough to hold water.
Glitter – Craft glitter is fun and pretty but you can get creative, maybe use some left-over confetti or other unique items you find around the house that will sink!
Decorations – The sky’s the limit with this part! We chose holiday related items for ours, evergreen trees intended for doll house displays from the craft store and a Lego tree and mini-figure. You can use anything that fits inside your container! Maybe yours will be a gift for someone who loves teddy bears or your could craft up something from things like pipe cleaners to have something totally unique!
Super glue
Glycerin – This can be found in the soap-making section at the craft store. We elected to buy some so that we could compare how it affected the final result.

Once you have gathered your materials, it’s time for construction to begin.

First make sure that your container and lid are clean.
Glue down your items to the lid so that don’t float around in the container once you seal it.
Once you’ve secured your decorations, add water and glycerin to your jar. The glycerin helps suspend the glitter in the jar. This is where the science kicks in. Experiment with the amount of glycerin to see if it impacts how the glitter floats in the water. In the video below, you can see how Little C’s snow globe behaves differently than mine.
Once the glycerin has been added, it’s time to toss in some glitter! It’s totally up to you to decide how much is enough. Take a look at the ones we built in the video below…We added a lot of glitter!
Now… close it up and shake, shake shake! Sit back and enjoy your beautiful creation.
Interesting in tossing other things in there to float around? Give it a try to see how it interacts with the liquid in your jar. Its density will determine whether it sinks or floats!

Be sure to check back for more from Learning Science is Fun! Thanks! ~Mister C

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Mister C Ghost Bubble Blaster

Katy Mark — Sun, 02 Jul 2023 10:53:24 +0000

Looking for a Spook-tacular activity to boost your Halloween spirit while doing a little science with your at home scientists? Well look no further! My name is Mister C and I believe that “Learning science is fun!” and can be done by everyone! Halloween is that wonderful time of year that encourages us to think about those scary and ghoolish decorations as we prepare for the annual trick or treaters to come knocking on our doors!

When I think of Halloween, I think of science concepts and all of the batty activities that parents and kids can do at home together! This year, make your Halloween or Fall gathering the talk of the town with this fun and simple Mister C Ghost Bubble Blaster! Skeletons may not want to participate in this activity because they may not have the guts for it, but kiddos love it and will be asking “How does that actually work?”

“I ain’t afraid of no ghosts,” are the words your little scientists will be saying as you build yourself a Mister C Ghost Bubble Blaster! This device takes the cooling power of dry ice to create a misty fog that is captured in a bubble that can be safely handled. Please watch the video.

Safety is always Mister C’s number one science rule, so remember: Dry Ice should always be carefully handled by adults with appropriate safety equipment. Dry Ice is approximately -110 degrees Fahrenheit.

What makes this activity so much fun? Children, and parents, get to try to catch and hold these mini bubbles filled with fog (Actually carbon dioxide). That’s right, dry ice is frozen carbon dioxide that sublimates. This means it goes directly from solid to a gas. And that warm water…It accelerates the process to create streams and streams of amazing fog! In fact, find a soft pair of gloves and you might actually be able to catch these little critters and hold them in your two hands before they pop!

This fun and exciting activity is just one of many that you can do with family and friends to celebrate the Fall season! Check back soon for more at home science with Mister C! And remember, “It’s Science Time!”

What you’ll need to get started at home:

A tall plastic container with a removable lid
3 ft clear hose (Home improvement store)
Barbed Nylon Adapter (Home improvement store)
PVC Nozzle and connectors
Drill
Dry Ice
Warm Water
Glove (safety equipment
Dish detergent and small bowl

Kevin Cornell, aka Mister C, is a creative, innovative, and inspiring educator who combines video and music with technology to enhance the educational environment for all learners. Mister C literally marches and dances to his own beats! He creates unique and exciting multimedia projects to engage audiences of all ages! So much in fact, that he had to create a YouTube Channel dedicated to music, videos and learning! With over 5200 subscribers and nearly 2 million views, Mister C continues to connect with students and families through multimedia productions!

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You’ve got Potential (energy)!

Katy Mark — Fri, 21 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0000

There are many types of energy to explore in science: chemical, thermal, gravitational or even nuclear. The simplest way to categorize energy is as being either potential or kinetic. Potential energy is stored energy and kinetic energy is the motion. Think of a roller coaster. Potential energy is the energy stored as a roller coaster sits at the top of the hill, there is lots weight in those cars waiting to take eager riders down the hill. Once the roller coaster is in motion, now we are looking at kinetic energy, the energy is in motion and the riders are having a blast!

Mister C uses blocks, rubber bands and popsicle sticks to create a lot of potential energy and then what fun it is to see what happens to the sticks when that potential energy is release and the kinetic energy gets in motion! At home you can recreate this experiment with similar items. Try changing things up, see what happens if your blocks are smaller or bigger. What happens if you put two rubber bands on instead of just one. Do the sticks fly further? Have fun
experimenting!

Whether you are a parent, grandparent, aunt/uncle, teacher, or friend, we can all take the time to help kids reach their full potential. Mister C invites you all to join him to explore the wonders of the world around us to LEARN TOGETHER!

When Mister C is not in the lab experimenting or in the studio dropping beats, he loves to connect with other learners online. Share how you’re having fun learning this week and use #LearnTogetherDayton to show everyone what you have learned with Mister C!

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Elephant Toothpaste!

Katy Mark — Tue, 03 Oct 2017 00:00:00 +0000

It’s that Spook-tacular time of year again and making elephant toothpaste is perfect for any season….especially Halloween! This experiment works with hydrogen peroxide and illustrates catalytic decomposition. That’s a fancy definition for releasing oxygen rapidly! You’ve probably got hydrogen peroxide in your home, but remember…always work with a parent when doing experiments. You’ll need a few simple items to get started:

Materials:

Empty water bottle
Dry Yeast
Liquid dish Soap
Water
Hydrogen Peroxide (3% or 6%)

First, get some water water and add some yeast to it. The yeast acts as the catalyst in the experiment, which increases the rate the reaction occurs. Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) will naturally decompose into oxygen and water, but the yeast increases that reaction rate and allows us to have some fun learning and watching what happens.

While the yeast is setting up, go ahead and take your hydrogen peroxide and pour it into the empty water bottle. Then add some liquid dish soap and swirl it around. Once you’re ready, pour the yeast water into your bottle and observe what happens!

The soap bubbles that are actually created are released oxygen gas from the chemical reaction. That’s why we added the soap, so that it could capture the released oxygen gas! What’s really cool is that the reaction is an exothermic reaction which means it creates heat as well.

Do it a few more times! Maybe trying to change some of the following variables:

Amount of water
Amount of dry yeast
Amount of Hydrogen peroxide
Have fun and remember, “Learning Science is Fun!”

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