This year the school undertook a Discover Science project under the guidance of Ms. Mairead Staunton. On this page you will read about and see pictures of some of the experiments we carried out. We are now the proud recipients of a Discover Science Award!
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Bouncy Custard Balls
(This experiment was good fun but very messy for a while as you can see from the pictures. There was a lovely vanilla smell too! Some people asked if they could taste it-they were advised against it) The magic ingredient is borax which causes the molecules of custard and PVA to stick together tightly. The ball did bounce but not very high. It needed a very strong throw to make it rise to about knee height. |
Coca Cola and Mentos
(This is an experiment which often appears on children’s science programmes and newspaper articles. We had to try it for ourselves.) When we dropped the Mentos sweet into the bottle of Coke, it caused a chemical reaction. A lot of gas was released causing bubbles to shoot out of the top of the bottle -it wasn’t as dramatic as we had been led to believe in that it didn’t shoot up into the sky but it continued to fizz out of the bottle until the bottle was almost empty. We did this experiment outside so that we wouldn’t make a sticky mess indoors in the school. Dancing Raisins!
As part of our project looking at solids, liquids and gasses, we did an experiment to see if raisins would sink or float. Miss Staunton and Mr. Taylor asked us if we thought raisins would sink or float when we placed them into a glass of water. Different people had different ideas. Some of us thought they would sink, others thought they would float and some of us didn’t know at all! Before we put the raisins into the water, we all got to look closely at the raisin and describe it, to see if we thought it would make any difference to our predictions. When we put the raisins in the water, all but one sank to the bottom. After much discussion, we decided that this was because they had no air inside them, as they were all shrivelled up. Then the teachers asked us if it would make any difference if we put the raisins in fizzy water. Again we all gave different predictions. When the raisins were dropped in to tonic water, they sank at first and then floated to the surface and sank again. As we watched, the raisins kept rising and then falling. After further discussion we decided that the gas bubbles were sticking to the wrinkly skin of the raisins, this lifted them to the surface. When the raisins hit the surface, the bubbles burst and the raisins sank again. Cora Staunton 3rd class. |
These are some of the comments from the pupils after the Science Ireland Show with Declan Holmes
My favourite thing about the science show was that we got to learn about rockets and that a Chinese man tried to fly a plane on rockets but it didn’t work. We got to make our own rocket out of plastic bottles, tape, water and lots more. Virgin Galactic is trying to build a space shuttle and is letting any ordinary person go up to space for $200,000
By Esther Gavin
My favourite part was when he used the hairdryer to make the ping pong ball float.
By Anthony Gibbons
My favourite part of the show was when we got to do tricks caused by gravity. It was good fun and a good day.
By Megan O Malley
He had a big ball that had a special gas inside. The gas made a few electric sparks inside the big glass ball. He showed us about rainbows but the thing I liked best was the rockets.
By Celine Collins
My favourite thing about the science show was that we got to learn about rockets and that a Chinese man tried to fly a plane on rockets but it didn’t work. We got to make our own rocket out of plastic bottles, tape, water and lots more. Virgin Galactic is trying to build a space shuttle and is letting any ordinary person go up to space for $200,000
By Esther Gavin
My favourite part was when he used the hairdryer to make the ping pong ball float.
By Anthony Gibbons
My favourite part of the show was when we got to do tricks caused by gravity. It was good fun and a good day.
By Megan O Malley
He had a big ball that had a special gas inside. The gas made a few electric sparks inside the big glass ball. He showed us about rainbows but the thing I liked best was the rockets.
By Celine Collins