Leaf Disk Lab

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Better late than never, I guess. Followers of Catholic Christian Homeschooling Facebook Page saw a preview of this post with the statement: I would update the blog later today or tomorrow. Well, today and tomorrow came and went -- they are long gone, the post wasn't done within the promised time frame, but it's here now.

This year our science focus has been biology. The topic this past week was photosynthesis. I try to have her do hands on labs as much as possible to go with the course work -- I still need to get a decent microscope, but we have found other labs to do that don't require a microscope. One of them has been the leaf disk lab. When you google search and look on youtube there are several tutorials on this lab.  The two videos we based our lab on was the following videos:













The second video talks about adding detergent to the mixture. We did not do this! We did use spinach leafs and soaked them overnight like the first video suggested. We pulled the oxygen out of spinach leafs according to the second video (it looked easier to do) and dumped them into a contain of more solution -- we also felt this was easier to do -- seeing we didn't have a real good way to keep the syringe in an upright position.

If we were to do the lab all over again we would have done a second patch of leafs without the light. So time could be compared between having the light and NOT having the light.

Our Lab:

• 2 Measuring Cups (2 cups and 1 cup)
• Baking Soda
• Water
• Spinach Leafs (left to soak overnight)
• Container To Soak Leafs In
• Oral Dosing Syringe
• Hole Puncher 
• Light
• A Means To Keep Time (we just used the timer on my daughters iPod touch -- but any device that has a time would work)

I went to the store and bought a package of spinach leafs. I soaked a handful of them overnight in some cold water. -- we used the rest of them for a dinner. :D

After the leafs soaked overnight we used a hole punch to punch out leaf disks. We punched out about 20 of them. We then put them in an oral dosing syringe with the solution of baking soda and water.

For the solution, we mixed 2 cups of water with a dash of baking soda. I actually own measuring spoons that say drop, dash, pinch, etc.

After the leafs and solution were mixed we followed the instructions on the second video and started to extract the air, oxygen, from the leafs; as we did this we could see them fall to the bottom of the syringe.

We then dumped them into a 1 cup measuring cup that had more of the baking soda and water solution and turned on the light! We actually did the whole process several times and after about 5-10 minutes we had at least 5 disks floating on top of the solution.  -- like I said if I could have done it again I would have done it without the light too so we could compare time with the light and without the light.

This is a pretty straightforward lab and I believe it to be good hands on experiment on how photosynthesis works. Of course, it requires talking about photosynthesis and what is going on with the leafs and why the change from floating and not floating. :D

This also lead to the discussion on how different labs are set up to test or show different things. Doing all of this reminded her how long ago when she was younger we did labs that showed mass by floating and sinking -- What a fun discussion that was too!

Oh, and the very first picture was just Web-Princess being silly and goofy. She was hamming it up some for the camera -- especially seeing she knew it was going to be posted here.  She may still ham it up for the camera, but her being a teen matters -- she changed clothes before I was allowed to even snap pictures. She didn't want her in her other clothing, her lounge at home clothing,  mind you just a tshirt, to be on the blog.  She didn't want to people to see her in this tshirt. It's just a tshirt. :D

Hot Ice

Yesterday, if you like our Facebook page you would have seen a few status updates about our attempts to make "Hot Ice".

We were following this video from YouTube:



We didn't realize the boiling down would take forever -- it took nearly 2 hours.  So WP wasn't to thrilled. It made her school day much longer because I refused to let her do anything else while it boiled down.

We boiled it down, placed it in the refrigerator, and after 2 hours still no crystals. We assumed we did it wrong; so while she did her school work I did up another batch. I mixed it, boil it down -- let even more crystal form then the first time -- thinking that was our mistake.

Let it sit in the refrigerator for several hours -- nothing -- no crystals.  So we left it overnight and the majority of today. I was cooking steaks on the grill and WP came out asking if she should just dumb it seeing it was just a liquid with no crystals. I told her yes. She asked where, because Daddy was washing dishes at the kitchen sink. I told her just take it out front and just dump it. It's just vinegar and baking soda and wouldn't hurt anything just dumping it out front. (Even though it was just vinegar and baking soda I didn't want her dumping it in the back yard because of Puggy the Puggle).

