Science Experiments

Archive for January, 2011

Question: What would be a cool experiment?

In my science class we’re doing a “matter magic show” so i need to think of a cool experiment to present to kids. Ive heard of this experiment where you light alcohol and sugar but im not sure if you know it please say so.

Answer: A nice little experiment I like to do with my kids is to make slime. All you need is water, white school glue, food coloring water, and Borax (found at any Wal-Mart). What you are basically doing is creating polymers. This experiment takes about 5-10 minutes, and creates a nice batch of slime that the kids can with and take home. I even had a good time playing with it. Check the website for exact specs.

Fun with Magic Milk and Food Coloring! (Home Experiment)

Question: Can anyone help me with a psychology experiment?

Think back to the last time you were immersed in a group of people. Pick one behavior that you exhibited in response to their presence. This could involve a judgment that you made about another person based on something he or she said or did, or a physical behavior you exhibited in response to another’s actions. Now, try to think of another social situation in which you did not render a similar judgment or exhibit the same behavior. What circumstances caused you to think or act one way as opposed to another? In other words, what were the environmental influences that triggered this thought/behavior? Why? And how would you test this phenomena you came up with? in a lab or field study?’

example: performing better in front of strangers than friends or family… getting more anxious in front of family than complete strangers.

Answer: Yeah it was like stripping. I could do it on stage in front of complete strangers but when my ex husband came in I couldn’t do crap and sucked at it.

He made me nervous. Because I knew he had a jealous personality. Even though he approved of the stripping I used to get nervous that he would get jealous and whoop someone’s butt for touching his wife. LOL Oh and that never happened and no, I don’t strip anymore.

Not sure how you would “test” that one. Maybe just use the same scenerio in a controlled setting.

Community NBC Season 1 Episode 10 – Debate 109 Part 3/4

Question: Science experiment… what if you put helium in a basketball?

What happens when you fill a basketball with helium? Will it bounce differently? Will it hold the helium? Is there a weight difference? Anything? Just curious.

Answer: 1. It will bounce the same if it’s filled to the same Pressure. The type of gas inside of the ball doesn’t change the way it bounces. Some say that it will make the ball bounce *less*, but this isn’t really proven in any significant manner, nor is it clear if it would actually make a difference that the average person would notice. They say that a heavier ball (air-filled) resists changes in speed more than a lighter ball (helium-filled). This means that a helium-filled ball might bounce a little lower and lose energy from the initial bounce faster than an air-filled ball. This isn’t so much a property of it having helium as a change in weight–a lighter ball material would cause the same effect.

2. It should be able to hold helium if it’s capable of holding air in.

3. There will be a weight difference. Helium is lighter than air. This doesn’t mean that the ball will float–you’re filling it to a higher Pressure than normal air. Also, the weight of the outside part of the ball will probably hold it down.

4. Mythbusters did these tests with a football. Overall, there was no significant difference in their data for how far the ball went or how fast it went. There were differences, but they didn’t have good enough data to really be sure. The only one that worked out to being sure was that the helium-ball was lighter than the air-ball.

“30 Seconds with Mr. G” – Number 15 – “Helium Arms”