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STEM Science Project
STEM Science Project
Hands on fun STEM projects that will spark learning and discovery. Flight experiments, fun with polymers, viral science experiments and some edible science projects too. Join us to see how fun science can be. See preivous experiments below.
Age: 5-18
Limit: 20 participants
When: 4th Tuesdays from 5:30 to 6:30pm
Where: Hayward near Upper D & 7th (Project Leader will send location)
Cost: no cost for members
Teen Leaders: David & Frederick
Project Leaders: Michael Yin & Rose Yin
*For insurance and safety purposes siblings not enrolled in 4-H project are not allowed. Youth members 9 years and older can be dropped off, just leave a guardian phone number on the sign in sheet and adult must return to sign out, so we know youth went home with you.
Making Snow
Boo Bubbles & Dry Ice Experiments
Edible Science
The science behind the experiments
The science behind the experiments
Meeting details for Project Reports
Slime Day Experiments
Slime Day Experiments
FLUFFY SLIME (BLUE, CROWD FAVORITE, SUPER MESSY, IT TAKES TIME, IT GETS THICKER)
2/3 Cup White Elmer’s Glue
1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/4 Cup Water
2-3 Cups Shaving Cream
1.5 tablespoons Contact Lens Solution: must have boric acid and sodium borate in the ingredient list.
Liquid Food Coloring
INSTRUCTIONS
Add your white glue to a bowl.
Add you water and baking soda and then mix.
Add your shaving cream and mix. The more shaving cream you add, the fluffier it will be. You may need to add more contact lens solution if you make it with 3 cups.
Add your food coloring until you are satisfied with the color. Mix.
Now slowly add in your contact solution.
We like to add in 1 tablespoon, knead for 5 minutes and then add in the 1/2 tablespoon after kneading for some time. The slime will be very sticky when you're kneading – and that's normal!
If you find it still too sticky – add some baby oil or lotion to your hands. You can also add in more contact lens solution if you still find it too sticky. Just a little bit at a time. We like to add an extra teaspoon at a time until it stops sticking. If you add too much the slime may become too hard and won’t be as stretchy to play with.
Carmen’s tips: if too liquidy add more contact solution, hand lotion and then water if it breaks when stretching.
LOTION CLOUD DOUGH (YELLOW, 2ND FAVORITE, SUPER EASY TO MAKE, NOT MESSY)
½ cup hand lotion
1 cup cornstarch
INSTRUCTIONS
Mix until smooth
CONDITIONER CLOUD DOUGH (PINK, TOO DRY, EASY BUT MEH)
½ cup conditioner
1 cup cornstarch
INSTRUCTIONS
Mix until smooth
CLOUD SLIME INGREDIENTS (GREEN, LAST PLACE, TOO CHUNKY )
White glue ½ cup
Activator (1 teaspoon Borax dissolved in 1 cup of water or contact solution with boric acid and sodium borate in the ingredient list)
Instant Snow
Hand lotion
Water as needed
CLOUD SLIME INSTRUCTIONS
Pour 1/2 cup white glue into a large bowl.
Add 2 Tablespoons + 1 teaspoon lotion, 1 cup + 2 Tablespoons room temperature water, and 2 Tablespoons + 2 1/4 teaspoons dry instant snow powder.
Add a few drops of food coloring or paint for color, and scented oil if desired. Begin gently mixing to slightly incorporate the ingredients before adding activator.
Start mixing in activator (1 teaspoon of Borax powder dissolved in 1 cup warm water) about a teaspoon at a time.
When your ingredients begin to look like cottage cheese, you’re ready to start mixing and stretching the slime by hand.
Press and stretch the slime slowly and gently until it gets longer and fluffier with each pull.
Continue adding activator a little at a time. Fold and knead the slime to incorporate, then begin carefully and gently stretching it slightly longer each time. It may rip at first, but should begin to fluff up and stretch as you continue working on it.
If you over activate your cloud slime, and stretching doesn’t work to correct it, you can add a bit of lotion.
When the texture is correct, the slime should feel wet and moisturizing but not sticky. When you fluff up and stretch the slime it should slowly drizzle down into a pile.
TIPS FOR MAKING CLOUD SLIME
Cloud slime takes a LOT of mixing and time. You may want to let it sit for 10-30 minutes at a time to make sure the instant snow is fully saturated before adding additional activator or lotion.
If your slime is well mixed but individual pieces of snow are easily visible when the slime is compacted, you need additional activator or water. There are two ways to test this:
DRIZZLE TEST: Fluff the slime out by stretching, and then drizzle it down. If it falls quickly you need a bit more activator. If it is barely falling you need a bit more water.
