Meeting’in’a’Box:-Candy-Chemistry-(and-Other-Sciences)- Ca… · ·...

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Meeting-‐in-‐a-‐Box: Candy Chemistry (and Other Sciences)

This meeting is aimed at any branch and covers portions of the Exploring and Experimenting keeper, the key to STEM, the Chemistry, Physics,

Science and Everything comes from STEM badges as well as other parts of the program. It can also be used to complete parts of QC Tech & Nature. There are enough elements for about 2.5 hours’ worth of activities, but you can pick and choose or

run more than one meeting with this theme.

Table of Contents

Supplies ................................................................................................................................................... 2

Activity 1: Intro .................................................................................................................................... 2 Activity 2: Dissolving Peeps ............................................................................................................. 2

Activity 3: Dancing Gummy Worms ............................................................................................... 3 Activity 4: Starburst Geology ............................................................................................................ 3

Activity 5: Sparks in Your Mouth ................................................................................................... 4

Activity 6: How Many Licks? ............................................................................................................. 4 Activity 7: Candy Chromatography ................................................................................................ 5

Activity 8: Gobstopper Colours ........................................................................................................ 6 Activity 9: Floating M’s ....................................................................................................................... 7

Activity 10: Sink or Float? .................................................................................................................. 8

Program work completed ................................................................................................................. 8

Art Discussion Skills Science

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Supplies

o Peeps (any shape) o Milk o Oil o Water o Carbonated beverage o Vinegar o Clear plastic or glass cups o Kettle o Gummy worms o Baking soda o Starbursts o Tinfoil o Toaster oven o Wax paper o Oven mitts o Tea towel o Wintergreen Lifesavers

o Tootsie Roll lollipops o Various lollipops (optional) o Large container o Paper o Markers o M&Ms or Skittles o Coffee filters o Clothes pins, binder clips or tape o Salt o Scissors o Measuring cup o Measuring spoons o Bowl o Pipette or eye dropper (optional) o Gobstopper o White plastic or Styrofoam plate o Various chocolate bars

Activity 1: Intro (10 minutes) Start by asking questions:

• What’s your favourite candy? • What does doing an experiment involve? • Can you think of any way we could use candy to do science?

Activity 2: Dissolving Peeps (10+5 minutes) Scientists from peepresearch.com conducted extensive research to discover that nothing but the most destructive of chemicals can dissolve a peep. Don’t tell your girls this just yet! Introduce them to your peep test subjects and tell them that their goal is to dissolve them. Place 6-‐7 clear plastic cups on a table and fill each one part way with a liquid: cold water, hot water, milk, oil, vinegar and a carbonated beverage. For older girls, leave one cup empty and talk about the importance of control groups.

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Have the girls discuss and write down/draw what they think will happen to a peep in each of the liquids. Place one peep in each cup. Let the girls make initial observations and then move on to other activities, leaving the peeps in the cups. Flip them over once in a while to make sure that the liquid comes in contact with all parts of the peep. Come back at the end of your meeting and marvel at the lack of change! If you) have an appropriate storage area, consider leaving the peeps in the liquids until the following week and see whether they change (they won’t).

Activity 3: Dancing Gummy Worms (5+5 minutes) Pre cut gummy worms lengthwise into quarters. Fill a container with water (about a cup) and add about 3 Tbsp of baking soda. Place the worms in the solution and let them sit for 10-‐15 minutes. Come back and take the worms out. Fill a clear cup with vinegar and place the gummy worms inside it. Watch them dance! The science: While the gummy worms soaking in the baking soda solution, they absorbed some of the baking soda (a base). When they were placed in the vinegar (an acid), the vinegar and baking soda reacted to create a gas (carbon dioxide). The bubbles caused the worms to move and dance.

Activity 4: Starburst Geology (20 minutes) Have teams of girls prepare 3 packages of “rocks.” For each package, they will need to unwrap 3 Starbursts, pile them one on top of the other, wrap the pile tightly in wax paper and then tightly again in tinfoil. It will help to use colours of starbursts that stand out against each other. Sedentary rocks are created by pressure over time. Have the girls choose one of the packages and press down (with their hands or feet) as hard as they can.

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Metamorphic rocks are created through pressure and heat. Choose another package and place it in the toaster oven for 2 minutes. When the time is up, take it out and wrap it in a tea towel. Have the girls press down on it as they did for the first package. Igneous rocks are created through extreme heat. Place the third package in the toaster oven for 5-‐10 minutes (until the candy is melted). Don’t let the girls touch this package, as it will be very hot. Once they are cool, open all the packages and have the girls make observations about what they see. How are the three types of rocks different? How do they think these types of rocks might be formed naturally?

Activity 5: Sparks in Your Mouth (10 minutes) For this activity, you will need a dark room. Give each girl a wintergreen Lifesaver and tell her to wait before she puts it in her mouth. Have your girls pair up. Tell them to chew their Lifesaver with their mouth open and have their partner watch what happens in their mouth. The Science: The sparks that the girls will observe are energy released as visible light. When you crush sugar crystals with your teeth, the pieces become charged, causing electricity to jump between them and excite nitrogen atoms in the air causing light. Normally when electricity is released from crushed sugar crystals, it is in the form of ultraviolet light, which is not visible to the naked eye. The wintergreen oil in the lifesavers converts it into blue light that you can see.

Activity 6: How Many Licks? (10 minutes) Have you ever wondered exactly how many licks it takes to get to the centre of a Tootsie Roll lollipop? Now’s the time to find out! Hand out a Tootsie Roll lollipop to each girl and have them guess how many times they will have to lick it to reach the centre. Take a note of the guesses.

