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Corrosiveness of Soda Coke! Pop!

That bubbly stuff might make your taste buds happy, but what does it do to common household obje cts? Problem: How does a penny change when its left in a container of soda overnight? Materials: 2 cans of cola 5 dull pennies Food storage container White piece of paper Camera Notebook and paper

Procedure: 1. Give your pennies a drink! Collect some old, dull and tarnished pennies for this experiment. Find a container thats large enough that you can lay the pennies side by side. 2. Create a hypothesis, your best guess about what is going to happen. What do you think will happen to the pen nies when you leave them in cola bath overnight? 3. Take a picture of your pennies. Line them up in order according to the dates on the penny. Take a photo of th em with a piece of white paper as the background. 4. Now your pennies are ready to take a bath. Line them up in the container, and pour the cola over them so that theyre sitting in a cola bath. 5. Before bed, come back to your experiment and flip the pennies over. 6. Good morning! Now its time to take another look at your pennies. Take the pennies out of their bath and wa sh them off. Line them up in the same order you did before you bathed them, and take another photo. Has anythi ng changed? Results: After a day in the cola bath, the pennies will be very shiny. Why? There are lots of stories about the amazing powers of soda and the not-so-amazing effects of soda on your body. Some are trueothers are not. So why can soda, particularly sugary colas, make pennies shiny? Its all because of a chemical reaction. In a che mical reaction, two different chemicals change each other. Part of the reason the pennies change has to do with t he pennies, and part of the reason has to do with the cola. Pennies are made out of copper, and after a while, copper gets dull. This is because the copper in the pennies rea cts with air to create copper oxide. Yes, there are chemical reactions going on all over the place! Copper oxide l ooks less shiny than plain copper.

If you had to describe the taste of cola, you might describe it as tangy. That's because cola has acid in it phosp horic acid, to be precise. Most colas have a pH of 2.5-3.5. The scale for pH is a way to determine how acidic so mething is. It goes from 0 to 14, and everything under 7 is acidic. This means that cola is quite acidic! Vinegar has a pH of 2.5, making it just a little more acidic than some colas. When the copper oxide (the pennies) and the phosphoric acid (the cola) get together in the bath, the acid reacts with the copper oxide on the pennies and dissolves it. Thats why the pennies get shiny. What else could you put into the cola bath? If youd like to try something thats a little more like your teeth, bot h limestone landscaping rocks and chalk have a lot of calcium in them. What do you think will happen to them when they sit in a cola bath overnight?

Do It Yourself Rain Gauge

Objective: Students make their own rain gauge to measure rainfall. Research Questions: How is rainfall measured? Materials: Empty two-liter plastic bottle Scissors A few handfuls of clean pebbles, gravel, or marbles Masking tape Water Ruler Permanent marker Rainy weather Paper and pencil Experimental Procedure: Carefully use the scissors to cut the top of the bottle off at the wide part just below where it begins to get narrow . Put the pebbles in the bottom of the bottlethese will help keep it from getting blown over if its windy. Turn the top of the bottle upside downmake sure theres no cap on it! Its going to act like a funneland plac e it in the bottom part of the bottle, pointing downward. Line up the cut edges and tape them together so the top part is held firmly in place. Use a long piece of tape to make a straight vertical line from the top edge of the bottle to the bottom. Use the m arker to draw a line on the vertical piece of tape just a little above the top of the pebbles. This will be the bottom of your rain gauge. Set the ruler against the vertical tape so that the 0 line lines up with the bottom mark. Use the marker to mark every quarter-inch (or, if you want to get fancy, every eighth-inch) along the piece of tape. Then label the inches from bottom to top. (Alternatively, you can mark centimeters and half-centimeters instead.)

Set the bottle on a level surface and pour some water in until it reaches the bottom mark. Your rain gauge is no w ready to go! Put the rain gauge outdoorsyoull need to pick a really good spot! You want somewhere level thats open to t he sky and thats not likely to get too windy, where the gauge isnt likely to be disturbed. There shouldnt be an ything hanging over the gauge that could either block any rain or make extra raindrops drip into the bottle (like a tree or a power line or the edge of a roof). Pay attention to the forecast. On a day that youre likely to get rain, make sure the water in the bottom hasnt ev aporated below your bottom mark; if it has, refill it to that mark. 24 hours later, if it has rained, check your gauge and see how high the water is now. Thats how much rain has f allen in the last day! On your piece of paper, make a note of the date and the amount of rain. Then read the news paper or go online and find out the official amount of rainfall in your area for the day and make a note of itse e how closely your figure matches the official one! Repeat steps 7-9 for several rainy days.

