Science Fair

This year, the boys wanted to participate in their school science fair for the first time.  We browsed around for a couple ideas and found some we liked.

David chose this idea, where his objective was finding out if liquids expand when frozen, and if they do, which liquids expand the most.  To do the experiment, we poured 6 different liquids into 6 different plastic water bottles (water, salt water, sugar water, milk and orange juice).  We tried to make sure they all had exactly the same amount of liquid in them.  

Then we marked it with a black sharpie and froze them over night.  The next day, we marked their level of expansion with a red sharpie.  

The plain water expanded the most, and the milk expanded the least.  After doing a little more reading, we found out that water is the ONLY liquid that expands when frozen (most substances expand when heated).  The reason the milk expanded the least was because it was the liquid that contained the least water.

Steven went with heating instead of freezing.  He chose this idea, and his objective was to find out which liquids heat the fastest (milk, oil or water).  He put 1/2 cup of water in a measuring cup and used a digital thermometer to determine the temperature.  

Then he recorded it on his chart.  

He used the microwave to heat the water in 15 second intervals and wrote down the temp each time.  He did the same thing with the milk and the oil.  He found out that while water heated up the fastest at first, oil heated up the hottest and stayed hot for a longer time. 

 The boys were very excited to display their projects at the school science night.  

There were also some fun experiments they could do, like experimenting with magnets and making their own silly putty.

Overall, it was a pretty neat experience.  And they even got a certificate and a ribbon!

And Jake wanted his cute little picture taken too...