superhero science - cosi

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Superhero Science Extension Activities

Recommended Grade Levels: Grades 1 –8

Major Concepts Potential Energy

Kinetic Energy

Molecules

Bernoulli’s Principle

Friction

Solid

Liquid

Gas

Key Words Energy – In science, we say that energy is the ability to do work, but by ‘work,’ we can mean a lot of different things! Lightbulbs use energy to do work, but what kind of ‘work’ does a lightbulb do? What about a radio? A car? Energy is ‘at work’ whenever something lights up, makes noise, or moves. Can you think of something else that lights up? What about something that uses energy to make noise? To move?

Potential Energy – The energy stored when an object is at rest. All objects have the

potential to move in some way, but they can’t until another force acts on them, such as

gravity. Think of a roller coaster. At the top of the first hill, it’s filled with potential

energy – it could do something, it’s just not doing it yet.

Kinetic Energy – Energy released in motion. As the roller coaster crests the hill, what

happens next? It flies down the hill! More potential means more kinetic!

Molecules– the smallest particle of a substance that retains all the properties of the substance and is composed of one or more atoms.

Friction – the force created the surface of an object rubbing against another object, resisting movement and slowing motion.

States of matter – We can sort things on earth into three different states of matter based on their physical properties and the arrangement of their molecules:

Solid – Tap on a table; tap on your shoe; tap on the ground; tap on your head. These are all solids that hold their stable shape as the molecules that make them up are lined up in rigid, strong patterns. Can you think of any other solids? Ice is a great example! Ice can be frozen into a strong “ice cube!” But if it gets warm, it changes…

Liquid – Liquids don’t hold strong shapes like solids do; they change their shape to match the shape of the container they’re in! If you pour water into a cup, it takes the shape of the cup; if you pour the same water into a bowl, it changes to


take the shape of the bowl! Can you think of any other liquids that behave like water? When water gets very, very, very warm, it changes again, evaporating into a third state of matter…

Gas – Gasses are made of molecules spread very far apart and moving quickly. When we boil water and make it very, very hot, it turns into water vapor, or steam, that floats into the air. Gasses are all around us! Take a deep breath in to breathe in oxygen; then, breathe out as you release carbon dioxide into the air!

Gravity – the force that attracts (or “pulls”) an object toward the center of any other physical object that has mass. Humans are pulled toward the center of the Earth by gravity while the Earth is pulled toward the Sun.

Friction – the force created by the surface of an object rubbing against another object, resisting movement and slowing motion.

COSI Connection COSI’s GADGETS exhibition explores how simple machines, force and motion, energy, and engineering power the world around us.

Energy is at work in the world around us wherever things light up, make noise, or move. Can you find something that lights up inside of Gadgets? Something that makes noise? Something that moves?

At the exhibit’s entrance, you have the chance to design, build, and test your own floating contraption in the Gadgets Wind Tubes. Create a challenge for yourself (for example, construct an object that can float for 8 seconds) and test it out. If it doesn’t work the first time, change something about your design and try again! What does it take to build an object that can complete your challenge?

Electricity and magnetism are closely related. Check out the Ring Thrower inside the exhibit where a push of a button electrifies a metal coil, creating an electromagnetic field that repels (or pushes) an aluminum ring. How can this relationship between electricity and magnetism – a non-contact force – be used on a roller coaster to either speed it up, or slow it down?

The Ball Wall allows you to rearrange pieces of a magnetic ball ramp to create your own roller coaster route. Experiment with the track pieces and the wheels that alter the coaster’s course to see what the ball can do. How can you make the ball move quickly? How can you slow it down? How does altering its path change its speed or motion?

Engineering isn’t always easy! Check out the Build-a-Duck interactive. Your goal is to construct a rubber duck that will improve sales for the company. But how do you balance the input of engineers, designers, market researchers, and more? Can you build a duck that improves sales for the company?


