experiments
 

Experiment 1 • Experiment 3 • Experiment 4 • Experiment 5

Experiment 2
In this experiment you will find out if the the carbon dioxide fizz in soft drinks (like Suckelberry soda pop) will cause suckelberries or raisins to dance. By observing and comparing raisins in carbonated water (soda pop) to raisins in tap water you will discover whether or not Ms. Crowler actually spilled a bucket of carbonated water. Carbonated water is water filled with dissolved carbon dioxide gas. Most soft drinks including Suckelberry Soda contain carbonated water. Carbon dioxide gas in soft drinks gives them their fizz.

Did experiment 2? Go to Experiment 3

I] Hypothesis Bubbles in the carbonated water cause suckelberries or raisins to rise and fall (dance).

II] Materials needed

• a can or bottle of carbonated water (any flavor) or a can of colorless soda like 7-Up or Sprite.
• 2 tall, clear glasses or plastic cups
• several raisins (fresh raisins work the best)

• a glass of tap water


III] Procedure/Observation
  1. Fill one glass with tap water and fill the other glass with carbonated water or colorless soda.
  2. Drop 6 or 7 raisins into the glass of tap water and drop six or seven raisins into the glass of carbonated water or soda.
  3. Watch the raisins for a few seconds. Describe what is happening to the raisins. Do they sink or float? Do you notice any difference in how the raisins behave in the tap compared to the carbonated water or soda? Keep watching; what happens in the next several minutes?

IV] The Fizz in Suckelberry Soda
Carbonated beverages are prepared by putting the beverage into a can or bottle under high pressure with carbon dioxide gas. The high pressure causes the carbon dioxide gas to dissolve in the liquid. When the can or bottle is opened the pressure inside the can decreases allowing some of the carbon dioxide gas dissolved in the liquid to escape as bubbles (the fizz).

F.Y.I. When you open a can of suckelberry soda, the noise you hear is produced by the carbon dioxide gas as it rushes out of the can.

 

 

 

 

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Experiment 3
In this experiment we will discover whether or not Ms. Crowler really didn't have time to wash the soap out of her hair. You may remember from the story that Ms. Crowler's hair, when it touched the bowl of floating suckelberry seeds, caused the seeds to scatter away from her hair.

I] Hypothesis Soap will break the surface tension* of water causing floating objects to either scatter to places where there is surface tension or to sink.

II] Materials needed

• a bowl
• water
• pepper
• soap (dish soap or shampoo)
• paintbrush


III] Procedure/Observation
  1. Place a bowl of water on the table. Sprinkle some pepper across the surface of the water.
  2. Dip the tip of the paintbrush into the water. What happens?
  3. Dip the paintbrush into some dish soap or shampoo.
  4. Dip your soap covered paintbrush into the bowl covered with pepper. What happens?

IV] *What is the surface tension of water.
You may know most things are slippery when wet. But water molecules, when it comes to other molecules, are sticky. That is because water molecules have a strong attraction to other water molecules. In the center of a glass of water, the molecules are sticking to other water molecules in all directions. Think of all the water molecules pulling towards each other, like if you hade a glass of magnets all attracting each other.

At the surface, there are no water molecules above for them to stick to, so they align themselves in such a way, that they stick even more to the molecules beside them. This forms a "skin" at the surface of the water that we call surface tension. This surface tension is strong enough to support insects like the water strider. They actually walk on the surface of the water.

 

 

 

 
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