Wednesday 16 May 2018

Fun Science Activities - Guest Post



We are glad to introduce our wonderful guest Shobana Marthi, a blogger on Fun Science Activity Club. Love being with curious kids, Shobana started up this blog filled with fun science activities for them.

Here, in this guest post she explains about making crystal snowflakes.




Crystal snowflake ornaments!




It was that time of the year; the joyful Christmas season. The kids wished to make some ornaments for their Christmas trees. To involve science in this activity [as usual 😉 ], I planned to show them ‘crystal snowflake ornaments’.


Materials needed 

1. Borax powder – 3 tbsp
2. Water – 1 cup
3. Pipe cleaners – 2 [colors of your choice]
4. Strings – 2
5. Pencils – 2.
6. Bottles – 2.
7. Food colors – 2 drops (optional)



Procedure

  1. Boil a cup of water and mix the borax powder in it to make a borax solution
  2. Add food color [optional].
  3. Take a pipe cleaner and twist it into a star shape to give it a snowflake figure.
  4. Pour the borax solution into a bottle or a glass.
  5. Hang the pipe cleaner inside the borax solution using a string and a pencil.
  6. Leave this setup undisturbed in a place for a day or two.
  7. Your beautiful crystal ornament is ready for hanging!



Cut 3 equal pieces of a pipe cleaner
Twist them together to make a star shape


Hang it inside the solution using a string and a pencil



Leave the setup undisturbed for a day or two





Beautiful snowflake crystals ready to be hanged!


How does it work?

When water boils, the water molecules move apart giving space for the borax molecules to dissolve in. So naturally, when they cool down, the molecules slow down and come together. The dissolved borax settles to form borax crystals on the pipe cleaner. Crystals come together in a specific, repeated patterns due to the shape of the molecules forming them. You will see these crystals on the bottom of the container and arms of the pipe cleaner.


Your Christmas ornaments are ready to be shown off!


(Image Courtesy – Author)

Author : Shobana ‘s website Fun Science Activity Club is a guide for moms to do simple experiments with kids to explain the science concepts that they learn at school. It uses basic scientific terms and background knowledge to help them understand when doing the experiments along with kids. Teachers can also use these experiments as a support for explaining concepts.

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