Watch for COSI Classics throughout the museum. You’ll encounter exciting hands-on activities, demonstrations, art exhibitions, and wild encounters! Keep your eye out for some of these exciting COSI Classics in hallways, staircases, and stages. Make observations; ask questions; test your theories!

In the Level 1 hallway near Ocean, the massive ball launcher can launch a tennis ball all the way to the ceiling, just using air! Experiment with the launcher and see if you can figure out how it works and how air can do so much work with such little effort!

COSI’s OCEAN exhibition plunges you into the sea for an inside look at our planet’s most precious resource – water – and our lifelong connection to stories of the ocean.

As you explore the Temple of Poseidon, you’ll get the chance to touch water in many different ways. Is water a solid, a liquid, or a gas?

Inside the Temple just across from the water vortex, you’ll find an erosion table. This table allows you to build earth forms using sand and silt, then use the lever to activate a waterfall. As water cascades across your landform, what happens to it? Why? Rain, snow, ice, and running water have the incredible ability to wear away even the toughest rock over many millions of years, which is how the enormous Grand Canyon was formed!

Aboard the DSB Poseidon, you’ll find experiments that explore humanity’s relationship with the oceans and how we explore the watery world below us. What kinds of tools do scientists use to explore in the water? Would the same tools work on land? In space?

COSI’s LIFE exhibition explores what makes us human – our mind, body, and spirit. In the Mind Zone, you can test your susceptibility to illusions.

o The Heat Grill tricks your brain by confusing your nervous system. Press your forearm against the grill. What do your mind tell you is happening? Explore more… How does it work?

o The Box Illusion tasks you with deciding which of the two cardboard boxes is heavier. Make a prediction – why did you decide what you did? Lift both and make a prediction. Then, place them on the scale. Which one is heavier?

o What parts of your brain might be employed during these perception illusions?

Additional Resources Janice Vancleave’s Energy for Every Kid: Easy Activities That Make Learning Science Fun

by Janice Vancleave (Grades 4th-7th)

Change It!: Solids, Liquids, Gases and You (Primary Physical Science) by Adrienne Mason (K-2)

The Everything Kids’ Science Experiments Book: Boil Ice, Float Water, Measure Gravity-Challenge the World Around You! By Tom Robinson


Superhero Science ACTIVITY A: Super Friends

Objective: Students will test out teamwork by working in small groups of 3 to 4 people trying to stack cups in a pyramid using only a uniquely designed tool make out of rubber bands attached with strings.

Time: 20 minutes

Grade Levels: Grades 2 – 8

Materials Rubber bands

12” cuts of string

Sleeve of plastic cups

Key Words

Collaboration – to work jointly with others or together especially in an intellectual

endeavor. Cooperation-the process of working together to the same end Tension- the state of being stretched tight. Compress- flatten by pressure or squeezing. Potential Energy- stored up energy. Kinetic Energy- energy in motion.

Introduction Sure, you may like Captain America or Black Widow or Iron Man, but when duty calls, it’s The Avengers that save the day! Good heroes don’t work alone for long… teamwork is often the skill that can mean the difference between victory and defeat. Even if disagreements arise, figuring out how to communicate, cooperate, and collaborate is what makes a successful hero… and a successful scientist!

What To Do First, students will need to split into groups of 4 – 6. In each group, they’ll construct a Hero Gadget by tying one string per group member to a rubber band. Allow students to experiment for a moment with how this device works, and how moving any single string makes a difference in the shape of a rubber band. Challenge students: touching only the strings, can you form Hero Gadget’s rubber band into a square? What about a rectangle? How about a triangle? A perfect circle?


Once students are armed with their Hero Gadget and gave the basics down, introduce 10 plastic cups, stacked. Remind students that for all the challenges, they cannot use their hands or touch the rubber band… only the Gadget’s strings and their communication skills can help them!

CHALLENGE 1 Have students unstack the cups and set them out in a straight line.