A few minutes later -- WP came running out the back door towards me -- Mom, mom, look what happen?  What happen you wonder -- well the liquid mixture turned to a solid on her as she was going to dump it. She asked if this was the "hot ice"? I told her yes it was -- but didn't understand why it didn't work like the video, or why it turned to a solid on her when she went to dump it.  -- Other then it must have had some crystal or dry residue on the side of the plastic container and when the liquid touched that it made the rest of it turn into a solid.

I wish I would have thought to snap some pictures of our failed experiment.  Failed because it didn't go exactly like we thought it would.  However, it was still cool we got the hot ice to form -- even if it was accidental. One interesting thing about the "ice" was that it actually was hot, warm, to the touch. Much, much warmer then you would expect seeing it was just in the refrigerator.

Have you tried to make hot ice before? How did it go? Did it work like this video? Or did you do something else? Have you had experiments that have failed or didn't go as plan? Tell us more? Leave a comment.

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission if you click on a link and purchase something. See our full disclosure policy for more details.

Kitchen Table Is the Science Lab Table

Oh, that kitchen table and all its wonderful uses

Just like most homeschoolers time to time we do some science labs or experiments,

Sometimes they go really well and we have a great time doing them.

Some of our PASS science activities have been.

1. Planting Socks
2. Mealworms
3. Learning parts of a flower.
4. Trying different types of milk
5. Making bio-plastic at home
6. Extracting DNA from our cheeks

and more recently making Oobleck.

However NOT all science activities go well and the one this week just proves that point.

The activity is suppose to be making rust on the piece of steel wool. We set it up according the the directions in our science book, Science 7 for Young Catholics.  It's just not working. The instruction state to take some steel wool and make it stick to bottom of the jar with some clay or playdough, turn the jar upside down and place in a pan with some water. After a few days the water level in the jar should go up and the steel wool should have some rust on it. After nearly a week there has been no change.

I'm not sure what I did wrong. Maybe I don't have the right type of steel wool? Maybe I'm not giving it enough time -- but after a week I would like my kitchen table back. It's no fun eating dinner with the science project in the middle of the table.  At least this one isn't as messy or gross as some science projects can get.  Any insight on why it's not working? Are you doing any science experiments? If not actively doing one what was one of your favorite ones in the pass?  I did a quick periscope on how our current science experiment is failing. You can "katch" it here on my katch me page.

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something.

Want to link it up?  Share your science experiments here:

The amazing transformation from liquid to solid

Amazing transformation from liquid to solid

Today in science we discussed the difference between: solid, liquid, gas, and plasma.  We also learned about amorphous.  Amorphous is the state where an object is not really a liquid or solid. It's in between.  An example of this is glass and while we don't think of glass as being amorphous it really is and that's why windows that are REALLY, really old are thinner at the top and thicker at the bottom. The glass after several years (hundreds) will slowly shift to the bottom. The glass in your windows at home are doing this now, but -- you really can't see it.

One thing you can do, at home, to help illustrate this point even though it's NOT a true amorphous solid (it's a non-newtonian fluid) is to make oobleck.  Oobleck is made with two common household ingredients: water and corn starch and get its name form the Dr Suess' book Bartholomew and the Oobleck.


Oobleck is about 1 part corn starch to about 1.5/2 parts water, meaning if you use 1 cup corn starch you will want use about 1.5 to 2 cups water. If you use 3 cups corn starch you will want to use 4.5 to 6 cups water. This is a fun thing for even your teens to play with!!!

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something.

Mealworms!

So we've completed chapter 3 of our science book "Behold and See 5".  The lab works at the end of this chapter suggested we catch some animals, feed them, and observe their behavior for a period of time.  Seeing its the dead of winter catching animals isn't the best option right now. The book did suggest if we can't catch any to buy some mealworms or crickets to watch, feed, and observe.

I chose mealworms over the crickets because with the mealworms we can watch metamorphosis take place. The beginning of the chapter dealt with metamorphosis so it seemed to be more fitting. Plus from reading the book taking care of the mealworms seemed like an easier task. Keep them in a jar with some dry oatmeal and with some fruits or vegetables. 

I bought the mealworms at a local pet store just over a week ago. I bought 50 of them for just over $3. Several of them didn't "wake-up" after warming up. The pet store keeps them in the refrigerator and I was told to put them back in the refrigerator so they don't move around. Of course moving around is what I wanted so I didn't follow that advice.

