SUMMER SCIENCE SNIPPETS 2

BUBBLES BUBBLES EVERYWHERE

When the weather is fine bubbles are fantastic. The science is amazing but to be honest they are just such good fun and even the adults join in

There are lots of commercial bubble makers in the shops.

How abut this machine that makes hundreds of small bubbles

or you can buy mixture and giant wands

but it is actually easy to make your own giant bubbles mixture and homemade wands and probably more fun too

Making bubble mixture is a bot of a dark art and you will find plenty of recipes of the internet especially Pinterest.

Many American sites talk about a washing up liquid called Dawn. It is just a clear standard liquid and any of our brands in the UK will work well. To be honest I have not found any difference between cheaper and more expensive brands apart from if using a concentrated liquid use less of it

Having run week long bubble workshops at Catalyst I have picked up a few tips:

• don't be tempted to make the mix too strong
• don't swish it around too much FOAM doesn't make bubbles
• leave it to stand after making - overnight if possible
• glycerine or light corn syrup like Karo give stable bubbles
• a humid day is best or you can spray the air with water

A good ratio for your mix is 1 part washing up liquid: 5 or 6  parts water: 1/4 part glycerine

Home made giant wands are very simple and don't need much equipment.

Try this string and plastic straw version - give it a good soak in the mixture before using it

For bubbles you can stand inside use a hoop in a paddling pool

Everyone knows that bubbles are spheres....but have you see those frames that let you make a square or triangular bubble? OK you can't blow a square bubble - the laws of physics come into force. But it is quite interesting to see

For long tube bubbles you need a round frame which you can make yourself from wire or use an old frying pan splatter guard frame

Most of these techniques need a bit of work but bubbles snakes can be done by even the very youngest. Just remember to blow not suck

Follow the picture tutorial below using an old cotton or towelling sock or a flannel. 

this is what you get

This idea comes from Persil - some people who have scientists who study foam and bubbles so they probably know a thing or two

Someone else who knows all about bubbles especially giant ones is the science presenter Ian Russell. He often attends fetes and festivals where he creates these huge bubbles. You can find his website here:

http://www.bigbubbleman.com/

Enjoy the sunshine and your bubbles

Show of the month for June

POTIONS

This month's Science Spot newsletter features our POTIONS show so I am sharing it with our blog readers

This show was created as part of one school's Harry Potter themed week and has become a favourite especially for end of term treats.

 With lots of dry ice in Hermione's cauldron and colour changing liquids to reactions that need to be woken up from a deep sleep.

 A set of rainbow coloured test tubes and disappearing gel balls. Eerie lights that appear like magic, amazing human light switches. Lots and lots of oozing slime….

Being true scientists we don't give away our secrets!  So many of our

demonstrations seem like magic so we began to collect amazing transformations, colour changes, disappearing materials and suddenly we really were in Hogwarts!

We invite potential wizards to join in an incredible experiment where they change clear liquid to bright pink and back again before our very eyes!

Dress up in your own costume or wear our wizarding hat to perform the experiment.

From bubbles to smoke to fire clouds this is an amazing show but of course we all know that even though some of the things seem

almost magic - it really is SCIENCE!!

Call us to find out how to book this show.

07972295527

SHOW of the MONTH - All About You

All About You

This month we are featuring a super show for Primary schools across both key stages. All About You looks at being healthy and how we can keep clean.

For the youngest pupils we bring along our third team

member Timmy the puppet who gets help from a friend in the audience to organise his lunchbox so that he can eat healthily. Great if you are part of the Healthy Schools scheme.   

We look at our amazing senses and how they help us, with brave volunteers choosing feely tubs or grot bags to put their hands into. 

Can you tell the difference between potato and apple if you can't see it or smell it??

Three super scientists get to use all their senses to try to identify the mystery liquid.

For slightly older ones we do a mass experiment to see how we are all unique. 

For the gross effect we discover just how much snot we produce, how much sweat we make and see the millions of skin cells shed every day. 

This leads nicely into why it is a good thing to actually wash. To help us keep our teeth clean we make our own toothpaste and test it against shop bought and finally Helen gives a  group of volunteers a gungy glitter cold to see why it is important to wash our hands.

Lots of valuable messages delivered in an interactive humorous way. The workshops complement the show—Super Senses for KS1 with feely bags, grot bags and mystery liquids. Toothpaste testing OR bath bombs for KS2.

A Review of our First Science Club

Last term we ran our first after school science club with Summerhill primary school Maghull.

The logistics of this sort of event mean that there has to be a minimum number paying in advance to make it financially viable plus enough free dates in our diary to accommodate such a commitment.

Summerhill had 33 pupils from KS2 who signed up and paid which meant we were able to buy some great resources and consumables.  We also worked on a Monday which is our quietest day and we happened to have 6 Mondays in a run, free.

The next thing was to work with the school, thinking about what sort of activities would work, how many helpers were needed for each session and where the club would take place.

