Pop, Sizzle, Boom!: 101 Science Experiments for the Mad Scientist in Every Kid

by Amy Oyler, Amanda Brack (Illustrator)

Overview

A Parents' Choice Award Recommended Book!

The most clever, fun, and exciting book of kids' science experiments ever! This book is perfect for kids who like the excitement of exploding things, boiling things, and generally making a mess while learning about science.

Get ready for amazing projects like:
-Slime Party! Make slime with Elmer's Glue.
-Color-changing milk
-Mentos Diet Coke Geyser
-PVC Rocket Launcher
-Puffy Paint in the Microwave
-Solar Oven S'mores
-Homemade Light Saber

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250165565
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	06/13/2017
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	18 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	5 - 12 Years

About the Author

Amy Oyler is the author of the popular blog, The Scientific Mom, and the author of Pop, Sizzle, Boom!: 101 Science Experiments for the Mad Scientist in Every Kid. A teacher and science advocate from Phoenix, Arizona, she enjoys exploring the world of science with her young daughters and sharing her passion for scientific discovery as science camp instructor. Her wide array of kid-friendly, hands-on experiments have been featured in both MAKE Magazine and on the television program, Arizona Midday.
Amy Oyler is the author of the popular blog, The Scientific Mom, and the author of Pop, Sizzle, Boom!: 101 Science Experiments for the Mad Scientist in Every Kid. A teacher and science advocate from Phoenix, Arizona, she enjoys exploring the world of science with her young daughters and sharing her passion for scientific discovery as science camp instructor. Her wide array of kid-friendly, hands-on experiments have been featured in both MAKE Magazine and on the television program, Arizona Midday.
AMANDA BRACK has a passion for drawing and illustration, and enjoys the creativity of working on a wide variety of projects in her freelance career. She currently lives in Boston, Massachusetts.

Read an Excerpt

Pop, Sizzle, Boom!

101 Science Experiments for the Mad Scientist in Every Kid

---

By Amy Oyler, Amanda Brack

St. Martin's Press

Copyright © 2017 St. Martin's Press
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-250-16556-5

---

CHAPTER 1

SHINE, SPIN, SIZZLE

THE POWER OF THE SUN

SOLAR-POWERED PINWHEELS

Everyone loves the classic fun of a spinning pinwheel, but did you know you can make one of your own and spin it with the power of the sun? With this experiment, you'll build a tower of solar energy, and use that instead of your breath to power your very own pinwheel! All you need are some aluminum cans, a stack of books, and some paper, and you're on your way to a spinning adventure in physics!

MATERIALS NEEDED

3 aluminum cans
Can opener
Masking tape
Large paper clip
Thumbtack
Ruler
Paper
Scissors
Pencil
Stack of books

PROCEDURE

1. Remove both ends from all the aluminum cans with a can opener. Then build a tower by stacking them on top of each other and taping them into place. Use masking tape to create a seal around each can where it meets the next one in the tower.

2. Straighten the paper clip and bend it into an arch. Tape the ends to each side of the top of the aluminum can tower so that it arches across the opening in your tower.

3. Tape the thumbtack to the center of the paper clip so that the sharp end is pointing straight up.

4. Use your ruler to draw a 6" square on your piece of paper, then cut it out. Make a pinwheel by making a diagonal cut from each corner to the center of the paper, stopping about 1/4" before the center.

5. Once you have made four cuts from the corners of your square, take the right side of each cut, and fold it into the center. Tape the meeting points in the center to create your pinwheel.

6. Create two 2" stacks of books in a sunny spot of your home or outside. Place the book stacks 1 1/2" apart, and place your aluminum can tower on the stacks so that the can sits across the gap.

7. Balance your paper pinwheel on the point of the thumbtack. Once it's balanced, sit back and watch it spin!

WHAT'S HAPPENING?

The sun releases energy that we can see as light and feel as heat. This energy powers everything on Earth. We can harness this energy by collecting it in battery cells, and use it to power our homes. In this experiment, the aluminum cans harness the sun's energy. The heat from the sun collects at the bottom of the can, and rises to the top. As this energy moves through the can, it pushes your pinwheel, spinning it!

SOLAR PHOTOGRAPHY

You know you can take a photograph with a camera or a smartphone, but did you know you could create a photograph with the sun and a piece of paper? With solar imprint paper, you can create an image using the ultraviolet rays from the sun and create your own work of art with solar photography! All you need is some solar imprint paper (found online or in the science and education section of your local toy store), some natural materials, and a sunny day.

MATERIALS NEEDED

Solar imprint paper
Leaves, feathers, or toys
Plastic wrap (optional)
Paper towels

PROCEDURE

1. Gather natural materials that will lie flat and have interesting shapes. Leaves, feathers, and flowers work well for this activity.

