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Fruit-Power Battery | Experiments | Steve Spangler Science

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Once the Fruit-Power Battery is connected to the LED, you've completed a circuit. As the electrical current passes through the LED, it powers the LED and then passes back through all of the lemons before getting to the LED again. By the way, an LED is polar sensitive.

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Energy and Matter: StudyJams! Science | Scholastic.com

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Energy is the ability to cause change in matter. This StudyJams! will teach students about the ways in which matter and energy are related.

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Light: StudyJams! Science | Scholastic.com

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Light is all around us, and we can not live without it. This StudyJams! activity will teach students about how light waves work.

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Candy is always a fun way to learn STEM. This simple machines project presents a great way to talk about the transition between potential energy and kinetic energy as well as practice some engineering skills. Kids of all ages will love this mechanical energy activity!

One of my daughters has been begging to learn more science lately. She and all of siblings spent most of an hour watching M and M's go down the slide and turn the fly wheel. While they played we talked about the physics involved.

Mechanical Energy

Kinetic energy is the energy of motion. As the candy slides down the shoot, it gains more and more speed. The more speed it gains the more kinetic energy it has.

Where does the energy come from? I asked. My older child knew immediately that this gain in energy was due to gravity. Force fields have been a special interest lately, and gravity is a field force. Any time an object is pulled in by a field force it tends to gain kinetic energy. At the top of the slide the M and M has potential energy. As gravity pulls the candy down the inclined plane, the potential energy is mostly converted to kinetic energy. (A tiny bit of the mechanical energy will be converted to heat by friction.)

Where does the mechanical energy go? This was easy. At the bottom of the slide, or inclined plane the M and M transfer's it's mechanical energy to the flywheel, a type of lever. Both inclined plans and levers are a type of simple machine.

Simple machines are devices that change the direction or the magnitude (size) of a force. How did these machines change the force? The inclined planes changed the direction from straight toward the center of the earth to a path that was more parallel. The fly wheel lever actually changed the direction from straight down to a circle- angular motion!

Simple Machines Candy Machine

To make your candy machine you will need:

Mini M and M's (or other similarly sized candy)

Milk shake straws

Tooth pics

Tape

Scissors

Play dough to stabilize the bottom

Build your Flywheel

To build your fly wheel, cut two lengths of straw about 10 cm high. Notch the top ends, and secure the bottom ends in the play dough. Cut another piece about 5 cm long and cut out a piece on each end as shown. Then push a tooth pic through the center. Suspend this from the longer straws by the tooth pic.

Build your inclined plane

Create the slides for your candy by cutting the straws in half. Cut a straw just a little taller than your flywheel and notch the top to fit the half straw onto it. Experiment with making sure the candy will hit the flywheel as it comes off before taping it together. From there, you can make any combination of slides that interests you.

If your child enjoys these types of toys, you may want to check out Paul Hewitt's Conceptual Physics. It's meant to be used as a text book, but is written so well that we tend it to pick it up for pleasure reading. Hewitt uses humor and every day examples to make physics accessible to anyone.

Don't be fooled. Physics is not a difficult science because there is so much to learn. There is very little to know. The important thing is that your children learn the skills of applying a few simple concepts in a variety of situations. As they do, they'll begin to see the amazing complexity of the world all around them, just like my kids did with this candy machine.

Simple Machines for Kids

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Mechanical Energy - Candy and Simple Machine Science Project

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Mechanical Energy - Candy and Simple Machines Science Project! This is such a fun way for kids to use STEM to learn with a hands on science project using m&m candies and a straw simple machine for homeschool, kindergarten, first grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grade, 4th grade, 5th grade, 6th grade.

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Created using PowToon -- Free sign up at http://www.powtoon.com/ . Make your own animated videos and animated presentations for free. PowToon is a free tool that allows you to develop cool animated clips and animated presentations for your website, office meeting, sales pitch, nonprofit fundraiser, product launch, video resume, or anything else you could use an animated explainer video.

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Different Sources of Energy, Using Energy Responsibly, Educational Video for Kids

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You must ask permission from your parents and have parent supervision for this experiment.

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thermal powered flower flower experiment

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Don't miss on monthly deliveries to inspire kids ages 3 - 16+ to be artists, engineers and innovators!

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What is Sound? | Physics for Kids | SciShow Kids

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Here's another 5-item science experiment for you, using items that you likely already have in your kitchen.

As you can imagine, this experiment can be pretty exciting for young children because they get to bang on a pan like it's a drum. Which also means you'll get some major "fun parent" points.

Because realistically, how often do you encourage your kids to use items from the kitchen like a drum. If you're like me, this will be the very first time it has ever happened.

Have fun with this one!

How to See Sound Science Experiment Video

Supplies Needed

Large Bowl

Plastic Wrap

1 teaspoon Uncooked Rice

Metal Pan (Cookie Sheets or Pans are good options, but they must be metal)

Metal Spoon

Experiment Instructions

Step 1 - Tear off a piece of plastic wrap big enough to cover the top of the bowl.

Step 2 - Secure the plastic wrap over the bowl. Make sure that the plastic wrap is very tight.

Step 3 - Pour 1 teaspoon of uncooked rice on the top of the plastic wrap.

Step 4 - Hold the metal pan in the air and position it next to the bowl.

Step 5 - Take the metal spoon and bang on the metal pan like a drum and watch what happens to the rice.

How Does the Experiment Work?

Sound is a disturbance that travels through a medium as a wave. In this experiment, when you hit the metal pan with the spoon, you disturb the particles of the pan causing them to vibrate. The vibrations in the pan are transferred to the air surrounding the pan, creating a sound wave.

