Science experiments for kids – The magic flower. This simple experiment, which can also be used to promote reading in young children and to play at parties, shows the effect of capillary action: the paper absorbs water and swells gradually.
Science experiments for kids – The magic flower
What do you need?
paper,
Color (wax pastels)
scissors,
a small bowl,
a tablespoon of water.
Science experiments for kids – The magic flower
What to do?
Draw your flower (something that looks like a daisy or a sunflower works very well), color it and cut it out carefully. Especially if you use wax pastels, color flower only on one side to avoid waterproof paper. In the center you can write a “secret message”.
Fold the petals one by one toward the center, as shown in pictures or video, then lay him on the bottom of a bowl, after pouring a tablespoon of water, so that your flower closed floats in the bowl with the petals facing upwards.
Wait.
Science experiments for kids – The magic flower
What happens?
The flower opens showing the secret message.
Science experiments for kids – The magic flower
Why?
This simple experiment, which can also be used to promote reading in young children and to play at parties, shows the effect of capillary action: the paper absorbs water and swells gradually.
Paper it is made of cellulose fibers.
When the paper is folded, its fibers are compacted within the fold. When water penetrates the paper, the fibers expand and fold relaxes.
http://www.abc.net.au/science/
The capillaries are very thin tubes.
You may have noticed that the water level inside of a straw is slightly higher than the water level outside: this is because the water is more attracted to the walls of straw that those from the larger container that contains it, for example the glass.
If they dive into water straws of different diameter, you will find that more straw is narrow more the level of water in the interior will be high: it is the capillarity …
What has this to do with our magic flower?
Under the microscope, the card is presented as a set of very small wood fibers intertwined, and among these fibers, there are empty spaces.
When the paper comes into contact with water, the capillarity attracts water quickly in all these tiny spaces, because the water is attracted by the thin wood fibers, as we have seen happen with drinking straws.
What happens when you use different types of paper? What happens when you change the shape of the flower?
Science experiments for kids – The magic flower
Links
http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/
http://lesson-plans.theteacherscorner.net/
http://gomestic.com/gardening/