2. Carefully remove one of the sheets of solar imprint paper. Create a natural mosaic with your materials by placing them to form a picture on your paper.

3. Find a sunny spot outside to place your work of art. Leave it there for 1-3 minutes. If there is a breeze, you can place a piece of clear plastic over your artwork to keep it in place.

4. After the paper has turned white, bring it inside, remove the objects, and place the paper in a shallow tray filled with water. Let it soak for about one minute.

5. Remove the paper from the tray, and set it on a paper towel. Using the paper towel, pat the paper to remove any excess water.

6. Lay the paper flat to dry. Once the paper starts to curl up on the corners, you can lay a book on top of it to keep it flat as it dries.

7. Once the paper is fully dry, you can frame your solar artwork and hang it on your wall!

WHAT'S HAPPENING?

The solar photo paper is treated with a solution of chemicals that are UV sensitive, which means they will change color when exposed to the ultraviolet rays from the sun. When you place objects on the paper, these objects prevent the UV rays from hitting the paper, which prevents it from changing color. When the solution is rinsed away, it stops the process of UV light interaction and keeps your photo from changing again.

Build a SOLAR OVEN

Have you ever heard the phrase, "Ian oven! We harness solar energy in solar panels to provide electricity and battery power, but we can harness solar energy to cook our food, too. Combining solar energy with the perfect summer snack is as easy as using some household materials, and taking advantage of a hot day. Then you'll be well on your way to summer s'mores, cooked with the power of the sun!

MATERIALS NEEDED

Pizza box
Ruler
Box cutter
Aluminum foil
Tape
Plastic wrap
Black construction paper
S'mores ingredients: graham crackers, chocolate bar, marshmallows
Wooden skewer

PROCEDURE

1. Use your ruler to draw a large square on the top of the pizza box, making sure that the square is about 2" away from the edges on all sides.

2. Use your box cutter to cut three sides out of the square, leaving the back side as the hinge. When you are finished cutting, fold the square upwards at an angle.

3. Cover the inside of the flap (facing the inside of the box) with aluminum foil. Make sure that this layer is pulled tightly around the flap and tape it to the back of the flap to secure it in place. This will be your reflector window, reflecting the sun's rays into your oven.

4. Cover the opening below your flap with plastic wrap. Make sure that the window is tightly sealed, and that there are no rips or tears in the plastic wrap. Use tape to secure the edges of the plastic wrap to the top of the pizza box.

5. Line the inside of the pizza box with aluminum foil. You'll want to reflect as much light into your oven as possible to focus the solar energy onto what you are cooking.

6. Place a marshmallow and a small piece of chocolate on a graham cracker, and put your s'more on a square of aluminum foil. Place your s'more on a piece of black construction paper and slide it inside your pizza box oven under the plastic wrap window.

7. Finally, prop up the reflector flap with the wooden skewer, angling it near 90 degrees, making sure it is reflecting the sun's rays directly down into your pizza box oven.

8. Leave your solar oven out in direct sunlight (angled so that the flap is catching the sun's direct rays) for at least 30 minutes. This works best on a hot day, with temperatures at 85 degrees Fahrenheit or greater.

WHAT'S HAPPENING?

You are capturing the sun's energy to cook your food. When you cut the flap out of the pizza box and cover it with foil, you angle the sun's rays into your oven. The foil acts as a reflector, further bouncing light and heat around your food. The plastic wrap keeps heat contained inside the box. The black paper absorbs heat, allowing you to cook your food from the bottom as well.

TAKE IT FURTHER

Add a thermometer inside your oven to measure exactly how hot your oven can get. At what temperature do your s'mores begin to cook? You can experiment with black fabric instead of black paper, or Mylar instead of foil. See which materials better harness the sun's energy and cook your food. You can also cook hot dogs or heat a plate of leftovers in your solar oven.

BUILD A PINHOLE SOLAR ECLIPSE VIEWER

We're not supposed to look directly at the sun, because the sun's rays can do serious damage to our eyes. Sometimes, this rule can be hard to follow — like during a solar eclipse, when something really cool is happening with the sun and we want to see it with our own eyes!

You can't look directly at the sun during an eclipse, but you can watch the eclipse right in your own backyard with a big box, foil, and some tape. You can also get a feel for the science of optics while you're at it.

