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Cleaning with Dirt
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Learners build a filter from old soda bottles and dirt. They create polluted water, and pour it through their filter to clean it.
Trading Places: Redox Reactions
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Visitors add drops of copper sulfate solution onto a steel nail. They observe the nail change color from silver to brown as the copper plates onto the nail.
Currently Working: Testing Conductivity
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Visitors test solutions of water, sugar, salt, and hydrochloric acid and the solids salt and sugar. They clip leads from the hand generator to wires immersed in each substance.
Forwards and Backwards: pH and Indicators
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Visitors prepare six solutions combining vinegar and ammonia that range incrementally from acid (all vinegar) to base (all ammonia).
Making With Microbes
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In this design challenge, learners will use microbes to design and grow a custom biomaterial at home and make something creative with it.
First Impressions
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Learners experiment with a commercial photo-sensitive paper (Sunprint® or NaturePrint® paper). They place opaque and clear objects on the paper and expose it to bright light, observing the results.
Fruit Xylophone: Fruit Salad Instrument of the Future!
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This is a perfect summertime lunch activity! Pico Cricket is required (micro controller). First, get a bunch of cut up fruit, line them up, then plug a piece of fruit with a Pico Cricket sensor clip.
Forms of Carbon
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In this activity, educators can demonstrate how the nanoscale arrangement of atoms dramatically impacts a material’s macroscale behavior.
Yeast Balloons
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Visitors observe a bottle with a balloon attached around the mouth. The bottle contains a solution of yeast, sugar, and water.
Common Scents
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Learners use a mortar and pestle to extract clove oil from cloves using denatured alcohol. They put this oil on paper, which they can take home.
DNA Nanotechnology
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In this activity, learners explore deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), a nanoscale structure that occurs in nature.
Rocket Science
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Learners create a small explosion by collecting hydrogen and oxygen gas together and squeezing them into a flame.
Shrinkers
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In this hands-on activity, learners use heat to shrink samples of polystyrene plastic (#6 recycle code). Learners compare the size and shape of the plastic pieces before and after shrinking.
Macro-Microarray
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In this activity, learners explore the "nuts and bolts" of gene chips.
Electrolysis
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Using electrolysis, learners produce hydrogen gas and oxygen gas from water molecules in a solution.
Foam Peanuts
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Learners compare the properties and solubilities of Styrofoam (TM), ecofoam packing peanuts, and popcorn. First, the solubility of each substance is tested in water.
Spectroscope
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In this activity, learners construct their own spectroscope as they explore and observe spectra from familiar light sources.
Vocal Visualizer
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With a bit of PVC, a laser, a can/cup, and a small mirror, you can make a device that visualizes you voice or any sound transmitted into the cup/can.
Home Molecular Genetics
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In this activity, learners extract DNA from their own cheek cells, then create a rudimentary DNA profile similar to those seen on crime scene dramas.
How Greenhouse Gases Absorb Heat
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Learners observe two model atmospheres -- one with normal atmospheric composition and another with an elevated concentration of carbon dioxide.