VanCleave's Science Fun

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

Chemical Reactions:Cake Baking

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Chemistry is the study of the composition of substances and their properties and reactions. Baking a cake is a great way to study physical and chemical properties as well as physical and chemical changes. First, I’ll list a few terms that will be introduced: physical properties: The physical traits of a substance determined by using […]

Daylight Saving Time: History

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Standard time refers to sun time, or time one would determine using a sundial. A time zone refers to a region of the Earth that has adopted the same standard time, usually called local time. Time zones were established in the in the U.S. and Canada by the railroads in 1883. But it wasn’t until […]

Equinox Model

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To model the light and dark areas of Earth during equinox, use aluminum foil and a 2-inch (5-cm) Styrofoam ball. With a blackmarker, make two dots opposite each other on the ball. Draw small circles around each dot to represent the Arctic and Antarctic Circles. Again use the marker to draw a circle around the […]

Sound: Wind Chimes

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Question: How do wind chimes make music? Answer: Wind chimes are made of objects that make interesting sounds when the wind causes them to bump into each other. Sounds are made when things vibrate, which means to move back and forth. The sound of wind chimes is not that the hanging objects swing back and […]

Zero Gravity-Weightless?

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Can passengers in NASA’s Vomit Comet Float Around in a state of weightlessness? Yes, passengers in the plane can float during the ride but only for short periods lasting only about 30 seconds. Only in orbiting space craft do astronauts continuously float. In the KC-135, commonly called the Vomit Comet for obvious reasons, there are […]

Starch Digestion in Your Mouth

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Digestion is the process by which your body changes the food you eat to forms that your body can use for repair, building, and energy. Digestion starts in your mouth where special digestive juices change starch into sugar. Starch is a large chemical generally stored in plants and sugar is a type of chemical that […]

Evaporation: Cools Skin

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Evaporation Evaporation is a change from a liquid to a gas. Evaporation occurs below the boiling point of the liquid. This means that water will evaporate a temperatures below 212 degrees Fahrenheit (100 degrees Celsius). Activity Wet a cotton ball (or sponge) with water. The objective is to wet a small place on the skin, […]