Do It Yourself Anemometer Wind speed is an important quantity for meteorologists to measure when they report and predict the weather. Th ey use a device called an anemometer to measure wind speed. Although some anemometers are expensive, soph isticated electronic devices, it is easy to build an inexpensive and fairly accurate one using string and a table-ten nis ball. Another way to make an anemometer is to put a small windmill on an electric generator. The output of the gene rator varies with the velocity of the windmill and is measured by a meter attached to the generator. Materials

Table-tennis (ping-pong) ball Sewing needle Thin fishing line (A typical rating would be 0.08 mm and 0.011 g/m. Monofilament sewing thread will also wor k if it has a diameter of 0.2 mm or less.) Plastic cement Scissors Plastic protractor Metric ruler Spirit level 40-cm wooden dowel Electric drill and bit (requires adult help) Small screw and screwdriver Notebook and pencil Table-tennis balls are ideal because they must meet rigid specifications of diameter and weight. Table-tennis bal ls meet specifications set by the International Table Tennis Federation. The median diameter of 37.7 mm may v ary by no more than 1.3 percent, and the weight of 2.465 g by no more than 2.56 percent. Procedure

1. Pierce the ball with a needle at two opposite points. The perforations may produce two shallow indentations.

Use the needle to thread the fishing line through the ball. Fasten one end of the line to the ball with a dab of plas tic cement. (Use cement that does not dissolve the ball chemically.) After the cement has hardened, trim the sur plus bit of line as close as possible to the ball's surface. 2. Pass the free end of the line through the index hole of an ordinary plastic protractor. The protractor serves as t he scale for measuring the angular deflection (tilt) of the hanging ball with respect to the horizontal tilt. Adjust t he length of line between the upper surface of the ball and the index hole of the protractor to 30 cm and attach t he free end of the line to the rear surface of the protractor with cement as shown. 3. Cement an ordinary spirit level parallel to and near the baseline of the protractor. 4. Fashion a handle from a 40-cm dowel. The handle will allow you to hold the instrument away from your bod y. If you hold the instrument away from your body and stay out of the path of the wind (don't stand downwind o f the instrument), your body will not change the wind speed you are trying to measure. Ask an adult to drill a pil ot hole for a screw in the protractor as shown. Screw the handle into the hole. 5. Go outside in an open area on a day when the wind is fairly noticeable. Hold the anemometer as still as possi ble, away from your body, and level as indicated by the air bubble in the spirit level. (The air bubble should rest between the hairlines.) Note the angle that the fishing line crosses on the protractor. Find the corresponding win d speed using the table provided. For instance, an angle of 60 degrees indicates a wind speed of 6.66 m per seco nd. 6. Use other data you collect, such as temperature and relative humidity, to predict the weather. (See chapter 26, "Making a Hygrometer," for information on determining relative humidity.)

The basic principle of the anemometer dates back at least to the fifteenth century. The anemometer designed for this experiment was calibrated in a wind tunnel. (For information on wind tunnels, see chapter 29, "Experiment s in a Wind Tunnel:') Calibration is the process by which a measuring instrument is adjusted or interpreted to re ad accurately. If you make an exact copy of the instrument described here, you can expect it to produce reliable readings.

Homemade Paper

Project Time Frame 4-6 weeks. Objective This project involves experiments in papermaking. The goals of this project are: To develop new or improved papermaking techniques. To encourage recycling.

Materials and Equipment Computer with internet access Color printer Digital camera 2 wood or plastic picture frames (same size) Window screening (plastic or fiberglass works well) Large plastic basin Large absorbent white cloths (cotton sheets are ok) Blender Typical office/craft/hobby supplies (such as paper, pens & poster-board, glue, etc.) All materials can be found in your home, at local stores, or on ebay. Introduction Most of us are vaguely familiar with how paper is made. Here, we experiment with bringing papermaking m ethods and techniques to the next level, by inventing a new or improved paper product. There are many ways in which one type of paper can be superior to others. For example, the paper you create could be stronger, longer-l asting, more eco-friendly, or more cost-effective than existing brands. Research Questions 1. What is the basic technique for making paper? 2. What materials are most commonly used to make recycled paper? 3. What other materials could be used to make paper? Terms and Concepts to Start Background Research Papermaking Textiles Experimental Procedure 1. Research related materials (see bibliography shown below and terms listed above) 2. Collect many paper samples. These may include toilet paper, egg cartons, printer paper, newspaper, magazine s, napkins, etc. Sort materials as desired. 3. Photograph all samples, and note the color(s) of each sample type. 4. Tear paper into small bits (use a shredder if you can), and soak paper products (separately) in water for 12-24 hours. 5. To make the mold, remove the glass and cardboard from the picture frames. You only need the empty frames themselves. 6. Stretch a piece of screening tightly over one of the frames. Fold the screening over the edges, and staple or ta ck it securely. Screening should be about 3 inches longer and 3 inches wider than the frame you are attaching it to. (The other frame is called the deckle) 7. Put a handful of paper in the blender, add warm water, and blend to the consistency of oatmeal. 8. Transfer this mixture into the plastic basin, adding water until solution is about 90% water.

