Science Experiment: Lava Lamp

It's time for another science experiment! We're going to make our very own Lava Lamp!

This project requires four things: 

* an empty, clean bottle

* vegetable oil

* food coloring

* Alka-Seltzer tablet

First step: fill bottle about 3/4 full with oil.

Next step: fill nearly to the top with water. Watch where the water goes.

Note--have the child that spills more pour in the water. It makes cleanup a lot easier.

Even though the water was poured on top of the oil, it ends up at the bottom. Why?

(Water is denser than oil, so it sinks.)

Ask your child to try to mix the water and oil by shaking the bottle. 

When they don't mix, tell your child to shake harder.

Eventually you should explain why they won't mix. (Basically the water molecules form an exclusive clique, not allowing any other non-polar molecules to join them. Oil is non-polar, so it can't join the party. Check out a more detailed explanation here.)

Of course, if your kids have lots of energy, you could have them shake the bottle for a very long time.

They may, however, really want to get to the next step:

Adding the food coloring! (A great use for a food additive that's not so good to put into our bodies.)

The instructions said to put in 10 drops, but we put in a lot more than that. Where does the dye go?

Finally came the last part: put in a piece of an Alka-Seltzer tablet.

It takes over 20 seconds for something noticeable to happen after the Alka-Seltzer is dropped in.

But then it becomes quite apparent; something magical is happening. Blue bubbles are rising.

They become more and more agitated. Once they reach the surface, the blue sinks back down to the bottom. The Alka-Seltzer creates carbon dioxide gas, which clings to the molecules of water, which have been colored. The gas is less dense than the water or oil, so it rises to the surface, attached to the colored water. Once the carbon dioxide reaches the surface, the gas is released, and the colored water molecule sinks back to the bottom.


The kids found this fascinating.

They took turns putting in the other pieces of the Alka Seltzer tablet.

We did this experiment many times. Actually, it's a demonstration, as we're watching it over and over. To really be an experiment, we need to be able to change things: amount of Alka-Seltzer, or have several bottles with different amounts or types of oil. Nevertheless, I think they learned at least a couple scientific things during this lava lamp demonstration.

Later we did it in the evening and used a flashlight to illuminate the lava lamp, and it looked so cool.

This was a really fun project, and we still have it on the shelf to share with visitors. The lava lamp has made a trip to school, and I think it will be around for awhile.

A Little Snowshoe Trip with a Special Treat

On a day off, I took the kids up for a little snowshoeing, the first time this winter. They were very excited. I think they were more excited that I let them pack their own snacks than that they were going snowshoeing, but I'll pretend that it was the outside time they were craving. We hadn't received snow for awhile, so the snow was hard packed, meaning that you didn't really need snowshoes to walk on it. That was okay, it made it much, much easier to practice!

We also packed a sled and skis so Desert Boy could ski down and Desert Girl could take the sled. That was exciting, too, as the more snow toys, the better.

It was just below freezing, so it felt good. When Desert Boy asked how far we were going, I told him he could decide. Wow, the day just couldn't get any better for him!

Desert Girl was about to have her highlight of the day:

She found something on the snow.

Now, she may be three years old, but she's still a little like a baby sometimes, wanting to fully explore things with all her senses.

First, she looks at it and touches it.

Then she smells it and eats it.

Well, I guess whatever it was, it was good.

We continued a bit more, then turned around and switched the snow gear. It was a rockin' time down the gentle slope. Yippee, a fun little jaunt in the snow!

Desert Boy's Super Washing Detergent

 So when we last left, we had a 1/4 bar of Ivory soap all big and bubbly after 90 seconds in the microwave as part of our Ivory soap experiment. Have you tried it? It's funner than you might think!
After watching the amazing transformation and then feeling the changed texture, what do you do next?

You could use the soap in the bath or shower, although it might be a little crumbly.
You could make a soap sculpture.
Or you could make some laundry detergent! It turns out this option is quite easy, in fact, much easier than I had ever imagined.

 You only need three ingredients:

Washing soda (sodium carbonate), borax (sodium tetraborate), and soap (Ivory, Fels Naptha, Zote, and homemade soaps are the most used ones I've seen while searching the Internet). 

We had microwaved 1/4 bar of Ivory, and I grated another 1/4 bar (on the right side) to compare the volume. The grated soap had a lot less volume than the microwaved soap, but I figured it didn't matter much. So we mixed 1/2 bar Ivory soap, 1/2 cup washing soda, and 1/2 cup Borax together.

I saw some recipes that added essential oils, baking soda, and/or oxiclean (which you can make with washing soda, water, and hydrogen peroxide), but I wanted to start with the simplest recipe and then add from there if it needed a boost.

Desert Boy was the happy mixer. Then he made a label for the detergent. I told him he got to pick the name for it. I made some suggestions, but he went with his own name: 

Desert Boy's Super Washing Detergent

1/2 bar Ivory soap (grated; or microwaved 90 seconds, cooled, and crumbled)

1/2 cup washing soda

1/2 cup Borax

Mix well. Store in closed container with a cool label. Use 1 tablespoon per load of laundry (and slightly more if the load is really dirty). Safe for HE machines.

