Today we did the Mentos candy plus Diet Coke explosion experiment AGAIN!!!  The kids just LOVE doing it.  This time we used a plastic test tube to hold the Mentos above the Diet Coke so that they just fell into the container smoothly and it worked so much better than just trying to pop them in a quickly as you can.  This way makes a much bigger geyser.

explanation of the science experiment

Great video of this experiment synchronized to music Watch the Video

Mythbusters also has an episode where they figure out what makes this geyser work.

Air Cannon

We made an air cannon out of a half gallon milk jug.	We cut the bottom off and covered it with plastic and taped it down well so no air could get through.	we lit a candle	and tapped on the plastic end of the jug and a puff of air went out	and blew out the candle

Idea from "It's Not Magic, It's Science!" by Hope Buttitta

Homemade Smoke Ring Machine

 

How to make a medium sized airzooka

Blow Gun - air pressure

Ethan and his dad designed a blow gun out of pvc pipe and golf tees.  The made a small cone of paper to go around the tee at the head then inserted it into the pipe and then Ethan blew it out.  With a strong enough breath, he was able to penetrate a shoe box. 

He thought this was totally cool!!!

Vacuuming Marshmallows

I saw a neat experiment toy in the Steve Spangler catalog and thought I could do the same experiment with the wine vacuum pump I already have.  You could also use a soda Fizz-Keeper.

we put small marshmallows in a glass jar and put a wine vacuum cork in the top	we attached the manual pump	and pumped the air out of the jar	as the air is pumped out, the marshmallows appear to grow	when the seal is broken and air comes rushing in the jar, the marshmallows are crumpled

http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/product/1219

http://phun.physics.virginia.edu/demos/marshmallow.html

Suck An Egg Into A Bottle

air in bottle is heated and expands by burning match with water balloon sitting on top	as air in bottle cools a vacuum is created in the bottle	our balloon was really big and so we decided to cool the bottle more with ice and rock salt to try to suck the rest of the balloon in	waiting	it's in
only way to get balloon out is to equalize the air pressure on inside and outside of bottle so straw is inserted and balloon pulls out	hard boiled egg on bottle	vacuum pulling egg in	yolk tore loose	what's left of the egg

http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/00000022

Rising Water - Air Pressure

    

The heated air trapped in the glass expanded and bubbled out through the mouth of the submerged glass. The flame consumes the oxygen and goes out, only to be replaced by a relative equal amount of  carbon dioxide. The air cools and contracts creating a partial vacuum The surrounding higher air pressure forces water into the jar-  alas, nature always wants to equalize pressure.

Crushing Air Pressure

 

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