I Chickened Out!

So...remember when I said we were going to mummify a small roaster chicken? Well, I opted for an apple instead! I mean really, I just couldn't bring myself to buy that chicken knowing that it would be wasted...not that it was necessarily going to be a waste since it was for education....but I just kept thinking that someone who was really hungry would love to have that chicken! I know...you're saying the same thing about the apple, but it's different...it really is.

So....we mummified an apple instead of a chicken. Come check out our quick apple mummification over at the *NEW* Up the Hill Gang.

Post Experiment Video

Just when you thought you had seen the last of our cool experiment...here, for your entertainment it the extremely neato mosquito "post experiment-experiment"! Ha!! And we continue to have fun.....

A Chemical Reaction or Two!

We did a neat experiment for science today. It involved clear vinegar, baking soda and anthocyanin...cool beans!! Anthocyanin is found in red cabbage.

First, we boiled us up some ol' red cabbage leaves.


While the red cabbage leaves boiled, we very diligently added the baking soda to the balloon...ok...well...we weren't diligent at all, in fact we made a huge mess and ended up not adding the full amount of baking soda....but we took care of that later!



After we regained composure after the baking soda and balloon incident, we poured the really cool blue water that we got from boiling the red cabbage leaves into this neat Prego jar.


Outside, Nik poured the clear vinegar into the pop bottle and voila! The blue liquid turns pink!! And a pretty pink too!!!


We placed the balloon filled with baking soda onto the neck of the bottle...accidentally tore the balloon...wondered if it would work...

Discovered that yes, indeed, it did work! Since we had a smaller than recommended balloon, we didn't get a huge reaction but we got one. I'll have to post about the balloon adventure another time....

Being the smart guy he is, Nik noticed that the pink liquid had not turned back to blue like it was supposed to....so.....he has an idea....


Since we had to use a smaller balloon, there had not been enough baking soda dumped into the pop bottle to change the pink back to blue. Being the precise kinda guy he is (not!) he poured a bunch of baking soda into the pink liquid and sure enough, it turned back to blue! Smart one he is...I'm embarrassed to say that I would not have thought about that! lol!


And this is what we got! Cool!!


Good times, folks...good times!~

First Science Experiments of the Year!

Everyone gathered around to see Nik do his first science experiments of the year. Belle, his lab assistant, was there in all her goofy wonkiness. Experiment #1 was about density. Can you tell that I am a very dedicated homeschool mom?? Did you notice my Southern Living hurricane vase/thingy that is being used for this experiment? I recommend a tall glass...which we did not have! lol!

Nik pouring in the corn syrup.

Here you can see all four layers...corn syrup, water and oil.

Nik's drawing for his lab book.


This is my favorite photo...Belle's look just cracks me up! And look at those ravioli stained lips...well, actually you may have noticed that all my kids have that ravioli stain going on. Note to self: clean your kids up before doing any science experiments....

Here you can see that each layer is a different density...Nik dropped a rock, grape, cork and ice cube into my Southern Living hurricane vase/thingy...what was I thinking?????


On to Experiment #2 which focused on the movement of atoms.

One cup is filled with boiling water and the other with cold water. One...only one...drop of food coloring was added to each glass and we observed how well the coloring mixed with the two different temps. Even Science Dog was excited about this one...look at that pleasant smile on his face!

This is the food coloring in the cold water....

And that's it folks...until next time when I share some of the chaos surrounding our upcoming chemical reaction experiment....Fun!