CHALLENGE 2 Have students arrange the cups into a pyramid with four cups on the bottom, three on the next level, two on the next, and one on top.

CHALLENGE 3 Have students stack the cups one on top of another to create five balanced pairs. Note, they’ll need to turn top cup over to allow it to balance on the one below. You can allow students to do this with their hand or require the Gadget!

Use your imagination! Have students work as one large group to build a pyramid as tall as they can! See what ideas or challenges people want to try.

Conclusion The way the groups communicate with each other and adapt determines how fast you complete your pyramid and the amount of success. This activity requires a good amount of give and take. Communication is the key to make sure everyone’s movements are complimenting the mutual goal.


Superhero Science ACTIVITY B: The Power of Inertia

Objective: Students will cause a coin at rest to move into a cup without touching the coin.

Time: 5-10 minutes


Materials Index Card

1 Cup

1 coin, button or flat chip

Key Words Inertia– a tendency of an object to do nothing or to remain unchanged.

Force- a push or pull on an object. Gravity- the force that attracts a body toward the center of the earth, or toward any other physical body having mass.

Introduction Explain to students that the quarter will drop into the cup when you slide the index card underneath it. This is because of the quarter has inertia. The index card was set in motion, but the card was at rest. Since there was no force acting on the quarter, it stay at rest and dropped into the cup.

What to Do

1) Set the plastic cup on flat surface and place the index card on top. 2) Position quarter in the center of the index card. 3) Use your fingers to flick the card so it shoots off the cup. You can hold cup. 4) Tell students to keep their eyes on the quarter and explain what happened.

Conclusion Newton’s first law of motion that is sometime referred as the law of inertia states that an object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and the same direction unless acted upon by another force. We change the inertia of the index card by flicking it, but force was applied to the quarter which stayed in place over the cup. After the index card moved from underneath the quarter gravity acted upon the quarter pulling it into the cup.


Superhero Science ACTIVITY C: Chemical Reaction

Objective: Students will encounter the three states of matter and observe a chemical change.

Time: 15 – 20 minutes


Materials Safety Glasses ( All chemist wear

safety glasses to protect their eyes)

Baking Soda (Sodium Bicarbonate)

Lemon Juice

Empty 20 oz pop bottle.

Balloons

Funnels

Teaspoons

Key Words States of matter – We can sort most things on earth into three different states of matter based on their physical properties and the arrangement of their molecules: solids, liquids, and gases. Physical change – A change that does not fundamentally alter the components of a substance. For example, if you cut a piece of paper in half, it’s still paper! When we mow grass, it’s still grass. It’s helpful to remember that physical changes can often be reversed, even if it wouldn’t be easy. For example, the paper could be placed back together, and each blade of grass could be lined back up and fit together. Chemical change – A change that fundamentally alters the components of a substance. For example, if you light a piece of paper on fire, it’s not paper anymore. It can be helpful to remember that most times, chemical changes are also marked by a change in smell, color, or temperature. Think of that burned paper – after it’s burned, it becomes ash and soot and dust, and no matter how hard you tried, you simply couldn’t put that ash and soot and dust back together and turn it into paper. Think about what happens when water melts from ice into water, or when water evaporates into steam. Is that a physical change or a chemical one? This one’s tricky… It’s a physical change, because even though its state of matter has changed, it’s still water, and still made of two hydrogen atoms and an oxygen one.


Introduction Explain the three phases of matter (solid, liquid, and gas) and have students give you an examples of each one.