MATERIALS NEEDED

'Long cardboard box
(a florist box works well)
Box cutter
Aluminum foil (cut to a 2.5" x 2.5" square)
Box cutter
Invisible tape
Thumbtack
White paper (cut to a 3" x 3" square)
Wide tape (masking tape, duct tape, or painter's tape)

PROCEDURE

1. On one of the ends of your cardboard box, cut a 2" x 2" square on the lower right corner.

2. On the outside of the box, cover your cut-out square with the square of aluminum foil. Use your invisible tape to secure your foil. Try to avoid wrinkling the foil.

3. Use your thumbtack to poke one small hole into the center of your aluminum foil square. The hole should be no wider than the point of your thumbtack.

4. On the inside of the other end of the box, tape your white paper square across from the aluminum square so that whatever light comes in through the pinhole will shine onto the white paper. This will serve as your "projection screen" where you will view the eclipse.

5. On the side of the box, just around the corner from the white paper square, you will want to cut a 3" x 3" square. This will allow you to view the projection screen at an angle without hurting your eyes.

6. Tape your box shut. Try to tape over any cracks or openings aside from your viewing square. You will want the only light entering your box to be from the pinhole you have created on your aluminum square.

7. Now it's time to use your solar viewer! You can test your viewer by standing outside and holding the box up so that it aligns with its own shadow. The pinhole should be pointing behind you toward the sun, and the viewing window should be out in front of you.

If you have trouble seeing the sun on your piece of paper from this angle, you can adjust the viewing window by widening it with your box cutter.

When you have the opportunity to view a solar eclipse, stand with the box aligning with its own shadow. When you see the bead of light as it crosses your paper, that's the sun! Soon, you will see a shadow moving over the sun, this is the moon forming the eclipse as it passes between the sun and the Earth.

WHAT'S HAPPENING?

The small pinhole on the foil allows for the sunlight to be focused through a single point. The light waves expand as they travel through the box, which allows the image of the sun to be cast onto your viewing paper. The bigger the box, the larger the image that will be viewed through the window.

TAKE IT FURTHER

You can replicate this viewer with a smaller box, or you can find the largest box in your house to see which box will yield a larger image on your viewing window. Sometimes a city will host an eclipse viewing party with their local astronomical society. Take your solar eclipse viewer with you to enjoy the eclipse, and enjoy sharing the joy of astronomy with fellow amateurs and scientists in your community!

BUILDING a Spectrometer

When you step outside in the morning, the first thing you might notice is the bright light of the sun. The sun emits all the light we see and all of the energy we need to live on Earth. Scientists figured out that the sun is made up of primarily hydrogen and helium, but how did they figure that out? The answer has to do with rainbows! Every source of light emits its own color pattern based on the gases inside it. The study of this pattern is called spectrography.

You can make your own spectrometer and explore the light in your own home!

MATERIALS NEEDED

Cereal box
Ruler
Pen or pencil
Box cutter
Duct tape
Blank CD
Garden or kitchen shears
Flashlight, light bulb, and any other light sources around your
house

PROCEDURE

1. You're going to open a long rectangular section from the top right corner of your cereal box. Starting from the top corner of one side of your cereal box, use your ruler and pencil to mark a line 3 1/2" down from the top. Mark the same measurement on the other side of the box. Then measure 1" into the center of the box on both sides.

2. Use your box cutter to cut a rectangular section from the top of the box down to those markings (removing the side piece between your markings as you cut). This will make a little ledge on your cereal box for the CD to sit on.

3. On the other narrow side of the box, use your box cutter to cut a small horizontal slit approximately 1" down from the top. You'll want the slit to be fairly thin, only about 1 mm high. Cut the slit so that it spans the width of the side of the box.

4. Use your duct tape to seal the top of the cereal box that remains.

5. Put on your safety glasses because it's time to cut your CD in half! Use the garden shears to cut your CD in half. Use your scissors to trim away any excess pieces.

6. With the cut side of the CD facing away from the cereal box, place the CD on your ledge, glossy side facing up.

7. Shine your flashlight through the slit on the other side of the CD box. While holding your flashlight in place, tilt your CD up and down, until you find the angle in which your spectrum will show on your CD.

8. Once you have your spectrum showing on your CD, duct tape your CD in place.

9. Make sure you close in the sides of the ledge with the tape. This will allow less light to enter your spectrometer from the sides, and provide a sort of shadow box, with which you can view your spectra.

10. Test your light sources! Begin by examining the spectrum that can be emitted from your flashlight. Then, go outside and observe the spectrum from the sun! Tilt your spectrometer so that the small slit lines up with your light source. Then you can peer down onto your CD to see the color spectrum from that source.

WHAT'S HAPPENING?