We were able to get to know staff - especially in the office - so that we could arrive and set up in the hall without having to pull a teacher out of class. We also worked closely with the caretaking staff so that they trusted us not to make a mess or leave unsuitable chemicals and equipment around. They gave us access to their cleaning room which was brilliant as it was straight off the hall, had plenty of hot water and let us wash all our equipment before we left.
So this is what we got up to.....

Week 1

We were quite ambitious because we wanted to start with a WOW so we went for acids and alkalis using home made indicator. We taught pipette technique which we would use on a few occasions during the club, how to behave in a "lab" - which is very hard when you are super excited -  and working methodically - also quite hard for young ones.
We collected a range of household liquids which we tested either with home made indicator paper or liquid.
We then asked each small group to choose their best acid, alkali and neutral liquid to test and to share their results. Everyone felt very scientific and behaved extremely well following our safety rules.

Week 2

This was the first of two weeks exploring colour. We looked at how our eyes work including optical illusions and seeing in colour.

We then used colour paddles to mix light to get different colours and saw how light and pigment are different. We used the amazing rainbow glasses to split up light.

We then mixed colours using the 3 primary colours which was great fun and improved on our pipette skills.

Finally we made home made lava lamps and turning off the main lights put a torch underneath to make an awesome effect.

Week 3

The second week of colour explored splitting colour up using chromatography.

We looked at how it works by joining the chromatography bus ( you really had to be there!!) and then used paper and waterbased pens to split up mixtures

Then we got adventurous and used permanent markers and alcohol to create an almost tie dye effect on material with some very artistic results

Week 4

This was a week all about electricity especially light.

The room was in darkness as the children came in and our display of light sources brought the expected WOW! response

We used lots of different torches to show that you don't necessarily need batteries to power a torch!

We had a play with our plasma ball.

Then we turned on the lights and went into lab mode to test a huge range of objects to see if they were conductors or insulators using our amazing energy sticks

Week 5

This week was all about pretty amazing polymers and we set homework too!!

We thought about plastics all around us and what impact they have had on our lives.

We looked at polymers such as instant snow, the incredible disappearing hydrogel balls, nappies and then we used a thermo moulding plastic.

The small granules transform to a stretchy clear strand at about 45degrees C. So after lots of exploring what it felt like and how to mould it we finally made keyrings to take home.

Oh and the homework?? using dehydrated hydrogel balls we challenged everyone to rehydrate them in the most unusual liquid they could find at home and bring them back to show us the next week.

Homework results!!

oil doesn't work!!

Week 6

Our last week with these super scientists so we wanted to make it a bit special!

The theme was How Clean are You??

We looked at why we needed to keep clean to be healthy and had quite a gross session on all the things our bodies produce everyday including wind, shed skin and snot!

We then looked close up at plaque on our teeth and decided we needed to try out some toothpaste. We made homemade paste which we tested against shop bought. We didn't use our own teeth though!

And finally........

We were very close to Christmas so we made bath bombs like Christmas puddings smelling of mince pies!!

We had an incredible time with our new friends at Summerhill Primary. Huge thanks to Ms Lindsay Rannard for organising it all, to the parents for funding, helping with the plastics week and joining in so enthusiastically with the homework.

Every week Twitter was alive with photos and comments

Running a science club isn't something we can do all the time but is definitely something we shall try again. It has been super getting to know a group of very excited, enthusiastic and dedicated scientists.

Hope to see them again!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Welcome to 2016 and along with pretty much everyone on the web we are having a look back at the year just gone.
Actually as a company it is quite a good idea to review the year to see the highs and rejoice and to look at the lows and wonder how we could have handled it differently.

One way for us to look at the year is to read this blog and see what we have been up to, I have also had a look back through our Twitter and Facebook pages to pick up what we thought were memorable enough events to record.
One advantage for our followers/readers is that being on stage means we don't bombard everyone with live Tweets....."I'm just climbing the stairs to the stage...."

If the day is great we tell you, if not we are probably drowning our sorrows somewhere or having a bath!!
We also love to share pictures, again it is rare for us to be able to take them during an event, so images usually come from the audience. Of course this means that we cannot pose....why do I always have my mouth wide open????? But we also get some great pictures from teachers that show the awe and wonder of their pupils. Which is why we do this job after all.

So here are some of our best bits from 2015

lots of time spent packing

a return visit to Blacon

new friends made at two schools in Wallasey

Of course Big Bang North West

Super Chemistry@work days at Daresbury Labs with the team from MerseySTEM

Our first after school science club

A new partnership with Techniquest Glyndwr

another new partnership with Liverpool John Moores University

working with the public for the first time at Ness Gardens

I think they liked us because we went back for Halloween

two great days with our good friends at Knowsley Park

a wonderful sponsored day at Chestnut Lodge special school

and of course lots and lots of dry ice!

We've had a super year - here's to an even better 2016