We measure several of them last week when we bought them and the average length was about 1 cm. Now the average length is about 2 cm. We think we have lost about 20 of the 50 we started with, but are hopeful that several will make it adulthood.  I'll have pictures to share in a future post about our mealworms.

Extracting DNA from our cheeks

We learned how to extracted DNA from our cheeks while at the Museum of Science and Industry last week. This was fun to watch so we've decided to try this at home.

You'll need:

1. Dawn Dish Soap (I'm sure that any dish soap will work, but Dawn [original] was highly recommend.)
2. Salt
3. Rubbing Alcohol (70%)
4. cups (one for each child)
5. water
6. test tubes (one for each child)

Prep Work:
REFRIGERATE the (Dawn) Dish Soup and FREEZE the Rubbing Alcohol. The rubbing alcohol doesn't actually freeze, it will still be a liquid after being in the freezer. The dish soap will also be still be pour able after being in the refrigerator. We were told that we would receive better results when the dish soup as been REFRIGERATED and the Rubbing Alcohol as been "FROZEN".

The other thing that is important to know in prepping for this experiment is that you can NOT eat or drink for 2 hours prior to extracting the DNA. Not eating or drinking for at least 2 hours also helps produce better results.

FYI: The test tubes we are using came out of our microscope kit. When we were done we did look at the DNA under the microscope. It did give us a close up view of DNA, but did NOT allow us to actually see the DNA helix. The DNA helix can only be observed by a photograph taken through x-ray crystallography. That is beyond what our little home Kitchen-Science Lab can do!

Doing the Experiment:

• pour about 4 heaping spoon full of salt with about 1 cup of water and mix.
  

• pour small amount of this salt water solution into a cup (about 1-2 ml)

• Now swish this salt solution in your mouth for about 1 minute. When you are done spit it back into the cup.

• Transfer some of the spit from the cup into the test tube. (We are using 10 ml test tubes so we put about 2-3 ml of spit into the test tube. So in other words about 1/4-1/2 full of spit)
• Add about 4-5 drops of dawn dish soap into the test tube with the spit.

• Now for about 2 minutes mix the dish soap and spit in a back and forth motion.

• Now fill the rest of the test tube with the rubbing Alcohol

• Now for about 2 minutes do the same back and forth motion as you did earlier.

• You should then start to see what looks like little strings of pasta in the test tube. This is your DNA.

It should clump together, but it also might be individual strains floating about. You may have to hold them near a light to see the stains, especially if they do not clump together. The pictures of the DNA in the tubes did not turn out the best.

Web-princess' DNA clumped together nicely, where Superstar's did not. DH observed that Web-princess test tube was a little bit more blue in color then Superstars so we think it's possible that Web-princess' had a bit more dish soap then Superstars.

Seeing it was hard to capture the DNA in stills I made a video. I hope you can see Web-princess' DNA floating around in the test tube in the video above. I tried to do a video of Superstar's DNA but because it did not clump together like Web-princess I couldn't get it in the video. When I move the test tube back and forth you can hopefully see this small whitish thing floating about. That is Web-princess' DNA.

Web-princess and Superstar had a blast doing this and now we hope that you will too! If you decided to do this experiment at home please share your results with us! We would like to see what you get!

Making And Capturing Carbon Dioxide

Recently in science we have been discussing gas, along with other things like solids and liquids. We have been discussing how gas has a volume; how it takes up space. One easy way of showing this to the kids is to make and capture carbon dioxide.

To make and capture carbon dioxide you will need:

• some narrow neck bottles (we used some beer bottles, but any narrow neck bottle will work)
• Vinegar
• Baking Soda
• Balloons

I'm sure most of my dear readers are aware of the bubbling, explosive reaction that baking soda and vinegar have together. That same bubbling, explosive reaction makes a carbon dioxide and you can capture that gas by placing a balloon over the bottle as soon as you mix the vinegar and baking soda.

Web-Princess after doing the vinegar and baking soda several times wanted to see what happened if we mixed the baking soda with other liquids: Water, Milk, and Apple Juice. She chose these other liquids because it was what we had here at the house.

To our surprise we had a reaction, a gas produced, when we mixed the apple juice and baking soda. The picture ABOVE shows that. The bottle in the middle is milk and baking soda, the bottle at the end (left side) is the water and baking soda. The bottle at the other end, with the green balloon, is 100% apple juice and baking soda. So when you mix baking soda and apple juice you get a gas too.