Solid – Tap on a table; tap on your shoe; tap on the ground; tap on your head. These are all solids that hold their stable shape as the molecules that make them up are lined up in rigid, strong patterns. Can you think of any other solids? Ice is a great example! Ice can be frozen into a strong “ice cube!” But if it gets warm, it changes…

Liquid – Liquids don’t hold strong shapes like solids do; they change their shape to match the shape of the container they’re in! If you pour water into a cup, it takes the shape of the cup; if you pour the same water into a bowl, it changes to take the shape of the bowl! Can you think of any other liquids that behave like water? When water gets very, very, very warm, it changes again, evaporating into a third state of matter…

Gas – Gasses are made of molecules spread very far apart and moving quickly. When we boil water and make it very, very hot, it turns into water vapor, or steam, that floats into the air. Gasses are all around us! Take a deep breath in to breathe in oxygen and nitrogen; then, breathe out as you release carbon dioxide into the air!

What to Do Stretch the balloon and use the funnel and teaspoon to add about two teaspoons of baking soda into balloon. Fill 20 oz pop bottle about 1/3 of the way with lemon juice. When your balloons are all made, stretch its base over the bottle’s lip, ensuring a good seal and that the baking soda from the balloon doesn’t fall into the lemon juice yet. When everyone’s balloon and bottle are ready, lift up balloon to dump baking soda into 20 oz pop bottle of lemon juice. What happens? Why?

Conclusion This is an example of a chemical reaction. The lemon juice and the baking soda react together to create a new substance: carbon dioxide gas – the same gas that you and I exhale! Carbon dioxide is colorless, which means we can’t see its molecules with our eyes, but the fact that the balloon inflates helps us to know that it’s there! Is this a physical change, or a chemical change? No matter how hard you try, you could never turn that gas back into lemon and baking soda.


Superhero Science ACTIVITY D: Marshmallow Shooter

Objective: Students will see how potential and kinetic energy work by launching mini marshmallows out of a plastic cup

Time: 10 minutes

Grade Levels: Grades 1-8

Key Words Potential Energy – The energy stored when an object is at rest. All objects have the

potential to move in some way, but they can’t until another force acts on them, such as

gravity. Think of a roller coaster. At the top of the first hill, it’s filled with potential

energy – it could do something, it’s just not doing it yet.

Kinetic Energy – Energy released in motion. As the roller coaster crests the hill, what

happens next? It flies down the hill! More potential means more kinetic!

Gravity – the force that attracts (or “pulls”) an object toward the center of any other physical object that has mass. Humans are pulled toward the center of the Earth by gravity while the Earth is pulled toward the Sun.

Materials Mini-Marshmallows

Plastic Cups

Balloons

Scissors

Introduction What is energy? In science, we say that energy is the ability to do work, though by

“work” we can mean a lot of different things. Energy is at “work” in light bulbs, radios,

and cars, doing different kinds of “work” in each. Ultimately, energy is at work whenever

something lights up, makes noise, or moves.

The two types of energy we are going to be talking about today are potential and kinetic

energy. Potential energy is stored energy. For example, if you are riding a rollercoaster

and get to the very top of the hill you are filled with potential energy. Kinetic energy is

energy in motion. When you start to go down the hill of the rollercoaster you are using

kinetic energy.


What to Do Start by grabbing a plastic cup and cutting it in half by cutting the bottom part off. Once you have done that, tie a knot at the end of a balloon and cut a few centimeters off of the other end. Place the cut off section on the lip of the cup so that it stretches over the entire lip. Place your mini marshmallows in the cup, pull back the tied end of the balloon, then let go and POP, there goes your mini marshmallows in the air!

Conclusion When did we have potential energy?

What about kinetic energy? When you pull back the balloon with the mini marshmallows you are exhibiting potential energy. Once you release the balloon, the mini marshmallows have kinetic energy as they fly through the air. Can you think of other examples that use potential energy? One instance that has potential energy is when you stretch an elastic object, such as a rubber band; this is called elastic potential energy. Another example of potential energy is gravitational potential energy. This can be seen when you’re sitting at the top of a roller coaster, when an apple is hanging in the air on a tree, and more! But what about kinetic energy? If we go back to our example of the stretched rubber band, it has kinetic energy when we release one end and it goes flying through the air. For the roller coaster, it has kinetic energy when it goes down the hill. Gravity is pulling the coaster down the hill, just like how gravity pulls our apple to the ground when it falls off the branch.


