Activities | Science Buddies Blog (Page 14)

November 30, 2015 12:17 PM

Explore the physics of sound as you make music using wine glasses in this family STEM activity. Have you ever run your finger along the top of a glass and heard a sound? In this week's family science activity, explore the science behind this process and find out how to use the science involved to make a range of sounds! What causes a sound to occur when you run your finger along the top of a wine glass? Experiment to find out how friction is involved and how varying the size,… Read more

Big Ears Science

November 19, 2015 2:45 PM

Experiment with different styles of ears to see how the size and shape of ears changes what you may be able to hear in this family STEM activity. Sometimes exploring science with kids means being silly and putting on enormous animal ears as you ask and investigate serious science, technology, engineering, and math questions like can you hear better with bigger ears? When you think about ears and how human ears are different from animal ears, what animal ears immediately come to… Read more

Paper Rocket Aerodynamics

November 12, 2015 10:00 AM

Make paper rockets you can launch by blowing through a straw and experiment to find out how changing the design can change how the rockets fly with this family STEM activity. Making a paper rocket that you can launch by blowing through a straw is an easy hands-on activity sure to engage paper airplane folders and rocket enthusiasts alike. You can easily turn this paper-based pastime into a STEM activity by exploring the design of the paper rocket. What… Read more

Dancing Water Droplets

November 6, 2015 1:00 PM

With this week's fun family science activity, you can create an exciting visual display using water and food coloring! How do water droplets react on a surface material? Do they roll off? Do they disperse? Do they move together? How do they react to each other? Depending on the surface material and the liquid, you may find that droplets move in a variety of different ways. These patterns of movement demonstrate several different science principles. What determines whether droplets spread… Read more

The Physics of Fake Blood

October 29, 2015 8:25 AM

How can physics help you mix up the ickiest fake blood to gross out your friends this Halloween? Head to the kitchen to find out! Use physics to mix up the most believable fake blood. www.sciencebuddies.org In this week's Fake Blood made Scientific, families get a chance to mix up something icky, gross, and gory—fake blood. Perfect for Halloween week, this activity lets kids explore how the viscosity of different ingredients relates to how… Read more

Phone Book Friction Physics

October 22, 2015 10:56 AM

Explore the physics of friction using sticky notes. What happens when you interleave the pages of two books or pads of paper? Why? The friction between two objects determines how difficult it will be to slide one object across another. Friction accounts for how your feet move across grass, for example, compared to how an ice skate moves across ice. Scientists use both the coefficient of friction and measurement of normal force to talk about how much… Read more

Cucumber Chemistry: The Drying Power of Dessicants

October 15, 2015 10:00 AM

Substances that can absorb water from the environment can help keep products dry—or help dry out something that has gotten wet, like an electronic device. The small silica gel packets that you often find when you open a new product are used to help keep the product dry. The properties that make a silica gel packet work are properties you can find in other substances as well. There are even ordinary kitchen ingredients that can be used to absorb moisture and help to dry something… Read more

Compare Circumference and Diameter with String

September 24, 2015 10:01 AM

Things that are circular in shape surround us. From quarters to wheels to the openings of cups and bottles, circles are abundant, and they come in all sizes. In this week's family science activity, students explore properties of a circle, just like mathematicians do, to see if they can identify the relationship between the diameter of a circle and the circumference. This hands-on math activity turns these measurements (and the concept of Pi) into something that can be visualized with… Read more

Wind Turbines and Energy from Wind Turbulence

September 17, 2015 11:00 AM

Wind turbines can be used as a source of clean, renewable energy. With their tall towers, wind turbines harness the movement from the wind-spun blades to generate electricity. The positioning of a wind turbine, however, will determine how effective it is. Environmental and civil engineers carefully evaluate the placement of wind turbine towers to help ensure they get maximum exposure to wind. What happens when there are buildings, trees, or other objects nearby? In this family science… Read more

Racing Marbles to Measure Viscosity

August 27, 2015 3:00 PM

Have you ever noticed that some liquids are more difficult than others to squeeze from a container? Honey is a great example. Depending on its temperature, it may be especially slow to flow from the bottle. (If you warm it up, it may flow more quickly!) While it may seem like the quality of the honey you are noticing is its "thickness" or "thinness," another way to talk about what you are seeing is to talk about its viscosity. In this week's chemistry-themed family science… Read more

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