Author Archives: bwhyte

Science Experiment – Creeping Colours!

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Here are photos of an experiment called Creeping Colours.
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We cut strips of blotting paper just wide enough to fit into plastic cups.
Next we made blobs of colour with different markers on the paper approximately 5 cm from the bottom. We put some water into the cups so that it was just below the blobs on the blotting paper.  Then we waited.
What did the water do? It slowly soaked up through the blotting paper and the blobs of colour.
What happened to the colours? The colours started to spread with the water and we saw some of the different colours that make them up.
Why did this happen? Inks and dyes are made from different chemicals. To make all the different colours, lots of different coloured chemicals are mixed together. As the water rose up the blotting paper, it dissolved the chemicals and carried them with it. The different chemicals separated out.
Separating chemicals like this is called Chromatography.

Science Experiment – Pop Top!

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Here are some photos of Senior Infants trying an experiment called Pop Top.
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We filled bottles with very cold water, then emptied it out. This meant that the air in the bottles was very cold. We wet the caps and placed them upside down on top of the bottles. We placed our hands gently around the bottles but did not squeeze.
What happened? The caps jumped up and down on the top of the bottles…Pop Top!!
Why? When we placed our hands around the bottles, we warmed the air inside them.
Although a drinks bottle with no liquid in it looks empty, it is full of air.
If the air in the bottle is warmed, it expands and will take up more space, and try to escape, making the caps jump.
Next we placed balloons on the top of the bottles and placed our hands around them again. When the air inside the bottles was warmed by our hands the balloons inflated a little. We put the bottles into warm water and some inflated even more.