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LIBRARY LAB

Science

Tornadoes | Volcanoes | Weather Vanes | Floating | Color | Tangrams | Wind | Gravity | Solar Energy | Fossils | Hearing | Other Science Fun Links

Library Laboratory Science Experiments

  1. Available as an Afterschool Adventure by calling (505) 566-2200 or by email request two weeks prior to visit.
         The same rules apply for all Library Adventures:
    • After School groups will receive tour with their visit.
    • The session is scheduled for 45 minutes.
    • No computer classes are available for youth after school. If time permits groups are welcome to sign up to use the patron computers using their library card and pin #.

  2. LIVE HOMEWORK HELP! Need help with your Science homework or experiments? Mondays and Thursdays from 4-6:00pm
 
The After-School Corporation Science "MAKING SCIENCE COOL" Activities

Oobleck
Oobleck is a hands-on science activity that introduces kids to inquiry, observation and states of matter. Here's one after-school educator trying Oobleck for the first time with her kids:

Science Training for After-School Educators
Programs don't need science or math experts to lead activities. Well-trained after-school educators are in some ways better prepared to model the inquiry process, given that they discover the answers to science inquiries alongside kids. See the difference training can make:

Who Does Science?
At the beginning of the After-School Science PLUS curriculum, after-school educators ask kids to draw pictures of scientists. After several months of science programming, the kids do the "Who Does Science?" activity again. This time, the results are very different:

Why Do Science After School?

Engaging in science after school is not a substitute for having kids acquire basic math/science skills and knowledge at school. It's a way to excite kids about acquiring that knowledge, to involve them in tactile, surprising, real-world applications. See the telescope build by Harlem third graders in this video:

Check out the websites for some more Science Experiments and instructions on How to Do a Science Project

The projects listed on this page are experiments done in the laboratory. We encourage you to work with an adult when doing any experiments.

 

Tornadoes

Materials science

Directions

  1. Add one capfull of vinegar.
  2. Add a pinch of liquid soap (dish).
  3. Fill jar with water, leaving a little room at the top.
  4. (Optional) One drop of food coloring
  5. Twist the jar in a circular motion.

What happens?

The bubbles from the soap will look familiar to a tornado. The effect will not last as long as a tornado. If you don't get it the first time try again

Another Idea

Trace a spiral on a piece of paper. Suspend it above a lighted bulb. The warm air will cause the spiral to turn. This works like a dust devil, which is a kind of twister but smaller. Heat from the earth causes the air to rise while the cool air takes its place. This causes an imbalance of the air pressue.

What is a tornado?

A tornado is a brief, but powerful whirling windstorm forming a dark, funnel-shaped cloud that is one of nature's most powerful forces.

Did you Know?

Three tornadoes have struck San Juan County since 1963: May 28, 1963, June 18, 1968, and September 28, 1990.

Further Reading

Volcanoes

Materials

Directions

  1. Take everything outside.
  2. Put the yogurt container in the middle of the pan and use the clay to shape a volcano around the container. Leave a hole at the top so you can pour things into the container.
  3. Pour the water into the container. Stir in the baking soda, a few drops of red food coloring, and a few drops of detergent.
  4. When you're ready for the eruption, pour in the vinegar and stand back!!!
  5. Twist the jar in a circular motion.

What is a Volcano?

A vent or crack in the surface of the earth through which lava flows out and the mountain that builds up around it.

Where are Volcanoes?

Most volcanoes are on the Pacific rim called the Ring of Fire, which includes the countries: Japan, Phillippines, Indonesia, New Guinea, Columbia, Bolivia, Chile, and the Pacific Coast of North America.

Weather Vanes

Materials

Directions

  1. Cut Ping-Pong balls in half.
  2. Cut a square notch in the center of each straw.
  3. Place the two straws with their notches together.
  4. Use tape to join the straws together.
  5. Push the straight pin through the centers of both straws and into the eraser.
  6. Turn the paper cup upside down and push a pencil through.
  7. Tape the Ping-Pong ball halves to the straws, facing left.
  8. Twist the jar in a circular motion.

What happened?

The Ping-Pong ball halves blocked the flow of the wind, so the wind pushed them out of the way. This caused the wind speed gauge, or anemometer, to turn. Wind speed was figured by counting rotations per minute.

