Kindness Rocks Project

Half of year 5 are currently taking part in Elfrida's Kindness Rocks Project whilst the other half are involved in the Jimmy Mizen Project.  Both projects are running for six weeks.

Kindness Rocks is an international project whose aim is to spread some kindness and positivity to random strangers.  The idea is to paint and decorate stones or pebbles with motivational messages on them and to hide them around the community for people to find.  Hopefully, the kindness rocks put a smile on the finder's face and brightens their day.  The finder then has two choices, to keep the rock and take it home or, to re-hide the rock for someone else to find and pass on the kindness and positivity.

At the moment, the children are eagerly painting and decorating their rocks and very soon will be going out into the local community to hide them and spread some optimism and kindness.  

We will let you know when to start looking out for them. 

Monday - 03.06.19

Balloon Kebab Experiment!

A fantastic ‘magic’ trick you can use to impress your friends. There’s some real science going on behind the fun, although this experiment has nothing to do with food though I’m afraid!

WARNING: If you don’t like the sound of balloons going bang then make sure you get this experiment right the first time! (Or cover up your ears!)

The scientific explanation of this experiment

So, why doesn’t the balloon pop? Notice how we’re pushing the skewer through the darker parts of the balloon skin. These parts are not as stretched out and are still nice and elastic. So when you gently push the skewer through, the balloon can close up back round it, keep the air in and most importantly, not go bang!

Tuesday - 04.06.19

How to Float a Paperclip in Water Experiment

You know that as paperclips are made out of metal they're more dense than water, that's why they normally sink. How come this one is floating? It all has to do with surface tension. It's actually the surface of the water that's holding the paperclip up! Have a look at us experimenting!

We also tried an extra experiment to prove it's all about the surface tension. We put a drop of washing up liquid on our finger and dipped our finger gently into the water. We saw the paperclip fall to the bottom of the glass.

As soon as we touched the water the soap spread a thin layer right across the surface of the water. This thin soap layer has a much lower surface tension than the water does and it's not enough to hold up the paperclip!

Wednesday - 05.06.19

How to Make a Soap Powered Boat!

This one's all to do with surface tension. When our boat was sitting on top of the water, the surface tension of the water holds it on the surface and is the same on all sides, so our boat doesn't move.

Washing up liquid has a lower surface tension. When we touched the middle incision of our boat with washing up liquid the surface tension pulling the boat back is less than the water pulling it forward. It's this difference in surface tension that makes our boat surge forward.

We had to change the water pretty regularly to keep sailing! Once the washing-up liquid and water were all mixed together the surface tension was again  the same on both sides and the boat didn't move.

Thursday - 06.06.19

Milktastic Fun

This scientific experiment was all about surface tension. The force between the molecules on the surface of the milk.

We noticed that when adding the washing up liquid it reduced the surface tension of the milk. The rest of the milk still had the same surface tension that it always did and so it pulled the milk outwards taking the food colouring with it!