Garage Science

Dan helps us out at our homeschool co-op once a month by teaching science lab. He really enjoys doing this and the kids love him. I love that I don't have to take a turn teaching science! This particular experiment came from the NASA website. It was making the nucleus of a comet with dry ice. Dan wasn't sure how this was going to work, so he did a trial run in the garage. Skyeler and Aly were eager to help him out. I hadn't planned on going out in the cold to participate, but pictures were needed (as always). I had never used or seen dry ice and was amazed at all the cool things that could be done with it. The kids at co-op loved it. Not only did they make the nucleus of a comet, they also did some other fun stuff with the dry ice, dish soap, and warm water. Dan also showed them, from a distance, an exploding water bottle. He borrowed a 10 gallon bucket from church, put the bucket over the water bottle, and ran. The bucket went about 10 feet in the air and had about a 9 inch crack in it afterwards, oops. The whole experiment was a huge hit.
Dan and Aly compressing the dry ice, dirt, water, and ammonia to form the nucleus of a comet.
The nucleus of a comet.
What it looks like when you pour warm water and dish soap in with the dry ice. It looks like something from a mad scientist's laboratory.
The bubble made with the dry ice, warm water, dish soap, and a paper towel. You had to be careful about pulling the paper towel slowly over the rim of the cup to get the bubble started. Then it just grew on its own. Below is what it looked like when it finally popped.