VanCleave's Science Fun

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

Dmitri Mendeleev’s Periodic Table

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Who Developed the Periodic Table of Elements? The periodic table of elements was designed independently about the same time by two different scientists. Credit is given to Dmitri Mendeleev, a professor of chemistry in St. Petersburg, Russia because he published the first version of the table in 1869. Julius Lothar Meyer (1830-1895), a chemistry professor […]

States of Matter

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What is Matter? Matter is anything that has mass and takes up space, such as water. The photo shows water first falling and filling and collecting at the bottom of the waterfall. When the collected water increases in volume, the water spills over a rock boundary. Water takes up space. Volume is the amount of […]

How Energy Affects States of Matter

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What Happens When A Substance Gains or Loses Energy? For this article, heat will be the energy source and water molecules the substance gaining or losing energy. So, what happens when water molecules gain or lose energy? Energy is needed for motion, the more energy a substance has the faster is its motion. The reverse […]

Interactive Pendulum Simulator

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  How To Use the Interactive Pendulum Simulator Click the blue weight to run the simulator. You have the option of using one or two pendulums as well as using no friction or a measured amount of friction. There is a mathematical relationship between a pendulum’s length, period, and gravity. While the math may appear […]

Black Light Supplies

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Where to Purchase Black Light Supplies Black lights come in many sizes, the flashlight black light shown as well as phosphors, such as “Glo Germ Powder” and “Glo Germ Lotion ” can be purchased from Amazon.com. The Glo-Germ Lotion and Glo Germ Powder can be used to teach children about the need for washing their […]

Cowboy Poetry by Ol’ Jim Cathey

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BUFFALO GAL  To Janice VanCleave: Author of fun science books for kids… You are a lady who never saw a problem you would not  tackle! Right in that field, she fixed her place. …Please tell me it ain’t so! ‘Cuz there she was near face to face with a shaggy buffalo. There she sat quite […]

Math For Young Learners: Counting a Dozen

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 I Wonder…How Much Is a Dozen? Round Up These Things 1 empty 1-dozen egg carton 12 small things that will fit inside the egg carton holders, such as plastic dinosaurs. Let’s Find Out 1. Open the egg carton and place it on a table. 2. Using your finger, touch and count each bowl-shaped egg holder […]

What is a Projectile?

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  Projectiles Have Two Basic Characteristics: 1. Projectiles are launched into the atmosphere or space. This means that projectiles objects that are hurled, pitched, tossed, thrown, or propelled in some way but do not have any device that keeps them moving, such as an engine. Instead, projectile, as described by Newton’s First Law of Motion, […]