Lava Lamps in Room 15

This week we decided to try to make a lava lamp! Our school takes part in the Discover Primary Science programme so we are using this experiment for science and maths.
We had great fun doing this on Friday.( Zara)

First we had to gather all the equipment. We needed 1L clear plastic bottles, vegetable oil, water, food colouring, effervescent tablets (Alka Seltzer), non effervescent tablets (Vit C) and measuring jugs.(Precious)

Next we had to calculate how much of each we needed. We are all so good at fractions this was very easy for us to do! Then we used the measuring jugs to make sure we had the correct amount of water and oil.( A. 3rd Class)

Next we added food colouring. This does not mix with the oil but it does mix with the water. We used red and green food colouring. Finally we added the Alka Seltzer tablet and watched our lava lamps work! ( E. 3rd Class)

The chemical energy from the Alka Seltzer reacts with the water produces a gas called carbon dioxide. This gas travels through the oil and tries to escape from the top. This is why the bubbles travel through the oil to top of the bottle. We can see this happening because we dyed the water using food colouring. ( 3rd Class)

To reuse this lava lamp at any time just add another piece of Alka Seltzer

Science Week Room 3!!

Science Week Room 3!!

Science week was really fun!! We got to explore lots of different experiments. We loved our dancing raisins experiment! Ms. Kelly and Ms. Fox came into our class to do experiments with us too. We had great fun!!

We explored floating and sinking. We predicted whether the items would float or sink and had great fun discovering the results! We learned that some things  floated because they are lighter while others sank right to the bottom because they were heavier!!

We investigated what would happen raisins when they are put in water and what would happen when they are put in 7 up. We discovered that the raisins sink in water and they dance in 7 up!! The bubbles ''stick'' to the raisins which makes them lighter..... this makes them dance!! 

Ms. Kelly came into our class to do a bouncing balls experiment with us. We thought this was really fun. This is the chart of our results!! We loved dropping each ball and counting how many times they bounced. 

Ms. Fox came into our class another day to play a game of pass the parcel! This was a special game of pass the parcel, each time the music stopped we had to take off one layer and decide whether it was paper, plastic or cloth. Our prize at the end was some delicious jellies! 

 

Science Week in Super Senior Infants Room 5

Science Week

 Super Senior Infants - Room 5

It is Science Week this week in Scoil Mhuire. We started off the week at the Science Fair in the hall.

Super Senior Infants had a stall showing the rest of the school how to use a String Telephone.

‘How to make your String Telephone’

We used plastic cups and string. We put a hole in the bottom of the cups. We put the string into the bottom of two cups and tied a knot on the inside.

The ‘String Telephone’ was then ready to use.

We also joined up two sets of cups and had a chat between four people.

The String must be tight or the telephones will not work.

Take a look at some of the pictures of our visit to the Science Fair 

Lava Lamps

Lighting up the Light House

Static Electricity

Building Structures

Parachute

Investigating Slopes

String Telephone

We are also doing lots of experiments this week. We were learning all about sound.

Seeing Sound – We used a tub covered in cling film and an elastic band to hold it on tight. We then put some rice on top. We used biscuit tins to make sound and without touching them the rice jumped on the cling film.

Feeling sound – We held our fingers to our necks and said a rhyme. We could feel the vibrations when our voices made the sounds. Then we worked in pairs using a balloon we talked to each other through the balloons, holding the balloons to our ears. We could feel the vibrations when the other person was speaking.

We took a quiz at the end of the day and got all of the questions correct. Try it yourself and see how you get on. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/5_6/sound_hearing.shtml