Summer Science: Ivory Soap Explosion

Your kids are home for the summer and when bad weather keeps them from playing outside or heading to the pool, back up plans can be few and far between. Cue science experiments you can do with them in your kitchen! Why not do something that's fun and teaches your young ones a thing or two about science?

The Ivory soap experiment will do just that. In fact, it will probably produce a reaction neither you or your child were expecting. 

Here's all you'll need:

• One bar of Ivory soap
• A microwave
• Paper plate or towel

Now, prepare yourself to be amazed. (Okay, maybe not amazed, but you will be surprised - as will the young scientist in your midst.)

1. Cut the bar of Ivory soap in half and then cut each half in half, so that you have quarters.
2. Put one quarter (one piece) of the soap bar into the microwave and heat for 1-2 minutes. You might want to put the soap on a paper plate or towel to minimize clean-up after the experiment.
3. Now observe what happens! The reaction happens relatively quickly; around one minute, but definitely less than two.
4. After you've seen what happens to the first quarter of the bar of soap, do it with the other three pieces you have left. Watching it react it in the microwave never gets old!
5. After the soap has reacted, explore it through touch, smell and play. It will be dry and soft and have a texture similar to tissue paper.

To enhance this experiment even more, try adding water to the reacted soap and see what happens!

How to Make a Naked Egg

Since weekends these days have been all about experiments, here's one you and your children will mutually enjoy! Have you ever made a naked egg? Yes, that's right, an egg without a shell. Most people have never seen an egg without its shell. In fact, most people didn't even know it was possible, but luckily for you, with science, the possibilities are endless. Check out Imagination Station's anatomy of a chicken egg for some background before you begin the experiment.

The shell of chicken egg is typically primarily made up of calcium carbonate. If you soak this egg shell in vinegar (which is normally around 4% acetic acid), you start a chemical reaction that dissolves the calcium carbonate shell. The acetic acid reacts with the calcium carbonate in the egg shell and releases carbon dioxide gas that you see as bubbles on the shell. So how does the egg stay together? The egg insides remains intact because its held together by the two fragile membranes just inside the shell. 

So let's get started! Here's what you'll need:

• Vinegar (at least 16 ounces)
• A couple of glasses
• Raw eggs

Thankfully, the process is easy. So that you don't break the egg from the get go, carefully place the egg into the glass and then fill the glass with vinegar so that the egg is completely covered. If the egg starts floating a bit, that's okay! As long as there's enough vinegar in the glass to mostly cover the top of the egg, you're golden.

Next is the worst part of the experiment: waiting. You must wait for the acetic acid in the vinegar to react with the calcium in the egg shell. Shortly after you cover the egg, you should see some bubble appearing on the outside of the egg. What you're looking at is carbon dioxide gas produced from the reaction. It can take anywhere from 12-24 hours for a good portion of the shell to be removed. Good progress is being made when you notice a white frothy scummy layer on the surface of the vinegar.

Once you've let the egg soak for a day, you can finally take it out! You have to be careful when you're taking the egg out of the glass. While fishing it out with a spoon might sound like a good idea, it can result in the egg breaking or being damaged. Instead, pour the liquid into another cup and gently catch the egg with your hand as it comes out. One you have the egg, you should be able to literally rub the shell off of the egg with you fingers. The shell will come off as a white powdery substance. Be careful during this process so that you don't break the egg.

If your egg isn't quite fully naked yet, fill up another glass with vinegar and soak the egg overnight again. After two days of soaking, you should have a completely naked - and very, very cool looking - egg. Notice that after the second day of soaking your eff is a bit bigger than it was after the first day. This is because some of the vinegar (and some of the water in the vinegar) has moved through the egg's semi-permeable membranes to the inside of the egg. Ladies and gentlemen, this is called osmosis!

For a list of fun things to do with your naked egg, instructions on how to shrink your egg, information on eating the egg or how it smells and some science fair project ideas, click here. 

Make a Lava Lamp This Weekend!

Looking for a fun and easy experiment to do with your kids this weekend? Well look no further. Do you remember being mesmerized by the mystery of a lava lamp when you were a kid? The brightly colored "lava" would float back and forth from the top and bottom of the lamp, combine with other "lava" blobs and then break away from them - it was seriously magical!

With just water, a clear plastic bottle, vegetable oil, food coloring and some Alka-Selzter (or other tablets that fizz) you can create your own lava lamp on your kitchen counter.

Once you have everything you need to get started, here's what you'll need to do:

1. Pour some water into the plastic bottle until it's about a quarter full.
2. Pour some vegetable oil into the bottle until it's just about all the way full. 
3. Wait until the water and oil have clearly separated.
4. Add around a dozen drops of your favorite color food coloring to the bottle.
5. Observe the food coloring make its way through the oil and into the water, mixing.
6. Cut an Alka-Selzter tablet into five or six smaller pieces and drop one of them into the bottle - things should start getting a little crazy, just like a real lava lamp.
7. When the bubbling stops, add another piece of the Alka-Selzter tablet and enjoy!

If you're wondering what the science is behind this experiment, check this out: you know that oil and water don't mix very well (or at all), so the two separate from each other with the oil on top because it has a lower density than water. The food coloring is able to fall through the oil and mix with the water - key to this experiment! When you drop the Alka-Seltzer in, it releases small bubbles of carbon dioxide gas that rise to the top of the bottle, taking some of the colored water with it. The gas escapes when it reaches the top of the bottle and the colored water falls back to the bottom. To read more about the science involved, visit the Science Kids website.