WATER MAGIC - WATER EXPERIMENTS FOR KIDS
Experiment #4 - A Water Drop Lens
Have you ever tried using water drops to magnify small print and pictures?
Materials:
sticky tape, a used stamp, small styrofoam tray, plastic wrap, eye dropper
- Tape the stamp that you want to magnify onto the styrofoam tray. Cover the tray with plastic wrap so the stamp won't get wet.
- With the eye dropper, place a few drops of water on the plastic cover.
- Experiment with different sizes of drops. Does the size of drops change how they magnify? Water drops curve up like the curve on a magnifying glass. They are miniature lenses.
Experiment #5 - Floating Needle
How can you make a needle float on water?
Materials:
drop of vegetable oil, straight needle, tissue paper, bowl of water
- Rub a little oil over the needle.
- Place the paper carefully on top of the water.
- Gently rest the needle on the paper. What happens to the paper and the needle?
The paper sinks because it quickly absorbs water through its tiny tubes or fibers. Why does the needle float? Although it's made of steel and should sink, it's held up by the invisible skin on the water's surface.
Experiment #6 - Water On The Earth
This activity demonstrates how much of the earth's water is fresh water.
Materials:
2-liter plastic bottle, salt, green food coloring, yellow corn oil, water
- Put a few drops of green food coloring into the bottom of the plastic bottle.
- Pour water into the container until just past the base of the neck.
- Add 2-3 tsp. of salt to the green water. Explain that this water represents ocean water which is salty and cannot be used to drink or water fresh water plants.
- Slowly pour 60ml of corn oil on top of the salt water in the 2 liter bottle. Explain that the corn oil represents 3% of the fresh water that is available on Earth. This is all the fresh water that is available for drinking, plant use and all of our other fresh water needs.
|
