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“They’ ve sent monkeys and dogs into space- now a clown!”
1.Crash Bang! - Exciting experiments for you to try at home...
Ketchup Sachet
A simple science toy that’ s been around for centuries.
What you do
2 litre plastic bottle A sachet of ketchup Sachets of other sauces to experiment with (optional).
What to do:
1. Fill the bottle full of water.
2. Put the sachet in the top and secure the lid on.
3. Let go and it’ ll float back up.
What's happening?
An object will only sink if it is denser that the fluid around it, otherwise it floats. The ketchup is denser than water, so should sink. But your sachet of ketchup is actually ketchup plus packaging plus an air bubble, so overall it is less dense than ketchup on its own, and floats somewhere around the middle of your bottle.
Press the sides of the bottle and you’ ll make the volume of the bottle smaller. Everything inside the bottle is compressed (squashed). Gases compress easily compared to liquids, so it is the air bubble inside your sachet that gets squashed the most. Now the air bubble is denser, so your ‘ketchup + packaging + an air bubble’ is also denser than before, therefore it isn’ t as buoyant (floatable), and sinks.
If the experiment doesn't work for your sachet of ketchup, maybe you've found one that is filled very efficiently and there isn't very much air in it.
You could try getting sachets from different places.
Or you could try a more old fashioned but fiddly way using a pen lid and some blu-tack or modelling clay. Use the blu-tack to seal the pen lid so that water can't get in. As there is air inside your pen lid it should act like the air bubble in the ketchup, but you will probably need several goes before you work out how much blu-tack to use. If you have too much, the lid just sinks anyway. If you have too little, the lid just floats even when you squeeze the bottle.
2.Up for Grabs - You’ ve got to be in it to win it...
This week we’ve got a copy of the fantastic book See Inside Your Body from Usborne. Have fun finding out how your body works and don’ t forget to lift the flaps for extra facts!
If you’ d like to win it, email us with your name, age and address to: Hay-wire.Clubhouse@nesta.org.uk with ‘INSIDE BODY’ as the subject. The winner will be picked at random at 4pm, on Wednesday 14 October 2009.
3.Winners - Has your name been picked out of the bag?
In Issue 118 we were giving away a box of Sprout crackers. The lucky winner was Jasmine Wilson (9) of Leeds.
So remember - keep entering because next time it could be you!
4.Tummy Ticklers - It’ s the way you tell them...
Who has green hair and likes bears?
Mouldy Locks
What fairy doesn’ t take baths?
Stinkerbell
Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the king's horses and all the king's men, had scrambled eggs for breakfast.
See you next time!
INFORMATION OVERLOAD
Planet Science has gone Hay-Wire and now you have too!
That’ s all for this issue. The next issue of Hay-Wire will be with you in two weeks time so until then, why not ask your friends to join the Hay-Wire Club?
2 litre plastic bottle
This week we’ve got a copy of the fantastic book See Inside Your Body from Usborne. Have fun finding out how your body works and don’ t forget to lift the flaps for extra facts!
