//NEW Science is Fun!: August 2012

Even a Dollar you Donate Will help the Authors

Grow or shrink an egg (Is it magic!?!)

MATERIALS : 2 ping pong eggs (See the writing Ping pong egg! ) 2 transparent glasses or containers where at least one egg will fit ...

Sunday 5 August 2012

Writing Secret Messages Without INK!

EQUIPMENTS:

1. A plain surface such as glass, mirror, plastic board etc.
2. Two paper pages (It would be better if the pages are white)
3. A ball point pen or a pencil (It's fine even if the pen has no ink!)
4. Clear water

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. First use a bit of water to make one of the pages wet.
2. Now place the wet paper on the plain surface.
3. Now place a dry page over the wet page.
4. Write something on the dry page by pushing the pen a bit harder than usual.
5. See the wet page and let the page dry.
6. Now see the dried page and make it wet again!
7. See if you have any secret message or not!!
Secret Message!

RESULT:

1. When you write on the dry page you will see that the shape of the writings has been imprinted on the wet page.
2. When the page dries you will see no imprinting on the paper.
3. When you make the page wet again you will see the imprinted writings which you can refer as the secret message!

EXPLANATION:

If we want to put it simply we can say that we can see the secret message after making the paper page wet again because the secret message was imprinted when the paper page was wet. So that means the secret message can be seen at the wet state of the paper page.
When you write on the dry page the wet page under beneath it squeezes and makes an imprinting of the writing. This happens because when the paper page is wet it becomes really soft and mushy. But when the paper dries it becomes as usual. When the paper page was wet it was stretched a bit but when it dried it becomes compressed again. The imprinting was made when the page was stretched. But when the page was compressed the imprinting became compressed as well. And for that it becomes hard to see the imprinting and makes it a secret message. But that’s not actually the main reason for not seeing the imprinting. The main reason is in a characteristic of light called reflection. When the paper page is dry light reflects from the imprinting in one way. But when the paper page dries light reflects from the imprinting in a different way. That’s why the imprinting disappears and we can easily make secret messages.

MORE EXPLANATION:

At first we’ll talk about light a little bit.
Well first of all without light you won’t be able to see this writing because it is light that enables us to see everything around us. Light is a form of energy. There are different theories supporting both particle and wave form of light. At present it is accepted to all the scientists that light can both be in particle and wave form. When light strikes a shiny object it bounces off the surface of that object. This process is called reflection. However, all the materials or objects in the world reflect light which enables us to see the object. Some objects reflect less light and some reflect more light. When light fall upon an object it reflects it and when the reflected ray of light come into our eyes then we can see. Now the fact that different materials reflect light differently is the secret behind the secret message technic. When the paper page is dry it absorbs and reflects light differently than it would when it was wet. That’s why our eyes couldn’t catch the secret message when the paper page is dry.

MORE EXPERIMENTS FOR YOU:

1. Use other kinds of liquids such as oil instead of water.
2. Use different kinds of papers as well as papers of different thickness.

Saturday 4 August 2012

Defying the power of gravity !!!

EQUIPMENTS:

1. A glass
2. A plain paper or plastic board (Must be wider than the glass)
3. Water (Must be enough to fill the glass completely)

INSTRUCTIONS:


1. At first fill the glass completely with water.
2. Now place the board on top of the water filled glass and press it on the glass top gently.
3. Now hold the glass in revrse so that the top of the glass faces the ground.

RESULT:


You will see that the paper and the water in the glass are not falling! They are defying the power of gravity!!

EXPLANATION:


You may say that the process is very easy but the real question is that, why this process is defying the power of gravity? When you fill the glass totally with water it covers the whole area in the glass. When you place the board and press it on the top of the glass then there is only water in the glass. No air is trapped inside it. And for that there is no air pressure in the glass but there is still air pressure outside the glass. So the air pressure outside pushes the board and make it stick on the glass top.  The board keeps the water from falling down. That’s how it defiance the power of gravity. It’s that simple!

MORE EXPLANATIONS:


Now let’s learn a bit about air pressure and the power of gravity.

At first we’ll talk about air pressure.
 

Air creates a force on every object because its moving molecules are constantly colliding with those objects. Air pressure is the measurement of this force. The pressure of the open air is normally called the atmospheric pressure. It is lower in high altitudes because in higher places the air is less dense. But the more lower we go the air pressure or the atmospheric pressure becomes more and more because the air is much more dense in lower places. It is also because all the heavy gases are found in the lower part due to the power of gravity. Power of gravity pulls all the gas molecules downwards. The heavier the gas molecule is the more it gets in lower places despite the fact that air molecules are always unstable.
 

Now it’s time to explain the power of gravity.
 

The power of gravity is really an amazing power. Gravity is a force of attraction. The power of gravity acts between any two objects. The objects can be as large as galaxies or as small as subatomic particles! The power of the gravity between two objects depends on their mass and distance between them. Objects with large masses exert a strong power of gravity. Objects far apart attract each other with a weak power of gravity.
 

Now that we have learnt about the air pressure and the power of gravity I’ll explain about the project a bit more.
 

When we stick the paper or plastic board on top of the water filled glass, no air will be trapped inside. And for that if we reverse the position of the glass, gravity will pull the water and paper. But with no air pressure supporting the power of gravity it is actually not enough to fight against the air pressure which is working upwards and pressing the board against the glass top. So that's why the board and water is not falling down.