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You can make this activity as scientific as you like. Consider: -‐ Having the girls define exactly what constitutes a lick (Is it defined in terms of

seconds? Is it just one lick if your tongue never leaves the lollipop? Can they keep licking on one side or do they have to go all around?)

-‐ Seeing whether or not the colour of the lollipop makes a difference -‐ Making a bar graph of the results -‐ Testing out different types of lollipops

Activity 7: Candy Chromatography (25 minutes) Open a bag of M&M’s or skittles and look at all the colours. Pull one of each colour out. Dark colours such as brown or purple will work best for this experiment. Pour a dot of water onto a clean plate for each of the candy colours. Place one candy on each dot and let it sit for about 3 minutes. Once the time is up, flip the candy over and let it sit for another 3 minutes. In a bowl, mix together approximately 1/8 tsp salt with 4 cups of water. Pour a little of the liquid into a clear cup so that the water is about an inch high.

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

0-‐24 25-‐49 50-‐74 75-‐99 100-‐124 125-‐150

Num

ber of Girls

Number of Licks

How Many Licks?

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Cut coffee filters into rectangular strips about 1 inch wide and about 4 inches long. You will need one strip per colour of candy you want to test. Using a pencil, make a note on each strip of its corresponding colour. Draw a line about 1 inch from the bottom of each strip. Take one of the strips and place it over the corresponding dot so that the colour is transferred to the strip at the line. If you have one, a pipette or eyedropper could help you with this step. Repeat for the other colours. Place the strips in the cup with salt water so that the strips are just touching the water (this should be right below the colour on the strip). Secure the strips by taping or pinning them draped over the side of the cup. You can use more than one cup if need be.

http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-‐fair-‐projects/project_ideas/FoodSci_p006.shtml

Watch as the water rises through the strip and carries the colour with it. You and the girls should notice that some of the colours will separate while others will not. In the cases where the colours separate, the coatings on the candies are coloured with more than one dye.

Activity 8: Gobstopper Colours (10-‐20 minutes) Part 1: With your girls, choose four or five different coloured Gobstoppers and place three of each equally spaced around the edges of a white plastic or Styrofoam plate. Pour some water in so that the bottom of the plate is covered but there is no water overflowing. Observe what happens as the Gobstoppers start to dissolve.

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http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/lab/experiments/gobstopper-‐science/

The science: The shiny coating on Gobstoppers is made up of carnauba wax. The thin layer of wax prevents the colours from mixing together when the Gobstoppers dissolve. Part 2 (optional for older girls): Have the girls ask some questions and design experiments to test out different variables. Some things to test could be gently shaking the plate as the Gobstoppers dissolve, placing the Gobstoppers at different distances from each other, using a differently shaped plate, using a different temperature of water (warm or hot). I’m sure your girls will come up with more. Pick a few experiments and perform them.

Activity 9: Floating M’s (5 minutes) For this super simple experiment, place a few M&Ms in a clear cup or bowl with the “m”s facing up and cover them with water. As the coating on them dissolves, watch the “m”s rise to the surface. The science: The “m”s are written in edible white ink that does not dissolve in the water. They are lighter than the M&Ms and the water so they rise to the surface once the sugar coating starts to dissolve and they are no longer attached to the chocolate.

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Activity 10: Sink or Float? (15 minutes) Pass around various chocolate bars and let girls observe them. Encourage them to think about their weight, how dense they might be, what they are made of, etc. Have a quick discussion about what a hypothesis is (an educated guess that you can test through experimentation). Have the girls hypothesis which chocolate bars will float and which will sink in water. Make a chart with the guesses. Fill a container with water and test each one. Were the girls right? If you haven’t already, break the chocolate bars open and see what’s inside. If you have extra time, consider testing candies leftover from other activities like starbursts, skittles and M&Ms.

Program work completed * Please note that the program doesn’t necessarily match up exactly with the numbers indicated, but that the activities accomplish similar goals Activity Sparks Brownies Guides Pathfinders Intro Dissolving Peeps Exploring and

Experimenting Key to STEM: Special Interest Badge

Beyond You: Try New Things #3,6 Chemistry #6,8 Engineering #4 Science #4

Dancing Gummy Worms

Exploring and Experimenting

CABOOSH! Beyond You: Try New Things #3,6 Chemistry #2,8 Engineering #4 Science #4

Starburst Geology


Key to STEM: Special Interest Badge

Beyond You: Try New Things #3,6 Beyond You: Learn about our Environment #6 Physics #8 Science #5

It’s About Time #4

Spark in Your Mouth



Beyond You: Try New Things #3,6 Physics #2, 8 Engineering #4

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Science #5 How Many Licks?


Number Magic Beyond You: Try New Things #3,6 Science #5

Everything Comes from STEM #3

Candy Chromatography


CABOOSH! Beyond You: Try New Things #3,6 Art Production #3 Chemistry #4,6,8 Engineering #4 Science #4

Gobstopper Colours



You and Others: Learn How to Plan #6 Beyond You: Try New Things #3,6 Physics #8 Science #5


Floating M’s Exploring and Experimenting


Beyond You: Try New Things #3,6 Physics #8 Science #5

Sink or Float? Exploring and Experimenting


Beyond You: Try New Things #3,6 Engineering #4 Physics #8 Science #5


All Branches: Québec Tech & Nature: One activity per experiment Meeting Submitted by Elizabeth Knowles in October 2015

Meeting’in’a’Box:-Candy-Chemistry-(and-Other-Sciences)- Ca… · ·...

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