However baking soda and vinegar produces more gas as seen in this picture BELOW:

The bottle with the  blown-up yellow balloon is vinegar and baking soda. The bottle with the green balloon is vinegar and apple juice.

Of course we wonder now if would get a gas with baking soda and other juices like grape, cranberry, orange. However we don't have any more juices in the house. So we would have to wait until we get one of those juices at our next shopping trip. OR you could try this at your house and let us know the results!!!

FYI: We had to shake the juice and baking soda really well after we put the balloon on to get the result we got. If you decided to do this please blog about it and share your results with us! It will be fun to see what others did or what they observed!

Another Side Note: It was great that we decided to do this today when Daddy was home. It was great because often Daddy doesn't see how they react to the hands on activities such as this. It was also great because Daddy got to see our daughter get excited about the reaction of apple juice and baking soda. She went on and on how she discovered it. (After all it was her idea to mix the two items.)

I'm sure they would have had the chance to mix baking soda and vinegar in brick and mortar school. However I don't think they would have had the chance to say okay now lets see what happens when we mix the baking soda with other liquids. Homeschooling allowed us to take this to the next step and start mixing the baking soda with other liquids to see what happens!

Of course you could just blow up a balloon the "normal" way to show how gas has volume, but frankly it's more fun to mix vinegar and baking soda and capture the carbon dioxide!

CSI: Workshop!

In my recent Thankful Blessing Post, I made mention that I might be taking my kids to a CSI: Workshop. Well just today I was given more info about the workshop.

According to the CSI CAMP website, we will be investigating finger prints, tire prints, blood presence testing, handwriting analysis, and there will be a mocked crime scene to investigate.

It is pricey $50 for the first child and $35 for any child after that. However the parents are encouraged to participate as well. The parents participation is FREE. So for $85 all 4 of us can participate. (originally I was told it was $50 for the first and $40 for the second: That's why I thought $90).

I'm sharing this here, also, because according to the CSI CAMP website they will be offer similar workshop classes in OMAHA, ROCKFORD, MINNEAPOLIS, ST. CLOUD, SIOUX FALLS, RAPID CITY, CHICAGO, ROCHESTER, AND MILWAUKEE.

They also state on their website that they are looking for new locations and that they offer their camps and other services THROUGH OUT the USA! If you are interested all you have to do is contact them. (contact info is provided on the site). They have a special tab just for homeschoolers and are willing to work with your homeschooling group/co-op to plan a time that would be beneficial for your group. I guess it helps that Thomas Jones the man behind CSI Crime Labs is a homeschooler too.

The date our that our homeschool group set up is the same day as the FREE museum admissions. I just have to figure out which one we want to do, if any! LOL

Dissection: frogs, cow eyes, squids, oh my!

Granted my kids are still a little young for those dissection labs, or are they?? Hmm, after becoming aware of this VIRTUAL dissection tool, I'm starting to wonder. I came across Froguts yesterday, during my internet surfing.

Froguts states that their home program ($30 per year) can be used as a stand alone instructional tool, it can be used as a cost effective alternative to dissection materials and specimens, and can be repeated as necessary. However, as a supplement to actual dissection, our service helps students make the most of their limited laboratory time and improves their level of comprehension.

I've done their demo. At first I was a little lost, but very soon I got it! Of course the demo was very limited and I wasn't able to get the whole perspective of what the product has to offer. However, based on what I was able to do with the demo I think it can be very helpful and a good tool for those homeschoolers that are need of labs! Or for those homeschoolers that are wanting to dissect things.

I don't think there is much difference between the home version or school version other then cost. Clearly a home subscriber isn't going to need the product loaded a bunch of computers. The fact that they give the home subscriber the ability to load the program on not 1 but 3 computers is a good deal for me. Not to mention that you can use the program for a whole year and do each dissection as often as you like during that year. So if you have multiple kids no big deal, they each can take the time to do their own dissection! That's a big benefit too!

The fact that you are allowed to do a dissection multiple times to me seems like a good deal. Each kid can do their own virtual dissection, or the child can do it over again and again and again. Some kids get more out of something if they can do it again and again and again.

The only downside I see is the fact it's virtual. Can't touch the item, no funny smells, no messy clean ups, not worrying about the 2 year old getting a hold of the specimen. Well, maybe they aren't downsides unless you really WANT those things! So check froguts out!