VanCleave's Science Fun

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

Chemistry: Stain Removal

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Notes from Janice’s Desk I love blackberries but seem to always drop them on my clothes. Actually, I am worse than a small child when it comes to staining my clothes with the foods I eat.This means that I have lots of clothes that have food stains on them. While researching food stains I discovered […]

Displacement

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Kids get in trouble for “bird walking,” which means to start thinking about other stuff instead of the teacher’s topic. As a kid, I was very guilty of this. But, I was bad about doing it when I taught and have a hard time with this as a writer. For example, I was studying about […]

Science Fair Projects: Rock Candy

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I want to do a science fair project about rock candy. How do I get started? Answer: There are FOUR basic steps for starting any science fair project. Step 1. Select a topic: Step 2. Find a Descriptive Experiment about the Topic: A descriptive experiment is an exploratory experiment which give instructions for investigating something […]

Table Salts

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The term salt in reference to seasoning of food mainly refers to sodium chloride or more commonly called table salt. There are two sources of table salt: 1. Mined Salt This salt is harvested by forcing water into a mine to create brine (salt/water mix). The brine is then evaporated leaving cubes of salt. Mined salt […]

Adhesion

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Question: Why is syrup sticky? Answer: Cohesion is the force between like molecules, such as between two water molecules or between molecules in syrup. One syrup molecule sticks to another syrup molecule because of cohesion. If you want to know why syrup sticks to your fingers, it is because of adhesion, which is the force […]

Chemistry: Reactions

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Question: Why does Alka-Seltzer fizz in water? Answer: Alka- Seltzer is a combination of dry chemicals: aspirin: citric acid sodium bicarbonate All of the chemicals dissolve in water. When the citric acid and the sodium bicarbonate dissolve, they can then react with each other. Citric Acid + Sodium Bicarbonate    -> yields->    water + […]

Chemistry Matters

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Matter is a science term that basically encompasses all the stuff in the universe that has mass and takes up space. Generally, only three forms of matter are studied: solids, liquids, and gases. There is a fourth natural form of matter called plasma. This is not the stuff in your blood, instead it is hot […]

Soap Bubbles

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Question: Why doesn’t water form bubbles? Answer: Cohesion is the force between molecules that are alike, such as between water molecules. The cohesion between water molecules too strong to allow the water to form bubbles. The bubbles shown in the photo are made with a solution of soap and water. The soap reduces the force […]

Surface Tension

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Question: What is the trick behind floating a paper clip on water? Answer: There is no trick. The diagram shows the paper clip on a small piece of paper. I used a piece of paper towel. The paper helps to position the paper clip so that is sits flat on the water. The pencil in […]

Chemistry:Water Resistant

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Have you notice how rain forms spherical drops on some things, such as leaves and raincoats,  but make wet spots when they land on your clothes? Water forms drops on substances that are water resistant. Being water resistant is a physical characteristic. Materials that are water resistant do not absorb water. These materials do not […]