A Window to the World: Museum of Natural History and Science
Experiments for home, birthday parties, or school
And You Will See . . .
Just how Cool Science Can Be!
Geology Zone
Geology is the study of the Earth, the materials of which it is made, the structure of those materials, and the processes acting upon them. If you like volcanoes, rocks, gems, natural formations, etc., you will like geology!
#1. Crack Your Own Geode
For this activity each person dug in sand and discovered a real geode that had never been cracked. Then we had an adult use a rock cutter and cut the geode in half, revealing the crystals inside!
If you don’t have a rock cutter you can crack your own geode with a hammer or other hard object.
What is a geode?
Geodes are rocks that are plain on the outside but can have beautiful crystals on the inside. In the Greek language, geode means "shape of the earth."
How are geode’s formed?
Geodes are created in the hollow areas of soil such as animal burrows or tree roots. They are also formed in the bubbles in volcanic rock. Over time, dissolved minerals seep into a hollow area and harden into an outer shell creating the geode. The minerals continue to form on the inside walls of the shell, growing towards the center. It can take hundreds of millions of years for the space inside a geode to be filled and many geodes remain hollow!
#2. Make Your Own Rock Candy
This yummy experiment requires some time in order to set up (generally 3-7 days). Please follow the instructions below.
How does it work?
When you mixed the water and sugar you made a super saturated solution. This means that the water could only hold the sugar if both were very hot. As the water cools, the sugar comes out of the solution back into sugar crystals on your skewer. The skewer (and sometimes the glass itself) ct as a “seed” that the sugar crystals start to grow on. With some luck and patience you will have a tasty scientific treat. Enjoy!
Rock Candy Recipe
Ingredients:
Wooden Skewer (soaked and dried to prevent splintering) or clean chopstick
A clothespin
1 cup water
2-3 cups sugar
Food coloring (optional)
A tall glass or jar
Note: Instead of a wooden skewer, you can also use cotton string. Be sure to weight the string at the bottom (with a paperclip or life saver) so the rock candy will grow straight.
Instructions:
· Clip the wooden skewer into the clothespin so that it hangs down the inside of the glass and is about 1 inch from the bottom of the glass.
· Remove the skewer and clothespin and put them aside for now.
· Pour the water into a pan and bring it to a bowl. Pour about 1/4 cup of sugar into the boiling water, stirring until it dissolves. Keep adding more and more sugar, each time stirring it until it dissolves, until no more sugar will dissolve.
· Remove from heat and allow to cool for at least 20 minutes.
· Add food coloring to the sugar solution if desired (the darker the color, the better the results).
· While it is cooling, dip half of the skewer or string in the sugar solution and then roll it in sugar to jumpstart the crystal growth. Be sure to let the skewer cool down completely.
· Carefully pour the sugar solution into the jar, almost to the top. Then submerge the skewer back into the glass making sure that it is hanging straight down the middle without touching the sides or bottom.
· Put the jar someplace where it will not be disturbed.
· Now wait! The sugar crystals will grow over the next 3-7 days.
· If you start to see crystals growing on the top of the container, break them off and eat them or throw them away.
· If crystals start to grow on the sides or bottom of your container, transfer the rock candy and crystal solution to a clean glass or jar.
· Allow your rock candy to grow until you are pleased the crystals. Remove the rock candy when you are satisfied. You can eat the rock candy immediately or hang the skewer and allow it to dry. Enjoy!!!
Archaeology Zone
Archaeology Activities
#1. Archaeology/Geology Dig.
Each person got a chance to use a magnifying glass and brush to dig for artifacts, rocks, gems, and geodes, just like an archaeologist, geologist or paleontologist.
Anthropology Zone
Anthropology is the study of the behavior, culture, beliefs, and ways of life of different peoples throughout history.
Petroglyphs at Newspaper Rock, Utah
If you like learning about other civilizations, such as Ancient Egyptians, Ancient Greeks and Romans, and Native American culture then you’ll like anthropology!
Anthropology Activities
#1. Dream Catchers
Dream Catchers are from Native American lore; they trap bad dreams and let the good dreams filter down to the sleeper.
For each dream catcher you will need:
• a bendable twig about 1 foot long or a
wooden circle/hoop (can buy at craft stores)
• a few inches of thin wire
• some twine
• beads with large holes
• a few feathers
Have an adult make a hoop from a twig, or use a wooden circle/hoop. If using a twig, wrap a short length of thin wire around the overlapping ends.