Easy--and cheap! So far we've been happy with the results. I thought the laundry detergent I was using was ecofriendly, but a check on the Environmental Working Group's website showed it wasn't as nice as I thought. How does yours rank?

I guess we'll go microwave some more Ivory soap!

A Quick Horse Ride

We've had a lot of activity at the ranch lately, as it's time to ship some of the one-year old calves. They weigh about 800 pounds now. Wow! I am always amazed by how fast they grow. And a little grateful we don't grow that fast. I sure enjoy having little kids around for multiple years!

We headed down to see some of the activity surrounding moving the calves, and the kids were fascinated with the horses. Who wouldn't be? Seeing a bona fide cowboy galloping is the quintessential image of the West.

As we were wandering about, I noticed some metal artwork that captured the Wild West flavor. Hanging on the scale building was a cowboy roping.


I took two photos because it stretched around the corner and one part was in the shade and another part in the sun. But then I tried to capture the whole thing.


I'm not sure who put it up, but it sure is clever. And what cowboy wouldn't like to be able to lasso all those cows that are just out of sight!


Next we were very lucky to have Tierannie share her horse with us. Desert Girl took the first ride. She wasn't too certain about being up on a horse, but she really wanted to do it. It was interesting reading all the expressions going across her face.

She held on tight and enjoyed being up so high.

Then it was Desert Boy's turn. He sure was ready!

His most exciting part was when he got to hold the reins. Tierannie gave him a two-minute rundown on how to ride a horse, and Matthew declared that now he was a cowboy because he knew how to control a horse.

My little cowboy. He even was wearing his cowboy boots for the occasion.

As soon as he got down (all by himself, just like a real cowboy!) he declared he wanted his own horse. I guess he and his friend Ava now have something more to talk about!

Cracking a Coconut

For Valentine's Day I gave Desert Boy a coconut. He's been seeing them a lot on the survival shows he loves, and now he had his chance to hold one, drink from one, and taste one. He was beyond excited, but I gave it to him in the morning, so he had to wait till after school. Ah, the anticipation! He did get to shake it and hear the water sloshing around in it before he took off.

 The first step was to unwrap it and read the label and find out where it was from. I have to admit I didn't think of that part--Desert Boy did. Our coconut was from the Dominican Republic, and we had to do a little searching to find the island out in the Caribbean. I had fun imagining the sandy beaches, warm ocean waves lapping at those beaches, plentiful sunshine with coconut palms providing a little shade. Okay, the coconut may not come from an idyllic beach, but it sure does bring to mind such a place!

 We found the eyes of the coconut and tried to stick a straw through one. Nope--that didn't work! The eyes are a little toucher than that, so we pierced it with scissors and a knife.

 Desert Boy stuck a straw in and started drinking the coconut water. After a long sip, he made quite a face--it wasn't that good! I gave it a try and liked it. So then he had to try it again and decided it might be okay.

Then came opening the coconut. I should have looked it up on the Internet, as this WikiHow site has many ways to open a coconut. I didn't have much success, so when my husband came home he attacked it with a saw and got it open.

 Ah, success! We broke off little pieces of coconut--delicious!

Even after eating the flesh out of the coconut, Desert Boy wasn't done with it. Here's one of his art projects. I think we'll have a couple more in the next few days.

So our first coconut was quite a fun experience. We'll probably try it again sometime. 

Do you have experience with coconuts? What do you recommend doing with them?

Desert Survival: How to Tell Direction with a Shadow Stick

 This winter we've been watching a lot of survival shows, mainly because Desert Boy is fascinated with them. (And in case you wanted to watch some, here they are in my order of preference: Man, Woman Wild; Out of the Wild: Venezuela; Dual Survival; Man vs. Wild; Survivorman.)

Desert Boy talks about survival all the time. So we talk about how to be safe. And although he really wants to practice his fire-making skills, we decided we'd start small. So we tried a survival skill to determine which direction is which. Now, out in the Great Basin, that's often not something that's hard to figure out, as most of the 300+ mountain ranges run north-south. But when we travel, we might need to know the direction.

The first step to finding your direction with a shadow stick is to insert a stick into the ground. Note: a straight stick is recommended, and some survival manuals recommend a 3-foot long stick. Sticks that long are dangerous around my kids, so we used one-foot long.

 After the stick is in the ground, mark the end of the shadow it casts with a stone or other object that won't be disturbed. (Note: this technique only works when it's sunny.) Then wait 10-15 minutes (or longer if you get distracted by hunting lunch, making a fire, building your shelter, etc.)

After you've waited a bit, check the shadow stick and mark the end of the shadow with another rock.


Draw a line between the two rocks. This is an east-west line; the second stone placed marks east. The line that intersects the line is true north-south (which differs a bit from magnetic north-south).

Simple! I did it again a few days later in a different location, and it still worked. I guess the earth hadn't changed its rotation.

This is a great, quick activity for kids and kids-at-heart. Stay tuned as we experiment with more survival techniques in the near future. And if you have ideas for ones we should try, please leave a comment!