Today we did two pretty fun science experiments. Generally, the word “fun” isn’t associated with the words “science experiments” but this time it’s an exception. I mean, I only thought that science experiments would be fun with Ms. Frizzle and the Magic School Bus. It was a childhood dream to ride on that thing.
Anyhow, we got to play with Ferrofluids and do Lithography. I really enjoyed these experiments, despite a small accident with the magnets. Unfortunately, I misjudged the strength of the magnets and some of the Ferrofluid jumped out of the weigh basket. Ooops. I thought that it was pretty awesome to be able to create a precipitate that we could manipulate with a magnet out of some solutions containing iron ions and water. And then, we saw some pictures of art made from manipulating the ferrofluids with a magnet during the morning presentation. The opposite directions that the “spkes” go in really give the artwork an interesting edge. Sadly, our ferrofluid was a little too viscous, so we had to double the magnet strength. And then the magnets were too attracted to each other, thus the magnet accident.
the magnets
The other experiment that we did today was lithography. We used a Sharpie to write a symbol on a transparent slide then, we left the slides alone. Afterwards, we soaked the slides into two different solutions and rinsed them with water, leaving us with the print on the tile. I did “Oi” or the Chinese character for love. While that was stretching the limits of my Chinese language knowledge, I still have always admired Chinese calligraphy because it is a such a beautiful form of art.
And what better way to visualize the art than through the means of science?
http://www.unm.edu/~TAMARIND/process.html
http://www.scholastic.com/magicschoolbus/
http://mrsec.wisc.edu/Edetc/background/ferrofluid/index.html
http://www.cracked.com/article_17476_7-man-made-substances-that-laugh-in-face-physics.html