WEB TEST: Compact a small amount of the slime then stretch it wide. The sheet of stretched slime should look cohesive and furry. Think the fake spider fluff you buy to decorate for Halloween. If the sheet quickly gets holes and droops apart (like the photo on the left), you need more activator. If it is too tight to stretch into the sheet, add a little bit of water.
GLUEY DOUGH (WE RAN OUT OF GLUE AND DIDN’T MAKE THIS ONE)
INGREDIENTS
2 (4-ounce) bottles washable school regular or glitter glue, such as Elmer's
1 to 2 drops liquid food coloring (optional)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 to 3 tablespoons saline solution (i.e., contact lens solution), divided
INSTRUCTIONS
Pour 2 (4-ounce) bottles school glue into a medium bowl. Stir in 1 to 2 drops food coloring if desired. This mixture doesn't need to be homogeneous, as you'll mix it even more after adding the baking soda.
Stir in 1 teaspoon baking soda until smooth.
Pour in 1 1/2 tablespoons of the saline solution and stir slowly. The mixture should begin to solidify, becoming more elastic and dry to the touch. As you mix, add more saline solution 1/2 tablespoon at a time if you want it thicker until the desired consistency is reached.
Pick up the slime and work it between your hands until smooth. Once mixed, you can play with the slime immediately or store in an airtight container for future play.
Dry Ice Experiments
Dry Ice Experiments
Boo Bubbles
Dry ice is frozen, compressed carbon dioxide gas and when you add it to warm water, it combines with the water to create the fog (carbon dioxide and water vapor) that you see bubbling out of the container. When dish soap is added to the end of the tube releasing the gas it creates "smoke" filled bubbles. This “smoking” effect is directly caused by the rapid warming of the dry ice.
Bubble Bowl
We slid a soapy rag over the rim of a bowl with water and dry ice in it. After testing different shaped bowls we found the metal bowl with the widest rim had the most surface to form the biggest bubble.
Frozen Gummy Worms
Poor Man's Liquid Nitrogen is a combination of rubbing alcohol and dry ice. At room temperature, dry ice transitions rapidly from its solid to its gaseous state. Adding isopropyl alcohol to dry ice makes the liquid cool very quickly ⏤ the mixture's temperature can reach -90°C (-130°F). You do not want to touch it, chilled alcohol freezes skin instantly on contact. The alcohol reaches its lowest temperature after the fog has cleared and the dry ice is barely bubbling. We froze gummy worms by safely dropping into the chilled liquid, removed with tongs and smashed them with a hammer to test if they would shatter.
Rainbow experiments
Rainbow experiments
Walking Water Experiment
The purpose of this experiment is to actually make a secondary color from primary colors using what is called in science capillary action. Capillary action (or wicking) is the ability of a liquid to flow from one place to another without the assistance of, or even in opposition to, external forces like gravity.
Skittles Experiment
This experiment shows that water molecules are more active in warm water than in cold water and as they come in contact with the sugar in the skittles they cause it to dissolve faster.
Sugar Rainbow Experiment
Density Science Project: the more sugar that's mixed into a measured amount of water, the higher the density of the mixture. As the Sugar Rainbow reveals, a solution with a low density stacks on top of a mixture with a high density.
Borax Ornaments
As the water cools, the molecules slow down and come closer together, forcing the borax out into crystals. This process is called crystallization, in which molecules or atoms form into crystals, organized structures with a specific repeated pattern. The pipe cleaners provide a source for the crystals to cling to.
Simplified Lewis Structure Ornament
Make model ornaments of compounds by gluing pom poms and popsicle sticks to represent elements and chemical bonds.
Exploding Experiments
Exploding Experiments
Soda Geyser
Carbonated drinks contain dissolved carbon dioxide. The gas tries to escape and form bubbles around any irregular surface, called a nucleation site. Mentos have nucleation sites because they are not as smooth as they appear. When added to a carbonated drink, the dissolved gas pushes the liquid out of the container at a super-fast speed in the form of bubbles. The candies catalyze the release of gas from the Coke bottle, creating the eruption that pushes most of the liquid up and out of the bottle.
Magic Balloon Experiment
Baking soda is a base, while vinegar is an acid, which do not get along when mixed together. The water in the vinegar plays an important part in allowing the baking soda to take a proton from the vinegar. As this reaction takes place, carbon dioxide is released by the baking soda into the bottle, which eventually fills the balloon up.
Bottle Rockets
Same as above, but when the backing soda is added to the vinegar in the rocket and corked, the carbon dioxide will increase pressure until the cork is ejected launching the rocket into the air.
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