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Art with Salt and Ice
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This open-ended art project allows learners to create their own colorful ice sculpture by using rock salt and food coloring on a solid block of ice.
How Can Gravity Make Something Go Up?
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In this activity, learners use cheap, thin plastic garbage bags to quickly build a solar hot air balloon. In doing so, learners will explore why hot air rises.
Fused Plastic Wallet
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In this up-cycling activity, learners recycle plastic bags and repurpose them into useful wallets.
Ice Melt
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In this activity, learners will explore basic information about thermodynamics by experimenting with ice. Learners will compare ice melting rates on metal pans or plastic cutting boards.
Cool Hot Rod
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If you have access to a copper metal tube, this activity does a great job demonstrating what happens to matter when it's heated or cooled. This activity requires some lab equipment.
Get the Porridge Just Right
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Learners set up three different bowls, each with a different mass of oatmeal. Learners monitor the temperature of the oatmeal and find that larger masses take longer to cool.
Rubber Band Thermodynamics
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In this demonstration, learners explore the thermal properties of rubber. Learners investigate whether a rubber band contracts or expands when heated.
Heat Speeds Up Reactions
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In this activity, learners investigate the effect of heat on a reaction.
What Counts in Bounce
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In this activity learners compare the bounciness of warm and cold racquetballs to see if temperature makes a difference in how well they bounce.
Change in Temperature: Endothermic Reaction
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Learners investigate signs of a chemical reaction when they mix vinegar and baking soda. In addition to a gas being produced, learners also notice the temperature decreases.
Ziptop Bag Chemistry
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In this chemistry activity, learners perform three chemical reactions in a sealed zip-top bag. Learners will record their observations and classify the changes as chemical or physical.
What does Color have to do with Cooling?
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In this demonstration/experiment, learners discover that different colors and materials (metals, fabrics, paints) radiate different amounts of energy and therefore, cool at different rates.
A Mole of Gas
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In this two-part activity, learners use everyday materials to visualize one mole of gas or 22.4 liters of gas. The first activity involves sublimating dry ice in large garbage bag.
Atoms and Matter (K-2)
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In this activity, learners explore atoms as the smallest building blocks of matter. With adult help, learners start by dividing play dough in half, over and over again.
If Hot Air Rises, Why is it Cold in the Mountains?
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This demonstration/activity helps learners understand why higher elevations are not always warm simply because "hot air rises." Learners use a tire pump to increase the pressure and temperature inside
How does the Atmosphere keep the Earth Warmer?
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In this activity, learners simulate the energy transfer between the earth and space by using the light from a desk lamp desk lamp with an incandescent bulb and a stack of glass plates.
Solar Energy
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In this activity (page 11 of PDF), learners compare the air pressure within a dark and a light bottle both heated by the sun, and discover that solar energy can be collected and stored in many ways
Ice Cream
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In this chemistry activity, learners use the lowered freezing point of water to chill another mixture (ice cream) to the solid state.
DIY Elephant Toothpaste
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In this activity, learners will experiment with catalysts to create an at-home version of elephant toothpaste.
Cold Metal
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In this activity, learners discover that our hands are not reliable thermometers.