MORE EXPERIMENTS FORE YOU:


1. See if the air pressure and the power of gravity have any effect if you do this project much higher from ground or much closer to ground.
2. Use other kinds of liquids such as oils to see if it defiance the power of gravity as well.
3. Put some small objects inside the completely water filled glass (Careful not to spill any water) to see if the project still defiance the power of gravity.

Friday 3 August 2012

Needle floating on water!!! (Magic or Science?)

EQUIPMENTS:


  1. A needle
  2. A bowl or bucket
  3. Water
  4. A thin piece of paper (You can use tissue paper)

INSTRUCTIONS:
  1. At first, pour some water in the bowl or bucket. Pour enough water so that it fills at least half of the bowl.
  2. Now slowly place a small piece of paper on the water. Remember that the paper mast be wide enough to at least wrap the needle (Although we are not actually going to wrap the needle).
  3. Now carefully place the needle on the paper before it starts to sink in the water.
  4. Wait until the paper sinks into the water completely.
  5. See what happens after the piece of paper sunk into the water.
  6. Now pour a little bit soup into the water and see what happens.

RESULTS:
  1. When the paper sinks into the water you will surprisingly see that the needle is still floating on the water!
  2. When you pour the soap in the water the needle will sink.

EXPLANATION:
When the paper sinks, the needle still floats on the water. Why dose it happen? Is it magic or science?? Well, many people believe that making a needle float on the water can only be demonstrated by a man of magical powers. This idea most probably came from the medieval age. But the thing is anyone can do that if they follow the procedure given above. When we put the paper on the water, it easily floats because it's very light. When we put the needle on the paper it still floats because the weight of the needle is divided on the whole width of paper. In this way the water furface has to bear only a little portion of weight on every point. Because the needle is on top of the water, the gravity does not affect the needle very much. And because the needle is not falling with a velocity, it won’t make much disturbance in the water when the paper sinks. And that’s why the water will be stable enough to keep the needle upwards, thus the needle will float. The surface tension of the water plays a very important role in making the needle float. Because surface tension is the main reason for objects to float on the water in the first place. When we pour some soap into the water it reduces the surface tension. That’s why the needle sinks after pouring soap into the water.

MORE EXPLANATIONS:
When we take the needle over the bowl and let it fall then it goes straight under the water. It happens because the gravity pulls it down and with every passing moment the needle gains more and more speed. The fall of the needle makes a great disturbance in the water. So the molecules of the water become very unstable to hold the needle upwards or mskr it float. Also it's a fact that the more heavy the object is compared to its size, the more hard it is for the water make object float. The surface tension of the water won’t be able to keep a needle upwards due to those reasons described above.

Defination of Surface Tension: The attraction among  liquids particles produces a force or a tension across the liquids surface. This force is called the surface tension. 
This force allows a liquid to behave like a stretched skin. Surface tension pulls drops and bubbles into spheres. 

OTHER EXPERIMENTS FOR YOU: 
  1. Try to float the needle on other liquids such as oil.
  2. Try to float the needle without any paper only by using your hand.
  3. Try to float other heavy objects on the water.

A demonstration of air pressure

EQUIPMENTS:

1. Two water glasses of same size
2. A candle
3. A piece of paper wider than the glasses
4. Something to light up the candle

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. At first make a hole in the middle of the piece of paper and make it wet by using water.
2. Put one of the glasses upwards on the table and put the candle inside the glass.
3. Now cover the top of the glasses using the piece of paper so that the hole of the paper and the burning are in parallel.
4. Put the second glass downwards on top of the first glass.
5. Wait until the candle burns out.
6. After the candle burns out, try to separate the two glasses from each other.

RESULT:

When you try to separate the two glasses from each other you will surprisingly see that those glasses are a bit tightly stuck together and you can’t separate them very easily.

EXPLANATION:

When the candle burns the oxygen trapped inside the glasses is reduced. It keeps reducing until the candle burns out. The oxygen level becomes zero when the candle burns out. So now there is less air or gas in the glasses and for that a vacuum is created. That’s why the gas or air pressure inside the glasses is reduced but the gas pressure outside remains the same. Due to the air pressure outside the glasses becomes stuck!



MORE EXPLANATIONS:

Air creates a force on every object because its moving molecules are constantly colliding with those objects. Air pressure is the measurement of this force. The pressure of the open air is normally called the atmospheric pressure. It is lower in high altitudes because in higher places the air is less dense. But the more lower we go the air pressure or the atmospheric pressure becomes more and more because the air is much more dense. It is also because all the heavy gases are found in the lower part. Now that you know about the air pressure I will explain about our project a little bit more. The air inside the glasses will always try to get outside and the air outside will try to get in. But the wet piece of paper will prevent this from happening. When we put the glasses together to form a magdibard glass some air gets trapped inside and forms an internal air pressure of its own. The air pressure of the inside and outside is the same then. But when some of the oxygen is reduced due to the burning of the candle the air pressure outside becomes grater. So the air pressure outside dominates the internal air pressure and press the two glasses. That’s why it is so hard to separate a magdibard glass.

OTHER EXPERIMENTS FOR YOU:

1. Try forming the magdibard glass by using a dry piece of paper.
2. Try forming the magdibard glass without using any kind of paper.
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