Ghost Science – part 2

Ghost Science is lots of fun and is aptly titled for several reasons. One – you can’t always see the processes taking place. Two – sometimes the items just are gone, right in front of your eyes. Three – sometimes they appear right in front of your eyes, out of nowhere.

We talked about the ghost eggs in part one so this time we are going to talk about the ghost poop. (You have no idea how much I hate writing that but it is what this part of the kit was called.) This is essentially packing peanuts.

When these are put into water, they quickly disappear. In just seconds, they were gone, no trace left. The pamphlet that is included in the kit explains why – these are made of corn starch and so they dissolve in room temperature water.

When Miss J heard that, it sparked her mind and she asked THE question – does it have to be just regular water? Guess where that led . . . experimentation.

Miss J spent the next hour or so finding different liquids or making them different temperatures to see if the packing peanuts would dissolve at the same rate as it did during the original activity.

She kept some things the same, as any good scientist will. She always used 4 oz of the liquid, as measured in a measuring cup. She used the same type spoon each time and tried to stir at the same rate. Here are the different liquids she used:

• tap water
• vinegar (white)
• tap water with 2 ice cubes
• very hot tap water
• cold lemon juice
• cold Dr. Pepper
• cold milk
• tea (room temperature)
• olive oil

Results:

• tap water – dissolved
• vinegar – dissolved but not as quickly
• tap water with ice – dissolved much slower
• very hot water – dissolved very, very fast
• lemon juice – dissolved slower than the ice water
• Dr. Pepper – did not dissolve
• milk – did not fully dissolve but did dissolve some
• tea – dissolved fast but not as fast as the hot water
• olive oil – did not dissolve

It was fun to talk about the types of liquids she chose. We talked a bit about acids, bases, and neutral. We talked about hot and cold. All of these observations were fun for her to make.  I was really proud of her for being curious about it and wanting to follow through to test those curiosities.

Ghost Science was a super neat kit and I’d definitely recommend it. It was from the Steve Spangler Science company, which has lots of different kits and materials. It is a resource I will keep my eye on for the future.

Blessings,
At Home.

Tagged: 3rd grade, science