A Sensational Science Week in Ms. O'Grady's 4th and 5th Class

Science Week

This week in school it was Science Week. We did lots of fun activities. Ms. O'Grady had Science Experiment Stations organised for us and we carried out a different science experiment each day in our pods. We even watched some 'Virtual Science Shows'.

Please click here to watch a video of our Science Week Experiments and also click here to see some updates on our Class Blog.

On Tuesday, Ms. O'Grady did a trick for us. She got a puppet called Síofra, a match box and a shoe box. She lifted up the box with one finger and it balanced but when Síofra was there it fell over. To see the trick please watch our 'Science Week' video above. Dr. Matt from the Virtual Show showed us how to do the trick. Can you guess how we did it? (By Dea)

To finish off a fantastic week of science we had a 'Science Week' Kahoot quiz and we made a mess on the basketball court before we went home by putting mentos in Diet Coke. The Coke Exploded!!

Station 1: Fruity Sweets Colour Mixing

We placed Skittles around the outside of a plate. We then poured some warm water onto the plate. We discussed how the shells of the coloured sweets are made from sugar. When sugar is put in warm water, it dissolves. As the colours meet, they mix, creating different colours.

Station 2: Dancing Raisins

We had two cups of water. One contained still water and the other contained fizzy water. We added raisins to both cups. In the still water cup, the raisins sank because the raisins were denser than the water. In the fizzy water cup, the raisins were again denser than the water. However, the bubbles got trapped in the grooves of the raisins, helping them to float back to the surface. When the bubbles popped, the raisins sank back down.

Station 3: Paper Towel Colour Mixing

Using water with food colouring and paper towels we discovered that water moves up the paper towel because the paper is absorbent. It sucks up water. The colour travels with the water making the paper change from white to red, blue or orange. The colours then mixed when they joined together.

Station 4: Fizzy Colours

We made a chemical reaction by mixing the acid (vinegar) and the alkali (bicarbonate of soda). We added food colouring to the vinegar to help us to see the reaction. This station was a little bit smelly!

Station 4: Firework in a Glass

We filled a tall glass with warm water. In another glass we mixed some oil with food colouring. We then poured the oil and food colouring mixture into the warm water and waited for our fireworks show!

We found out that oil and water don’t mix. Also, oil is less dense than water and therefore, it floated on top of the water. The food colouring we used was water based and it did not mix with the oil, instead it sank through the oil into the water below. Since the addition of the colouring makes the food colouring heavier than the water, it sank to the bottom leaving trails. These trails resembled fireworks.

Station 5: Fun with Density

In cups we measured out the same volume of golden syrup, oil, honey, water, washing up liquid and milk. We added food colouring to our water and milk to make our experiment more colourful. We poured in the honey, golden syrup and washing up liquid into a tall glass. Next, we poured in the water and milk. Finally, we added the oil. We ended up with a rainbow glass!

We discovered that each of the liquids had a different mass, this makes them have different densities. Therefore, one can sit on top of the other – the more dense a liquid is the heavier it is.

Kahoot!

In our pods we took part in a 'Science Week' Kahoot Quiz. The Purple Pod won! The Green Pod came 2nd and the Orange Pod came 3rd.

Virtual Science Shows

The Science Foundation of Ireland hosted some 'Virtual Science Shows' this week. We really enjoyed watching them. Our favourite show was 'Surprising Science with Dr. Matt Pritchard'. We even picked up some magic tricks from Dr. Matt! Watch our Video above to see us trying his 'Shoe Box' trick.

On Wednesday, we watched 'The Forensic Science Show with the Junior Einsteins Science Club'. The forensic scientist explained how detectives catch criminals by looking for fingerprints, footprints, saliva, teeth marks, fibre and even hair. They send this evidence to the lab so it can be inspected. (By Nathanael)