Science Day by Dylan K

Science Day

It was a sunny day and I was about to have the one of the most exciting day at school this year. I was in our hub with the rest of the classmates and teachers. The teachers announced that in literacy we were going to have a science day with three rotations with three different teachers. I was waiting for this to happen and it finally did.

The first rotation was taken by Mrs Parker. She was doing the fizz inflator. I had no idea what it was about but when we arrived, the materials she had on the bench top got me excited. She had a massive board explaining science formulas like vinegar which is known as CH³COOH and baking soda known as Sodium Bicarbonate which is known as  NaHCO³. She told us that these were called formulas and that you learn more in high school if you study chemistry

The first experiment used the materials yeast, sugar, pump bottle, hot water, baking soda and a balloon. She first put yeast into the bottle and poured some sugar into the bottle. She explained how yeast is a living substance and needs to feed on sugar so it can live.  She said how if you make bread you might put sugar into it. When you pour the yeast in it starts to eat the sugar making the bread rise. After putting the yeast in she put baking soda  which really interested me and Elijah(my good good good friend). We wondered why she put it in but we just wrote it down on our observation sheet. Then she poured hot water in the bottle and put a balloon on the bottle and said in a few hours to come back and the balloon should have inflated and the yeast should have gotten larger.

The second experiment she was showing us was a simple but crazy one. She used CH³COOH(vinegar), NaHCO³(Sodium Bicarbonate known as baking soda), empty pepsi bottle and a balloon. She poured the baking soda into the balloon and poured half a bottle of vinegar into the bottle. Then she stuck the balloon to the bottle and in 2 milliseconds the reaction had so much pressure the balloon inflated all of the way. We thought that it was going to explode but the reaction quickly calmed down. The balloon stayed inflated because of all the air that the vinegar and baking soda created when they reacted. Everyone including epic Elijah took pictures of the inflated balloon but I stayed back and kept writing observation on my sheet. She said it was time to go and move on to the next experiment which was called the dancing raisins.

Mr Stuart was taking the second experiment called dancing raisins. This was a brand new experiment to me so I didn't what I was up for. I saw plain sparkling water known as soda and 500 packet of raisins. He said how the raisins should bounce up and down and I guess why that's the reason it's called "Dancing raisins." We took this very wet table and had to use 5 paper towels to dry the table. Mr Stuart came around with cups filled with soda and 6 raisins. He said carefully put the raisins in the soda and watch the magic. The instant the raisins dropped in they started fizzing. Mr stuart explained that the raisins get a chemical reaction with soda which generates bubbles and floats the raisins. I then made a discovery.

The soda is filled with bubbles which are made from oxygen. The raisins sink down to the bottom of the cup but the oxygen bubbles get stuck on to the raisin because of the edges it has. Then the raisin's weight is reduced by the oxygen bubbles and it also lifts the raisin to the surface. Sadly once oxygen bubbles reach the surface they die out and the raisins sinks to the bottom. This repeats till the soda loses its fizz, this takes 5 minutes to happen and when did me and Elijah got really angry but this was a great experiment but it ended really fast. Luckily me and Elijah got the chance to drink the soda water. We filled the cups and on a count of three we gulped the water and the only taste I got was fizzing expired Sprite. It tasted sick and before I knew it Elijah went running into the toilet with his hand on his mouth. Then when he was gone I gobbled the delicious raisins and faked that they fell on the floor but he didn't fall for it. He just kept saying "greedy pants, greedy pants, hahaha." Mr Stuart whistled and told us it was time to move to the next rotation with Whaea Nin called the incredible hoop glider, I couldn't wait.

Whaea Nin was taking the last experiment and it wa.s about the incredible hoop glider.

She gave us two strips of paper. One wide and one slim. She told us that we could either hot glue each strip to make it into a circle. I used the hot glue to make circles but because the paper was so thin I burnt my finger at least 5 times. So I put it on the table and let it rest for 2 min. It was really solid and Whaea Nin instructed us to do it again with the small strip so I repeated the same process this successfully not burning my fingers. Then it was time to add the straw on to the circles. This time everyone was lined up for the hot glue gun so I had to sellotape with Elijah..

I had so many difficulties but I finally finished it. Whaea Nin said that she had a surprise and to meet her on the court with your hoop glider. We got ready to have a race and she said 3 2 1 go and my hoop glider went flying miles backward. Pretty embarrassing right? I picked up my hoop glider and had my lunch.