The magic is in your hands!

CAULDRONS AND WANDS

TEST TUBES, FLASKS, BEAKERS

SPELLS AND CHANTS

HYPOTHESES AND THEORIES

MAGIC

FACTS

THE WIZARD

THE SCIENTIST

/CURIOUS

INVESTIGATIVE

SKILLFUL

IMAGINATIVE

CREATIVE

ANALYTICAL

WATER

AIR FIRE

EARTH

Let’s bring the magic to the lab!

No, this trick won't work...How on earth are you ever going to explain in terms of chemistry and physics so important a biological phenomenon as first love?

How can you crush a soda can just by flipping it over water?

Pressure in, pressure out

Air is mighty, no doubt.

Materials :

•Empty soda can

•Hot plate or burner

•Container with water

•Tongs

How To Do It :1. Add water to the soda can so that

the bottom of the can is just covered.

2. Place the can on the hot plate and allow the water to boil.

3.When water vapor can be seen coming out of the can, use the tongs to pick it up.

4. Quickly turn the can upside down and dip it into a container of water so that most of the can remains above water but the opening on the can is completely submerged.

5. Observe what happens.

Heating the water causes it to boil and the resulting water vapor (steam) expands inside the can, pushing most of the remaining air out of the can. When the can is cooled in the room temperature water, the steam changes to liquid water, which takes up much less space than steam. This change takes place while the opening of the can is under water, so no air is able to rush into the can to take up the extra space. The pressure inside the can is therefore much less than the pressure on the outside of the can, and so the can collapses.

How do you pierce a balloon without making it burst?

Balloons keeping in sizeOh what a surprise!Their molecules so elasticMaking plastic fantastic.

Materials:

Balloons Metal skewer Oil

How To Do It:

1. Inflate balloon and tie-off (don’t fully inflate). 

2. Coat skewer with oil. 

3. Carefully insert skewer into the nipple end of the balloon and then pass through the tie end. 

4. Observe what happens.

Balloons are made out of thin sheets of rubber latex which in turn are made from many long intertwined strands of polymer molecules. The rubber is stretchy because of the elasticity of the polymer chains. When the balloon is blown up, the polymer strands are stretched. The middle area of the balloon stretches more than the tied end and the nipple end (opposite the tie). A sharp, lubricated point can be pushed through the strands at the tie and nipple ends because the polymer strands will stretch around it.

Can you bend water?

Water to the left,

Water to the right.

Electrons that fret

Amazing thy sight!

Materials:

•Nylon comb (or plastic rod or balloon)

•Wooly cloth

•Water faucet or any source of dripping water

How To Do It:1. Adjust the faucet to produce a small stream of water about 1.5 millimeters (1/16 inch) in diameter. 2. Rub a comb or a rod or a balloon against a wooly cloth. 3. Slowly bring the teeth of the comb (or rod or balloon) near the stream of water, about 8 to 10 centimeters (3 or 4 inches) below the faucet. 4. Observe what happens.

Some electrons were passed from the wooly cloth to the surface of the balloon (or teeth of the comb) making it negatively charged. This negative charge then attracted molecules within the tap water, bending the stream towards the balloon.

What happens when soap and dry ice are mixed in water?

Little spheres of delightTell me thy insight.Trapped gases to tinker,They go poppin’ so sooner.

Materials:

•3 tall glasses filled with water

•Liquid soap

•Food coloring

•Chunks of dry ice

How To Do It:

1. Fill 3 tall glasses with warm water.

2. Add a square of liquid dish soap in 2 of the glasses, and a few drops of food coloring in 1 of these 2 glasses.

3. Drop a chunk of dry ice in each glass.

4. Compare what happens to the 3 glasses after a few minutes.

The dry ice bubbles in the water to make a cloud. But soap in the water traps the carbon dioxide and water vapor in the form of a bubble. The bubbles climb out of the glass of warm, soapy water and explode with a burst of "smoke" as they crawl over the edge. Adding some food coloring to the water makes the demonstration more colorful.

How do you tell a raw from a hardboiled egg?

How can you make anegg float in water?

Without pushing, how can you make an egg fit into a narrow-necked bottle?

In dense liquid thy shall find

Eggs bobbing up to fool thy mind.

See how they drop, crack or spin

As weight and pressure make a scene.

Materials:

Raw and hardboiled eggs

2 tall glasses with water

A narrow necked-bottle or a flask

Pieces of paper

Matches

Salt

Raw Or Hardboiled:

•Spin two eggs (raw and hardboiled, undisclosed), and pay close attention to how well each spins.

Sink Or Float:

1. Fill 2 glasses with water.

2. Add 5 tbsp. of salt to one glass.

3. Drop an egg in each glass and see

if the egg sinks or floats.

Egg-In-A-Bottle

1. Peel the shell off the egg.

2. Light a piece of paper and immediately drop it inside the bottle.

3. Quickly place the egg onto the mouth of the bottle.

4. Observe what happens.

Egg-In-A-Bottle

The burning paper heated the air inside the bottle. This caused the air to expand. When the paper stopped burning, the air cooled and contracted. This created a vacuum that sucked the egg into the bottle.

Raw Or Hardboiled

If the egg spins well, it's hardboiled. However, if the egg wobbles and spins slowly, it's the raw one. A hardboiled egg is solid inside whereas a raw egg is fluid. When you spin the raw egg, its center of gravity changes as the fluid inside the egg moves around. This results in the wobbling motion you noticed in the raw egg.

Sink Or Float

A raw egg will float in very salty water but will sink in plain tap water. Salt water is more dense than regular water.

