SMART Science
By
Libby and
Robert Strong and Richard Pollack
Decorating Easter Eggs is a great activity, and
while there
are plenty of eggs around, April is an “eggcellent” time for
“eggciting”
“eggsperiments.”
Two “eggamples” of easy
and “eggtraordinary” egg-related activities for you to try are
described below:
The following is an “eggsact” list of the materials you will need:
A fresh egg still in the shell
Warm tap water
A large drinking glass with a wide mouth
Table salt
Tablespoon or metric equivalent (about 15 ml)
“Eggsperimental” Procedure:
Step 1: Fill a wide mouth glass halfway with warm tap water.
Step 2: Carefully place a fresh egg (in the shell) in the tap water. Don’t drop the egg in, it may crack – try tilting the glass and gently slide the egg into the tap water.
Step 3: Observe and “eggsamine” the egg. What happens to the egg?
Step 4:
Add some salt
to the warm tap water and stir gently to help the salt dissolve.
Check the egg now … does the egg in the fresh
water do the same thing as it does in salt water?
Step 5:
If you notice
that the egg is behaving differently in the salt water – why is there a
difference?
If the egg has not changed
behavior you need to add more salt to the glass and continue to gently
stir the
salt water to keep the salt dissolving.
What is “eggsactly” going on here? For an “eggsplanation” please see our website at www.smartcenter.org/ovpm/eggs
Can you “eggsplain” why we asked you to use a
“fresh” egg in
this “eggsperiment?
More
“Eggsotic”
“Eggsplorations”
An
“Eggscuse”
for Spinning an Egg
The following is an “eggshibit” of the materials you will need:
Smooth flat surface
Hard-boiled egg
Raw egg
“Eggsperimental” Procedure:
Step 1: On a flat, smooth surface carefully spin a raw egg (leave the shell on for best results).
Step 2: Briefly touch the egg with your fingertip to stop it from spinning,
Step 3: very quickly release the egg from under your fingertip (this might take practice this actions is more of a prolonged gentle tap).
Step 4: Notice what happens to the egg. Can you “eggsplain” this “eggcentric” behavior?
Step 5: Repeat this process with a hard-boiled egg (leave the shell on for best results).
How do the two eggs compare? Do both eggs “eggshibit” the same behavior? Can you “eggsplain” what might be going on.
If you have any other good “egg-----” words you
would like
to share with us, please send then to
egg@smartcenter.org
We may use your “eggcellent”
egg-related word in a future issue of Ohio Valley Parent Magazine.
April is National Kite Month. The West Liberty State College SMART-Center and Near Earth Object Foundation are teaming up to celebrate the first annual West Virginia Kite Festival. The West Virginia Kite Festival will be celebrated each year on the last Saturday of the month of April at Brooke Hills Park. This year, the West Virginia Kite Festival falls on April 29, 2006. So dust off your kites, repair any damage from last year, and untangle your big ball of kite string. Bring your whole family out and help us celebrate the first annual West Virginia Kite Festival by filling the skies over Brooke Hills Park with a rainbow of kites.
The first 100 children that attend the first annual West Virginia Kite Festival to be held at Brooke Hills Park will receive a free kite and kite string. For more information on the first annual West Virginia Kite Festival and schedule of kite related activities, please visit the SMART-Center website at www.smartcenter.org/ovpm/kites
On January 19
th of this year, NASA
launched the New Horizons mission to the ninth planet Pluto, the only
planet
not yet visited by NASA spacecraft.
Because Pluto is so far away, the New Horizons spacecraft is not
scheduled to arrive until July 14, 2015.
Wow, that is nine and a half years!!
What do you think the images of Pluto and her three known moons
taken by
the cameras on the New Horizons will look like?
Now is your chance to blend your artistic skills with your
scientific
guess (your hypothesis).
The theme this
year for National Astronomy Day 2006 is “Pluto Our Ninth Planet”.
See our website for rules for this
contest at
For more information on upcoming free astronomy events at Brooke Hills Park, visit our website: www.smartcenter.org/whatsup