Cut a few feet of twine. Tie one end of the twine to the twig hoop. String a few beads onto the twine and push the beads toward the tied end. Wrap the twine around the other side of the hoop. String a few more beads on the twine and then wrap the twine around the far side of the hoop. Repeat until you have an interesting webbing design. Tie a short length of twine on the hoop. String a bead or two on it and then tie a feather onto the end. Repeat this a few times (2 or 3 hanging feather strings look nice). Hang the dream catcher near your bed!
Each person made papyrus out of strips of paper. Here's how we did it:
Mix an equal amount of Elmer’s glue and water in a flat bowl. Tear a brown paper bag into strips. Lay a paper towel on the newspaper. Dip strips one at a time in the glue mix. Lay them on the paper towel with their edges overlapping. Press the strips smooth. Arrange more strips going across the first layer. Press smooth. Air-dry your papyrus.
Decorate your papyrus! Once your papyrus is dry, use markers, pens, or pencils to write messages. The next page contains ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. Try drawing some!
What Exactly Is Papyrus?
Papyrus (puh-PIE-rus) is a kind of paper made from a plat that grew along the river in northern Africa and Southern Europe. The plant was also called papyrus. To make papyrus, Ancient Egyptians flattened and smashed stalks of the papyrus plant. Then they placed the stalks running up and down in one layer and side-to-side in the other.
Who Invented Papyrus?
Papyrus was invented around 4000 B.C. in Egypt. Papyrus was a very durable paper that was used until around A.D. 1000! It made writing and record keeping much easier.
#3. Write Your Own Hieroglyphics
The ancient Egyptians developed their own system of writing, known as hieroglyphics, probably around 3000 B.C. This was an ancient Egyptian form of writing in which pictures or symbols represented sounds, objects and ideas.
Below are two versions of the Egyptian Alphabet. Once your papyrus has dried, try writing your name and a message on it with hieroglyphics!
#4. Sculpt Your Own Peruvian Llama or Alpaca!
Llamas and alpacas have both been domesticated (this means they are tame and not wild) and leave in the Andes Mountain Range. Llamas are roughly twice the size as alpacas and have course wool. Llamas are used as pack animals. Alpacas are smaller animals with fine wool. The people in the Andes use alpaca wool for clothing and cloth like we use cotton. In the mountains of Peru, llamas and alpacas are everywhere.
#1. Make Your Own GAK (Slime)
Ingredients:
2 cups of white glue (Elmers)
1 ½ Cups of water
Food Coloring
2 teaspoons Borax (old fashioned laundry Det.)
1 cup hot water
Directions:
Combine glue, 1 ½ cups of water and food coloring in a bowl. In another bowl, dissolve Borax in 1 cup of hot water. Slowly add the glue mixture to Borax mixture. Mixture will quickly coagulate and will be a little difficult to mix. Pour off excess water from mixture, spread out on cookie sheet so any formed bubbles will pop. Store in airtight container.
#2. Make Your Own Lava Lamp
You Will Need:
· A clean clear soda bottle (any size)
· 3/4 cup of water
· Canola or vegetable oil
· Fizzing tablets (such as Alka Seltzer)
· Food coloring
1. Pour the water into the bottle.
2. Use a measuring cup or funnel to slowly pour the oil into the bottle until the bottle is almost full. You may have to wait a few minutes for the oil and water to separate.
3. Add 10 drops of food coloring to the bottle (we like red, but any color will look great.) The drops will pass through the oil and then mix with the water below.
4. Break a seltzer tablet in half and drop the half tablet into the bottle. Watch it sink to the bottom and let the blobby greatness begin!
5. To keep the effect going, just add another tablet piece. For a true lava lamp effect, shine a flashlight through the bottom of the bottle.
The oil stays above the water because the oil is lighter than the water or, more specifically, less dense than water. The oil and water do not mix because of something called "intermolecular polarity." Molecular polarity basically means that water molecules are attracted to other water molecules. Oil molecules are attracted to other oil molecules. But the structures of the two molecules do not allow them to bond together.
When you added the tablet piece, it sank to the bottom and started dissolving and creating a gas. As the gas bubbles rose, they took some of the colored water with them. When the blob of water reached the top, the gas escaped and down went the water. Cool, huh? By the way, you can store your "Blobs In A Bottle" with the cap on, and then anytime you want to bring it back to life, just add another tablet piece.
Thanks to the following website for help with lava lamps: http://www.sciencebob.com/experiments/lavalamp.php
We hope you had as much fun at our science museum as we did!
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A Window to the World: Museum of Science & Natural History
