elasticity Archives - Casa Bouquet

Bubble activities are fun and motivating for children. The way bubbles float in the air seems magical and they are so pretty. Popping them is fun too! It’s easy to make shapes for wands and make bubble solution with simple items.

Safety note: Be sure to explain safety precautions to children. These experiments use soap. Eye protection should be used. Before and after this experiment, be sure to thoroughly clean hands. Disclaimer: All information provided on this site is for entertainment and education purposes only. Using any information from thecasabouquet.com is at your own risk.

The basic set up is a wand, a soapy solution, and a way to blow the solution through the wand into the air.

These 9 bubble activities encourage children to ask questions about surface tension, collect data, analyze, and share their findings.

Fun Bubble Science Projects from ThoughtCo.
The Science Behind Bubbles from Kids Discover
Bubble activities for kids from Happy Hooligans
Bubble-ology from Science Buddies
Blow the Biggest Bubbles from Scientific American
Science of soap bubbles from MIT Blossoms
Homemade bubble recipe for kids from Crystal and Company
Bubbles from the Exploratorium
Making bubble wands from household items from Verywell

When trying bubble activities, I always encourage children to make it into an experiment. You can change variables in several areas.

Bubble solution: The traditional ingredients for bubbles are detergent and water. Try soap and water, or compare adding glycerin versus corn syrup.

Wand size and shape: Try straws, shaping a wire loop (such as coat hanger), string loop, cardboard tube, pipe cleaner, straws with strings, or straws and pipe cleaners to make 3D shapes.

Bubble colors: Observe the colors in the bubbles. Are they related to size or thickness? How are they similar to rainbow colors?

Speed of blowing: A traditional bubble technique is using your mouth to blow through a small round wand. Try changing how fast you blow into different wands or tubes. You can use your arm to swish wands through the air. Also you can try using a fan to blow.

What is the science?

Content: chemistry, surface tension, elasticity, reflection, refraction, fluid mechanics

Bubbles are made by blowing a thin film of soapy water into a closed shape. Air is trapped inside the soap film. Adding glycerin to the soap solution allows the bubbles to last longer by slowing down evaporation.

Resource links for bubble activities

http://www.flinnsci.com/teacher-resources/safety/general-laboratory-safety/
- General Lab Safety resources from Flinn Scientific. Be sure to check out the Student Safety Contract.
http://pubs.acs.org/cen/whatstuff/stuff/8117sci3.html
- Soap Bubbles from Chemical and Engineering News

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Nitinol memory wire is metal that remembers its original shape when heated (alloy of nickel & titanium). Experimenting with nitinol memory wire is fun like a magic trick, but it demonstrates physical principles of thermal energy and elasticity.

Safety note: Be sure to explain safety precautions to children. This experiment uses hot water. Eye and skin protection should be used. Disclaimer: All information provided on this site is for entertainment and education purposes only. Using any information from casabouquet.com is at your own risk.

Instructions for nitinol memory wire experiment

Give the children 3 cups or bowls. You may want to use coffee cups to help with insulation. Label with a marker: hot, cold, room temperature.
Ask the children to make observations of the nitinol memory wire and its qualities and make a sketch.
Distribute water and ice cubes and water that is close to boiling. Record the temperature of each cup.
Twist and bend the wire into a new shape.
Put on safety glasses.
Use tongs to carefully lower the nitinol wire into the room temperature water. Observe and record the results.

What questions can you answer with an experiment like this? Does the shape you bend in the metal make a difference? Can you think of how it could be useful to have a metal that can be easily returned to its original shape? What inventions already exist? What could you invent?

Supplies

Affiliate links: if you make a purchase using these links, I’ll receive a small compensation towards maintaining this blog, at no extra cost to you.

Safety glasses
3 cups or bowls
Nitinol wire 3 inch length or 12 inch length
very hot water
water with ice
room temperature water
tongs
thermometer or temperature sensor
paper towels,
paper or notebook for recording results, pen

Tips for teachers: 1) I did not have hot tap water or a microwave available in my classroom. I tried to use the old immersion heating coil that is relatively inexpensive. I found it dangerously hot to use around children and it shorts out easily. My favorite was a plug in teakettle. It costs a bit more, but is safer, long lasting, and portable. 2) Children really do need to use caution with this experiment because the wire can fly into the air. With younger children, we used a large clear plastic box to help with shielding.

What is the science?

Content: thermal energy, elasticity, crystal structure

Nitinol is a silvery metal alloy made with nickel and titanium. It has shape memory from the combination of the crystal structures of the two metals. Its elasticity is 10 or more times that of other metals. Elasticity is the ability of a metal to return to its original size and shape after a distorting force is removed. There are a number of medical applications of nitinol, along with military, and industrial.