Our third field trip to the Woodbury Science Lab - Chemistry

On Monday, our class took a field trip to the Woodbury Science Lab.  Thank you to Erin Zelin for chaperoning the trip! 

Mrs. Hochman led us through several experiments relating to matter and its three states – solid, liquid, and gas.

We conducted six different experiments:

Experiment #1 – When you put a cup containing a towel into a container of water, why doesn’t it get wet?

 Experiment #2 - Can you hold water in each of the three states of matter?  

 Experiment #3 – What happens when you add heat to an empty soda can?

Experiment #4 – What is dry ice?  What states of matter does it go through?

Experiment #5 – Can baking soda and vinegar inflate a balloon? 

Experiment #6 – How can you get water into a beaker using a candle?

The students made “flubber” – a mixture of liquid glue and starch. 

Back in our classroom,  the students wrote “I wonder…” statements about the flubber we made at the Woodbury Science Lab.  (A few examples are pictured below.)  We picked some of the students’ ideas and tested them out.  We bounced, colored, stretched, stuck, and submerged the flubber in water to see what would happen to it.  The students enjoyed experimenting with this “putty-like” substance! 

"I wonder if you can make a face and put makeup on it." 
We tried it!  Lipstick didn't work well, but nailpolish did!

"I wonder if it can float in water." 
No!  Flubber sinks.

"I wonder if we can put food coloring on it."
Yes!  We dyed it red and green!