In science class, we have embarked on a new unit which is one of my personal favorites - Kindergarten Chemistry! Chemistry experiments are perfectly suited to young children, as you can carry out an experiment quickly, with very clear results. The experiments can be very exciting and graphically illustrate an idea or concept. We've been working on chemistry for the past few weeks and will continue with this unit in January. So far, we've discovered what chemicals combine to shine pennies, how liquids mix (and don't mix) and explored the chemistry of color. After the experiments, the students are challenged to draw the experiment and illustrate what happened. This helps reinforce concepts and gives them practice in recording their work.
Do oil and water mix? That was our first question that we asked. The students were so surprised when the oil stayed on top of the water no matter how much they tried to mix it! What came next was even more startling. We added drops of food coloring. The food coloring did not mix with the oil and in fact, became dozens of tiny, colorful drops suspended in the oil. When a drop fell through the oil to the water, it definitely mixed with the water!
Is there any way to clean a penny once it gets dull over time? We tried four different solutions to see if we could bring a shine back to our pennies. Three of our solutions didn't work, but it was exciting when our last combination of vinegar, water and salt worked and made our pennies look new again! How does it work? Pennies get dull over time because the copper in the pennies slowly reacts with air to form copper oxide. When you place the pennies in the solution, the acid from the vinegar combines with the salt to dissolve the copper oxide, leaving behind shiny copper pennies. Take a look on the experiment page of my blog if you'd like the recipe.
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