Science Projects

1.   Dancing Raisins
Here's another quick and easy science experiment. All you need is a glass of clear soda, such as ginger ale or club soda, and several small raisins.
Fill a glass with soda. Leave about ½ inch (12.5 mm) of space at the top. Drop the raisins in.
Those tiny bubbles attaching themselves to the raisins are carbon dioxide (CO2) bubbles. The irregular surface of the raisins enables a lot of CO2 to accumulate. When enough gas bubbles attach to the raisins, they act like tiny balloons, giving the fruit enough lift or buoyancy to rise.
The raisins should rise to the top of the glass and float on the surface. As the carbon dioxide escapes into the atmosphere, though, the raisins will sink. Then the whole process will repeat itself time after time — so the raisins seem to dance.
2.   Growing Borax Crystals
The project doesn't require more than 24 hours to grow the borax crystals. Materials needed for this project would be a cup of water, string, wire, borax and food color. First of all, twist the wire into a shape (preferable, snowflake) suitable for growing borax crystals. Heat a cup of water in a jar. As the water starts boiling, heating should be stopped and the jar placed aside. Borax should be added to the water slowly, up to the point of saturation. In the mean time, the solution should be stirred continuously.
The wire should be attached to a string and inserted in the saturated solution. In about 24 hours, borax crystals grow on the wire shape. A piece of pencil or other suitable object should be attached to the other end of string. This object helps in holding the string while the wire is inserted in the solution.
3.   Inflating the Balloon
Take an un-inflated balloon and force the neck to open wide with the help of the middle and index fingers of both the hands. Ask someone to carefully drop in a few pieces of dry ice ensuring that it does not touch your fingers. Tie the balloon tightly and drop the balloon in a swimming pool. If you do... [continues]

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