Eclectic Parent

So while I’ve been busy this week, daddy has been doing a lot of science. This is the time of year most people spend outdoors. Today’s supposed to hit 111; this is our season to be indoors. So they’ve been occupied doing a lot of science experiments. The whole thing about science isn’t so much the doing as the guessing what might happen.

They lit a candle and put the wick out with water. Everyone guessed that the water would put out the fire. Then the lit a candle and covered it with a glass jar. Split guesses on that one. When it went out, we had to figure out why. Why would it go out both times? Finally got to ‘fire needs air to breathe’.

Daddy was evidently feeling very pyromaniacal, because the next experiment also involved candles. He found this one at a fantastic website he discovered (Robert Krampf’s Science Education). The blew up a balloon and held it over a candle flame. It popped. Then the filled a balloon with water and held it over the same flame. Guesses for outcome included “nothing” and “pop and the water will go everywhere and put the fire out”. Actually nothing happens. The water keeps the balloon cool so that it doesn’t pop.

Check out the website though. I’m putting it over in my links. Very cool site - weekly experiments, basic science concept videos and a blog of what this guys up to.