Floating

Will a Dogs Bone Float?

What happened?

The push of the water tries to support a solid object.
But if the object weighs more than this push, it sinks.
This happens only if the object is made of a material like metal that has a greater density than water.
If the density of the material is less than that of water, the object floats.

Color

Dog Vision & Senses

Did you know that when we look at an object light coming from that object enters our eyes?

Why?

It passes to the retina a sensitive layer of skin that lines our eyes. The optic nerve carrie information from the retina to the areas of the brain that controls vision. Then the brain determines what color you see.

Dogs see less sharply then we do, especially things that aren't moving. They also see in various shades of reddish gray. So, if dogs could drive-they'd keep confusing traffic lights (maybe they'd need some kind of "traffic smell": cats-red, dog bone-green, big bird-yellow.)

Research the library... find out who is ROY G. BIV

Tangrams

Tangram came from China many years ago. The Chinese began writing books about tangram in the early 1800s, around the time Americans and Europeans stared playing it. The Chinese tangram books had rules for playing and designs of letters, objects, animals, and people to copy. You can make more than 1,500 different designs. You can use several tangrams together. Use your imagination to show the ears of a rabbit, wings of a bird, etc.

How many can you make?

Try making a dog using:

Wind

Directions

  1. Draw a small pencil top circle in the center of the paper
  2. Fold paper into a triangle and unfold
  3. Paper should have four triangles folded to the center
  4. Cut from each corner to the center circle
  5. Do not cut the through -- stop at the circle
  6. Attach the center circle with the pin to the eraser of the pencil
  7. Blow and the pinwheel will spin.
  8. You can make a pinwheel to give you an idea of how fast the wind is blowing. Count how many turns it makes in five seconds on different days.

The wind comes from air around the earth . In some areas, the air is heated more than in others. For instance, the air at the equator is much warmer than the air at the North Pole. Warm air is lighter than cold air. When the air is warmed up by the Sun, it rises. Cooler air moves in to replace the warm air that has risen. The cold air is then warmed up, and it too rises, to be replaced by yet more cold air. These movements of the air form the major winds that blow over the surface of the Earth all the time.

Try this -- with the help of an adult

Take your dog on a ride in the car and see if he tries to hang his head out of the window.

Do you think he likes the wind in his face?

Most dogs do that to check on their surroundings and don't mind getting a cool breeze at the same time.

Gravity

How does gravity work?

Earth's gravity holds things on the ground. When you throw a ball in the air, gravity makes it comes back down. When you lie down, gravity keeps you from floating off your bed. Gravity is the force of attraction between two bodies or objects. Scientists know what gravity does and where it can be found, but no one knows exactly what gravity is-one of nature's great mysteries.

Gravity Dogs

What you will need

  • cardboard box with a lid
  • aluminum foil
  • masking tape
  • black permanent marker
  • 4 Styrofoam packing peanuts
  • a tissue

What to do

  1. The inside of the box is the inside of the spaceship.
  2. Stand the box on its side.
  3. Cut and tape the inside of the cover with plastic wrap
  4. Put the dogs (stryrofoam peanuts) in the box
  5. Place a lid on the box and tape it in place.
  6. Rub plastic over the box quickly with a tissue.
  7. The dogs will become weightless and float around the box.

Solar Energy

What is solar energy?

Solar energy is energy from the sun.

How can we use solar energy?

Make a sunlight print

Fossils

What is a fossil?

A fossil is part of or all of an animal or plant that lived very long ago.

How are fossils made?

Fossils are made when animals or plants die and are covered with dirt and sand. Over a long period of time the remains begain to rot and eventually become as hard as stone.

The result is a fossil.

Enjoy your fossil!

Hearing

Have you ever wondered why you have two ears and why one is on each side of your head?

Why?

Having two ears helps tell the direction a sound has come from.
A sound will reach one ear a fraction of a second before it reaches the other.
It will also be a tiny bit louder in one ear than in the other.
The brain puts the information from both ears together and figures out where the sound came from.
Some animals can move their ears independently of each other to help pinpoint exactly where a sound is coming from.

Did you know that whistles make high-pitched sounds?

A dog whistle makes a sound that is too high for humans to hear, but that dogs can hear.

Try an experiment with your dog using different sounds.

Which sound does he like the best?