How can counting eggs make you read one’s mind?

This mystery number, can you guess?With eggs and math, start the quest.Be careful to count and don’t make messOr you ruin the pattern and all the rest.

1. The mathemagician will spread out 20 eggs on the table.

2. The mathemagician turns around and tells you to pick a number from one to ten. Don’t tell anyone what this number is.

3. Take that number of the eggs and put them in a red box. Be sure to cover the box.

4. Without the mathemagician looking, quietly count the eggs left on the table, but don’t tell the mathemagician how many there are.

5. Add the digits in that number. For example, if there are 15 eggs left, add 1+5 to get 6. Then remove that many eggs to hide with the others in the red box.

6. Now, take some of the eggs left on the table – as many or as few as you like – and hide them in the black box.

7. As the mathemagician turns around to face you, he should be able to tell you how many eggs you hid in the black box.

This “mindreading” trick is really a hidden math trick. We start with 20 eggs, and have someone take away 10 to 19 eggs on the table.

But the numbers from 10 to 19 all have a hidden pattern in common, having to do with the number 9. For each of those numbers, adding the digits together gives you the number you need to get it.

Using this trick of 9, the mathemagician is forcing someone to have 9 eggs left on the table before he asks him/her to hide some in the black box.

If upon facing the table, the mathemagician sees 6 eggs left, then there should be 3 eggs inside the black box (6+3=9).

Number of eggs you first took

Number of eggs left on

the table

Add the digits

Total number of eggs in the red box

Number of eggs left on the table

10 10 1+0=1 10+1=11 9

9 11 1+1=2 9+2=11 9

8 12 1+2=3 8+3=11 9

7 13 1+3=4 7+4=11 9

6 14 1+4=5 6+5=11 9

5 15 1+5=6 5+6=11 9

4 16 1+6=7 4+7=11 9

3 17 1+7=8 3+8=11 9

2 18 1+8=9 1+9=11 9

1 19 1+9=10 10+1=11 9

Can you balance 9 iron nails on top of 1 nail?

Balance and gravity – that’s the trickBlocks or nails, take your pick.

Materials:•a block of wood (4 inches

square and about 1/2 an

inch thick) •10 identical nails with heads. •a hammer

How To Do It:

1. Hammer one of the nails into the center of the block of wood.

2. Place the wood block flat on a desk or table.

3. Try to balance all of the nails on the standing nail in the wooden block. None of the 9 nails may touch the wood block, the desk or table, or anything else that might help hold them up. No additional equipment other than the wood block and the nails may be used.

1. Lay one of the nails on a steady surface. Then lay seven of the remaining nails across it

like this.

2. Lay the ninth nail on top like this.

3. Carefully hold the ends of the bottom nail (the first one you laid down) and lift slowly.

4. You can now easily balance all nine nails on top of the tenth.

As you lift, the seven nails you laid across the bottom one should slide closer together and their heads should lock against the top (ninth) nail.

The nine nails are not really balancing on the tenth – they’re actually hanging! It has all to do with the center of gravity of the nine nails. The center of gravity is a kind of ‘average’ position for all the weight of an object. The center of gravity depends on how the weight of an object is distributed. An object is balancing if its center of gravity is above its point, or points of support. When you stand, you’re balancing because your centre of gravity is above your feet. If an object’s center of gravity is below the point of support, it is hanging. The stability of the nails depends on their center of gravity being right at or directly below the point where they rest on the bottom nail. Add too many nails to the left or right and they become unstable and fall off.

How do you light a peso bill

and not burn it?

Can you hold balls of fire?

Set it ablaze, perhaps you can’t!

Check out the temp, and then go rant

About heat and pressure

In your mind to treasure.

The Non-burning Bill

Materials: Alcohol-water solution, salt, matches, bill,

tongs.

How To Do It:

1. Prepare a 50% alcohol-water mixture by placing 50 mL water and 50 mL ethanol in a beaker.

2. Take out a bill and soak it in the mixture.

3. Using tongs, take out the bill and let it drip off a bit.

4. Ignite the dollar bill with a match.

5. Observe what happens.

Cool Balls Of Fire

Materials:

Carbon tetrachloride

Carbon disulfide

Cotton balls, matches

How To Do It:

Do the following with a teacher’s supervision.

1. Combine 40 mL of carbon disulfide and carbon tetrachloride in a beaker.

2. Use tongs and soak a ball of cotton into the mixture. Let it drip off a bit.

3. Place the wet cotton ball on your palm.

4. Light the ball with a match.

5. Observe what happens.

CAUTION:

Wear goggles and face mask when doing this activity! Burning should not be prolonged for more than two minutes.

The demonstration shows how the temperature required to support combustion in different substances varies. The alcohol burns at a temperature below the ignition temperature of paper (approximately 230°C). In addition, the heating and vaporization of the water removes heat and prevents the paper from burning. The water in the alcohol–water mixture evaporates, which keeps the temperature below the ignition temperature of the paper.

As long as there is enough water present the material will not burn and the flame will continue as long as there is alcohol to burn. The paper will still be wet with water after the alcohol has burned away. The salt will give the alcohol flame a slight yellow color making it more visible.

The Non-Burning Bill

Carbon dioxide will not burn and is used to extinguish fire. Its elder brother, carbon disulfide, just burns, without generating much heats (low heat of combustion). Besides, carbon disulfide has a very high vapor pressure, and the vapor blankets the uncovered cotton-ball. On the other hand, carbon tetrachloride is heavy, has relatively low vapor pressure and is non combustible.Therefore it settles close to the palm and the core of the ball making contact not harmful.

Cold Balls Of Fire