When these sound waves reach the plastic wrap it disturbs the particles of the plastic wrap causing them to vibrate. These vibrations in the plastic wrap cause the rice to move. Sound waves traveling through the air are also what allow us to hear the noise of the spoon hitting the pan.

Other Ideas to Try

Try this experiment again, but change the distance of the pan from the bowl. As you move the pan farther away from the bowl, do the sound waves have the same effect on the rice grains?

I hope you enjoyed the experiment. Here are some printable instructions:

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Here's another 5-item science experiment for you, using items that you likely already have in your kitchen. As you can imagine, this experiment can be pretty exciting for young children because they get to bang on a pan like it's a drum. Which also means you'll get some major "fun parent" points.

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I am just going to apologise now for this one; "I am very sorry if the noise of this drives you nuts (but it is totally worth it)". If there is one thing that all children love it is things that make noises, be it banging pots together or one of those V Tech toys that sings at you. Well this activity plays right into that love of making noise, saying that this is also makes a terrific experiment to demonstrate how sound works.

There are two different ways to make these harmonicas, both produce similar sounds, but one is slightly easier for smaller children. Just as a warning please be careful about splinters, this is not like a traditional harmonica were you can run your mouth along it. Also take care about using coloured craft sticks with smaller children, as the colour tends to run once they get wet, the best way to play them is by pulling your lips over your teeth and placing the harmonica on the skin just under your lips (which should be over your teeth if you pull your lips in).
You will need:

Craft sticks - we used both thick and thin craft sticks

Elastic bands - ideally the thicker the band the better.

Loom bands - hurray you can finally find a use for all those discarded bands that you have lying around.

Scissors

Paper

Toothpicks

Straws

Technique one - better suited to smaller children.

Take one of your craft sticks and put an elastic band around it (length ways)

Cut the straw into 2 pieces so that they are the width of the craft stick.

Put the straws under the elastic band, one at either end.

Put the other craft stick on top and use the loom bands to keep everything in place by wrapping them around each end.

Technique two

Cut out a piece of paper so that it is the same length and width as your craft stick.

Place the paper onto one of the craft sticks.

Place the other craft stick on top and wrap one loom band around an end.

Cut your toothpick to the width of the craft stick.

Put your cut toothpick between one of the craft sticks and the piece of paper, run it down until it is next to the loom band and then push it in so that none of it is sticking out.

Put the other toothpick in the same position at the other end and then finally wrap the final loom band around the other end.

The science behind it

When you blow into the harmonica you are causing the paper or elastic band to vibrate, these vibrations need a medium like air in order to travel and produce the sound that reaches are ears. The frequency of this vibration is called the Hertz - the quicker it vibrates, the higher the pitch with be. If you squeeze the two sides of the harmonica together it will change the pitch of the noise produce.

With older children you ask them to experiment with this by asking them what would happen it you changed the width of the paper or elastic band. Would it make a higher or lower pitched sound? As it happens we did this activity with my little ones' cousins, who are a few years older. They tried this and found that the thinner the paper, the higher the pitch was. They then took it further and made one with a piece of paper that went from being wide at one end to thinner, by doing this they actually managed to produce different pitches using the same harmonica. EC saw what his cousins were doing and had a go himself, he didn't manage to produce one that was as effective as his cousin's harmonica, but he was at least trying to experiment.

This activity may help development of:

Fine motor skills

Scientific enquiry

Understanding of how sound works

Arts and crafts Craft Stick Harmonica nanny anita

About The Author

Related Posts

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How to Make A Craft Stick Harmonica ||My Baba Parenting Blog

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I am just going to apologise now for this one; "I am very sorry if the noise of this drives you nuts (but it is totally worth it)". If there is one thing |Activities and Days Out, Arts & Crafts, Living

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While it may not appear to be so - Thanks to all the equipment and television screens, not to mention the bright lights, constant air-conditioning or heating, gyms are big energy users - A little ironic when you consider how much energy people expand whilst working out. Though there has been some sporadic attempts to harness the energy, nobody has taken it to the level of Portland-based Green Microgym.

The gym, whose mission is to help people not only look good, but also do good whilst exercising, is equipped with specially configured exercise bicycles that captures the energy created while pedaling and channels it to outlets which power other equpment in the gym.

The 3,000 sq.ft. facility does not give its 200 plus members any discounts for the energy they help generate, but they do give out bragging rights in the form of green cards, which, depending on the watts of energy generated, helps members earn gift cards from local merchants.

The gym estimates that an average workout generates about 37.5 watt hours just enough, to power a phone for a week. Despite all the energy generated by its members and additional green energy captured by the Solar Panels that line its roof, the gym is not completely carbon neutral, which means it still depends on conventional electricity. But, according to the owner, if all the equipment inside the gym is used at the same time, it can generate 10 times the energy needed to run the entire facility, at that given moment.

As Green Microgym gets ready to open its second location, many other gyms in America are following it's lead by installing machines that harness the human energy that gets generated vigorously inside their premises every day.

Sources: Treehugger.com, Inhabitat.com

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Portland's Green Gym Harnesses Human Energy

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While it may not appear to be so - Thanks to all the equipment and television screens, not to mention the bright lights, constant air-conditioning or heating, gyms are big energy users - kind of ironic when you consider how much energy people expand whilst working out.

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Forms of Energy - PowerKnowledge Physical Science

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"Forms of Energy." PowerKnowledge Physical Science, The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. Accessed November 13, 2017. http://www.pkphysicalscience.com/article/471/forms-of-energy.

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If you are a PowerKnowledge Physical Science subscriber and are unable to access the site, please contact your system administrator or contact PowerKnowledge Physical Science Customer Care via email or phone at (877) 381-6649.

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😎 #awesome

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https://www.blackhillsenergy.com/safety/be-safe-around-power-lines

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fantastic

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bravo