Discovery Classroom Curiosities

By CuriOdyssey | Thu December 7, 2017

Thanks to our dedicated educators, these science projects are displayed in our Discovery Classroom inside of the CuriOdyssey Science Center Building. They are always experimenting with new content for our classes and camps, and put these projects in the window so our visitors can see too. Plan your visit today to see what we are experimenting with this week! #SciencePwr

Saltwater Buoyancy

What’s Going On: One of these jars is full of saltwater (appx. 2.5 cups tap with 2/3 cup table salt) and the other contains tap water. The golf ball floats in the saltwater and sinks in the freshwater because the density of the saltwater is much higher than the density of the freshwater.

Additional Information: You can also do this experiment with eggs – https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/salty-science-floating-eggs-in-water/

Natural Dyes

What’s Going On: All of these pieces of yarn were dyed using black beans! They all look different since Educator Beth was experimenting with multiple variables. Some of the yarn is cotton and some is wool. The yarn was also soaked in 2 different types of mordant, or dye fixative – alum mordant and iron mordant. The yarn was then soaked in the black bean dye bath and dried out, resulting in the range of hues.

How it Got Here: Beth has been experimenting with various natural dyes under guidance from Sasha Duerr’s The Handbook of Natural Plant Dyes.

Additional Information: https://www.motherearthnews.com/diy/home/iron-mordant-solution

Cormorant Skull & Femur

What’s Going On: Educator Kevin prepared these bones so we can use them for educational purposes! Yay! You can see that the femur bones are hollow. Bird bones are largely hollow but also very strong to support flight.

How it Got Here: This summer, Kevin found a cormorant’s head on the secret beach. He was able to process and clean it to preserve the skull so that we can use in our classes and programs! The femur bones are also from a Cormorant and were found by Kevin at the jetty in October.

Additional Information: https://www.umass.edu/newsoffice/article/bird-bones-may-be-hollow-they-are-also-heavy-says-umass-amherst-biologist

Rainbow Paper

What’s Going On: We dipped this black paper into a shallow tub of water with a drop of clear nail polish on it. The nail polish spread across the surface of the water and we were able to capture that on the paper. The nail polish makes the light reflect a beautiful rainbow-y pattern!