VanCleave's Science Fun

Your Guide to Science Projects, Fun Experiments, and Science Research

Archives for 2010

Subatomic Parts

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Did You Know? Atoms have a central area called the nucleus. Protons are positively charged particles in an atom’s nucleus. Also in the nucleus are neutrons, particles with no charge. Neutrons and protons have about 2000 times as much mass as do electrons, thus the nucleus is the most massive part of the atom. While […]

Periodic Table Game

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I am having so much fun sharing ideas about the periodic table of elements. The photo above came from Amida, a homeschool mom who not only took the photo but created the game being played. What really amazes me is that she created and made the game pieces YESTERDAY!!! This game is still in the […]

Periodic Table: Game for Kids

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Would you eat an Arsenic cupcake? Obviously you would not. But, the cupcakes shown have symbols for different elements written in icing, including arsenic. I am very excited about the responses received about the periodic table activities. I ask for ideas for games related to the periodic chart and a received the following from Amida. […]

Periodic Table

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This Unit on the Periodic Table is being developed.  In other words, I am writing the activities in response to your feed back. Please read the activities and let me know how they can be changed to make them more useful. When applicable, I will use your questions. For example: Question: Why is the periodic […]

Periodic Table

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Chemistry is such a fun course and so applicable to daily living. I’ve been thinking about an interesting way for kids of all ages to learn more about chemistry. One of the most important chemistry learning tool is the periodic table. So, I have designed an activity that introduces some of the elements on the […]

Chemistry:Wrinkled Fabric

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Question: Why do clothes wrinkle if you leave let them cool in the clothes dryer? Answer: Polymers are large molecules made of repeated units linked together. When fabrics made of polymers are heated, some of the bonds holding the linked units of the polymers break. This allows the fibers to move around. I in vision […]

Astronomy: Sun’s Colors

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The Sun and sky have such beautiful colors sometimes. It amazes me that they change because of such teeny tiny particles in Earth’s atmosphere. The Sun gets so hot that it emits white light, which is a combination of all the visible colors of light. When this white light passes through Earth’s atmosphere some of […]

Scratch-and-Sniff

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Scratch-and-sniff stickers and books work because the aroma is trapped in microscopic spheres. When you scratch the indicated surface, you break some of these teeny tiny balls  and the fragrance is released. The capsules not broken continue to protect their contents, which could be released years later. Scratch-and-sniff surfaces is much like having millions of […]

Mixtures: Smoothies

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Smoothies are examples of mixtures. So what is a mixture? Easy! Two or more things in the same container. Now that was easy science. Now let’s build on this foundation. If the mixture is blended thoroughly, it is still a mixture? If you are only mixing stuff together and there is no chemical reaction, then […]

Clouds: Man-Made

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There are many types of clouds in the sky, some are even man-made, such as the clouds left by airplanes as they fly by. The name of these man-made clouds is contrail (short for “condensation trail”). Contrails are vaporized water that condenses. Condensation is a process by which water vapor is cooled resulting in the […]