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Diffusion of Water with Gummy Bears
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In this activity, learners investigate the movement of water into and out of a polymer. Learners test the diffusion of water through gummy bears, which are made of sugar and gelatin (a polymer).

Salting Out
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In this activity, learners create a mixture of water, alcohol and permanent marker ink, and then add salt to form a colored alcohol layer on top of a colorless water layer.
Water Motor
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In this physics activity (page 10 of the PDF), learners will explore how energy from moving water can be used.

Water Engineering
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In this activity, learners will engineer a water irrigation system. Learners will create a ditch irrigation system -- or an acequia-- to move water with the help of gravity.

Above Water: Buoyancy & Displacement
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In an investigation called "Shape It!" learners craft tiny boats out of clay, set them afloat on water and then add weight loads to them, in order to explore: how objects stay afloat in water; what th

Cool It!
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Learners make a refrigerator that works without electricity. The pot-in-pot refrigerator works by evaporation: a layer of sand is placed between two terra cotta pots and thoroughly soaked with water.

In the Toilet
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This activity explores the basic workings of a siphon, which is the core technology that makes toilets work.

Pop Can "Hero Engine"
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In this activity, learners build water-propelled engines from soft drink cans.

Watercraft
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In this design challenge activity, learners build a boat that can hold 25 pennies (or 15 one inch metal washers) for at least ten seconds before sinking.

Water Bugs
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Some bugs can walk on the surface of a lake, stream, river, pond or ocean.

Model Well
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In this quick activity about pollutants and groundwater (page 2 of PDF under Water Clean-up Activity), learners build a model well with a toilet paper tube.

Indicating Electrolysis
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Electrolysis is the breakdown of water into hydrogen and oxygen. This Exploratorium activity allows learners to visualize the process with an acid-based indicator.
Up, Up and Away with Bottles
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In this activity, learners make water rockets to explore Newton's Third Law of Motion. Learners make the rockets out of plastic bottles and use a bicycle pump to pump them with air.

Diving Submarine
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Learners use a commercially available toy to experiment with density. They fill a chamber in the toy submarine with baking powder and release it into a tank of water.
It's A Gas!
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Visitors mix water and sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) in a large flask. They then add citric acid to the mixture and stopper the flask. The resulting reaction creates carbon dioxide gas.
Finding the Right Crater
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This quick demonstration (on page 11 of PDF) allows learners to understand why scientists think water ice could remain frozen in always-dark craters at the poles of the Moon.

Using Solar Energy
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In this activity, learners discover how solar energy can be used to heat water.

Measure the Pressure: The "Wet" Barometer
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In this activity, learners use simple items to construct a device for indicating air pressure changes.

Does Size Make a Difference?
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In this activity on page 15 of the PDF, discover how materials and physical forces behave differently at the nanoscale.
All Mixed Up!: Separating Mixtures
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Visitors separate a mixture of pebbles, salt crystals, and wood shavings by adding water and pouring the mixture through a strainer.