It takes a lot of energy, and a lot of elements crashing together at high pressures and heat, for light to form. We can see this energy in the form of light waves. Our brain turns the light waves into colors that we can see. The light waves can look different, depending on gases that light passes through on its way to our eyes. The gases can absorb different wavelengths, leaving a black band through some of the colors. This is why you might see black spaces in your color spectrum on your spectrometer. In other cases, light is emitted from the burning of gases. These spectrum bands will have more solid color blocks, without any black lines. Take your spectrometer outside, to a friend's house, or anywhere you might find a variety of light sources. Bring the rainbow of the universe wherever you are!

TAKE IT FURTHER

There are many different light sources you can experiment with! You can use incandescent light bulbs, CFLs, the light from your computer and television screens, a UV flashlight, nightlight, or anything else you can find! When you look at light from different sources, you can really start to get a good idea of the different spectra that can be emitted from each light source.

CHAPTER 2

DIG, PLANT, PLUCK

SCIENCE IN THE GARDEN

Autumn Leaf MASH-UP

When we hear the words fall or autumn, most people think of brilliantly colored leaves gently falling to the ground. But these colors can actually be found deep within the leaves all year long. During spring and summer, trees are busy producing chlorophyll, the molecule primarily responsible for photosynthesis (how a plant makes food). With this experiment, you'll discover the hidden colors within the leaves. All it takes is a few household materials and a little bit of chemistry.

MATERIALS NEEDED

An assortment of leaves
Scissors
3 glass jars
Paper and pen
Tape
91% isopropyl alcohol
Knife
Plastic wrap
Hot water
Shallow baking pan
White coffee filters
Bowl
Spoon

PROCEDURE

1. Go on a nature walk! Collect leaves from a variety of trees and get as many colors as you can. Try to identify the trees from which you're gathering them.

2. Choose three leaves you like and draw pictures of them to use as labels for your jars. Cut them out and tape them to the jars.

3. Using your scissors, cut and tear your leaves into very small pieces. Place one type of leaf into each of the three jars.

4. Cover the leaves with isopropyl alcohol. Then use your knife to stir and chop them into the solution. You want to break up the leaves as roughly as possible, so that the pigments can be drawn out by the alcohol.

5. Loosely cover your jars with plastic wrap, and place them into a shallow baking pan. Slowly pour about 1" of hot water into the bottom of your pan.

6. Keep the jars in the water for 30 minutes. Every 5-10 minutes, use your knife to roughly swirl the leaves around in the alcohol.

(Continues...)

---

Excerpted from Pop, Sizzle, Boom! by Amy Oyler, Amanda Brack. Copyright © 2017 St. Martin's Press. Excerpted by permission of St. Martin's Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

---

Table of Contents

Contents

Title Page,
Copyright Notice,
Dedication,
An Introduction to the World of Pop Sizzle Boom!,
CHAPTER 1 SHINE, SPIN, SIZZLE THE POWER OF THE SUN,
CHAPTER 2 DIG, PLANT, PLUCK SCIENCE IN THE GARDEN,
CHAPTER 3 STOMP, PECK, SOAR AMAZING BUGS AND ANIMALS,
CHAPTER 4 SPLISH, SPLASH, SWIRL COOL KITCHEN EXPERIMENTS,
CHAPTER 5 NIBBLE, CHEW, CRUNCH THE SCIENCE OF CANDY,
CHAPTER 6 SNIP, SNIP, GLUE: BUILDING REALISTIC BODY PARTS,
CHAPTER 7 SEE, SNIFF, SLURP TEST YOUR SENSES,
CHAPTER 8 GLOP, STRETCH, SPLAT ADVENTURES IN SLIME,
CHAPTER 9 FIZZ, BUBBLE, POP ALL THINGS FUN AND GASSY,
CHAPTER 10 RUMBLE, RUMBLE, SHAKE: ERUPTING EARTH SCIENCE,
CHAPTER 11 SIMMER, SQUISH, STACK: GEOLOGY AT ITS BEST,
CHAPTER 12 PUSH, PULL, SWING: ALL CHARGED UP ABOUT MAGNETS,
CHAPTER 13 WHOOSH, SWISH, FLUTTER: THE SCIENCE OF WEATHER,
CHAPTER 14 DRIP, DROP, POP: EXPERIMENTS WITH BUBBLES,
CHAPTER 15 CRACKLE, CRACKLE, ZAP ADVENTURES IN ELECTRICITY,
CHAPTER 16 REV, ZOOM, ROCKET THE SCIENCE OF SPEED,
CHAPTER 17 CRUSH, CRUMPLE, SHRIEK OBJECTS UNDER PRESSURE,
CHAPTER 18 SHINE, SHIMMER, GLOW THE MYSTERIES OF SPACE,
Additional Resources,
Index,
About the Author,
Copyright,