9. Mix solution well just before each use. 10. Hold the mold, screen-side up, and place the other frame (deckle) on top of it, so the screen is sandwiched in between the two frames. 11. Hold it all together by the short sides, and immerse the frame into the pulp. 12. Hold firmly, while gently moving frame from side-to-side, so pulp is evenly distributed. 13. Slowly lift it out of the pulp. Let excess water drain through the screen for 2 minutes. 14. Set the mold and deckle down on a flat white cotton cloth, and carefully remove the deckle. 15. Flip the mold over, paper side down, onto the cloth. Use a sponge to soak up excess water by pressing it gen tly down on the screen. 16. When the paper begins to separate from the screen, carefully lift the mold away. 17. Dry finished sheets between weighted objects for one week to keep them flat. Put layers of cloth between s heets of paper to encourage drying, and to prevent sheets from sticking to each other. 18. Test your paper creations by writing, painting or folding. Carefully note paper quality (absorbency, durabilit y, look, feel, etc.). 19. Think of a new material that might improve the quality of paper. Test this out using the same method descri bed above. Experiment with textures using other textiles, or play with colors using bleach or tint. 20. Carefully explain your methods in a detailed report. 21. Include paper products and materials in your science fair display. 22. Show interesting photos taken throughout the course of the project.

How to Measure the Strength of a Magnet Get your motors readywere heading out on the magnetic racetrack. Learn how to measure the strength of a m agnet with a ruler, some graph paper, and a toy car. Problem: Can a toy car measure magnet strength? Materials Metric ruler Graph paper (4 squares per inch ruling is ideal) Tape Small, plastic toy car (not steel) with wheels that can turn freely. Avoid using a windup car for this reason. Small bar magnets (at least 4)

Procedure 1. First, get your racetrack in order. Take a sheet of graph paper and tape it to your table. 2. Place your ruler alongside your graph paper and line it up with the lines on the graph paper so you know what distance each line indicates (Depending on what graph paper youre using, your sheet may be ruled in inches or centimeters. Check the ruling on your graph paper to make sure youre using the appropriate units!) 3. Take out one of the small magnets. The magnet should be the same size or smaller than the toy car. Tape it to the top of the car. 4. Now, put your car on the track. Set the car at the end of the ruler so that the front-facing end of the magnet is lined up with 0. 5. Check your magnets. What end of the magnet makes the car move forward? Make sure that this end is facing the car, and place your other magnet at the other end of the ruler.

6. Its time to create a hypothesis. How close does the magnet need to get to the car before the two magnets start to work together to pull the car along? 7. Start your engines! Slowly start to move the magnet along the track, stopping every centimeter. Is the car mo ving yet? Note how far you had to move the magnet before the car moves. Do this four times, resetting the posit ion of your car and your magnet each time. Record your results for each trial. 8. Now, stick two of your magnets together. 9. Repeat steps 5-7 with your compound magnet. What happens? Does the car move earlier? Later? 10. Continue to add magnets to your pile, starting a new set of trials each time you add a magnet. Remember to put the car back at the beginning each time!

11. When youre done, take the average of the four results from each set of trials (take the sum of all 4 numbers and divide by 4). This will give you the usual distance that it took for the car to start moving. Results In this experiment, the results will depend on the weight of your car and magnet and the strength of the magnet. The more magnets you pile up at the end of the track, the farther away they will be when the car starts to move. Why? Magnets are amazing! Even though you cant see anything pushing or pulling, a magnet can help objects move. When one magnets north end (pole) is facing another magnets south pole, the magnets will move together. Wh en the same poles face each other, the magnets will push away. Magnets have invisible magnetic fields produce d by the movement of electrical charges. You cant see the magnetic field, but you can see the results. The pull between the north and south poles of a magnet is what makes your toy car move. Adding more magnets makes the pull stronger. What could change the results of this experiment? Different toy cars weigh different amounts. Different magnets also weigh different amounts. When you attach t he magnet to the car, youre making the car heavier. It takes more magnetic force to move a heavier car. Also, some cars have wheels that move more easily than others. They have less friction between the wheels and the rest of the car. Friction occurs when one object rubs against another, slowing it down. The power of your magnet will also change your experiment. When you put more than one magnet on top of ea ch other, you discovered that more magnets are stronger than one magnet. Some magnets are small but very po werful. Rare earth magnets may move the car when theyre quite far away from it. Toy magnets are less pow erf ul. What other things might change the results of your experiment? Try this experiment with different cars and diff erent magnets, and see what happens. What combination is easiest to move? Which one is the hardest?

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