Superhero Science ACTIVITY E: Tornado in a Bottle

Objective: Students will see how to make a tornado using vortexes

Time: 10 minutes


Key Words Vortex- a large body of spiraling wind

Materials Two 2 liter soda bottles

Washer

Duct Tape

Water

Introduction There are a lot of different types of weather. There is rainy, cloudy, sunny, snowy, and windy. When it gets really windy out, it can make what is called a tornado. A tornado is a vortex of rotating winds in the shape of a funnel. But what is a vortex? A vortex is a large body of spiraling wind. Today we are going to use science to make our very own miniature tornado!

What to Do Start by filling up one of the soda bottles with water. Next, put the washer on the neck of the bottle so that it lays on top of the lip. Afterwards, place the other empty bottle so that the two necks are connected together and use duct tape to secure them to one another. Flip the bottles so that the one filled with water is on top and swirl the bottle quickly in a circular pattern. Stop swirling and watch as the tornado starts to form as the water goes from bottle A to bottle B.

Conclusion Just like our other activity, gravity is pulling the water down from bottle A to bottle B. Since the neck of the bottles are smaller than the bottles themselves, and we spun them in a spiral motion, a water tornado forms as they go from one bottle to the other.


Superhero Science ACTIVITY F: Mentos Eruption

Objective: Students will see Mentos and Coke when combined cause a geyser to erupt

Time: 10-20 minutes


Key Words States of matter – We can sort most things on earth into three different states of matter based on their physical properties and the arrangement of their molecules: solids, liquids, and gases. Physical change – A change that does not fundamentally alter the components of a substance. For example, if you cut a piece of paper in half, it’s still paper! When we mow grass, it’s still grass. It’s helpful to remember that physical changes can often be reversed, even if it wouldn’t be easy. For example, the paper could be placed back together, and each blade of grass could be lined back up and fit together. Chemical change – A change that fundamentally alters the components of a substance. For example, if you light a piece of paper on fire, it’s not paper anymore. It can be helpful to remember that most times, chemical changes are also marked by a change in smell, color, or temperature. Think of that burned paper – after it’s burned, it becomes ash and soot and dust, and no matter how hard you tried, you simply couldn’t put that ash and soot and dust back together and turn it into paper. Think about what happens when water melts from ice into water, or when water evaporates into steam. Is that a physical change or a chemical one? This one’s tricky… It’s a physical change, because even though its state of matter has changed, it’s still water, and still made of two hydrogen atoms and an oxygen one.

Materials Diet Coke (2 liter)

Mentos

Introduction There are many different parts of soda. Soda is made of sugar, flavor, water, and more! The thing that makes soda bubble is a gas called carbon dioxide. Have you ever accidentally shaken a bottle of soda and opened it too quickly? What happens? It goes


everywhere! That is the carbon dioxide trying to escape and causes the liquid part of the soda to burst out of the bottle. Today we are going to use Mentos and see how they affect the different components, such as the carbon dioxide, of the soda.

What to Do **Make sure to do this experiment outside.** Go outside and set an open Diet Coke bottle in the middle of the grass, make sure it is positioned so that it cannot fall over. Grab a couple of Mentos (no more than 7), and quickly place them into the bottle. Afterwards, run back away from the bottle (make sure everyone is at least 10ft away) and watch! If you want to have your class practice the scientific method, place 4 or 5 bottles in a row, about 5 feet away from one another. Place a different amount of Mentos in each bottle and see which one causes the highest geyser. Have your class predict which geyser will be the highest, have them make observations, take notes, and write a short conclusion on what they saw.

Conclusion

Why did the Mentos cause this to happen? All the carbon dioxide in the soda – all that fizz – is squeezed into the liquid and looking for a way out. It’s drawn to any tiny bumps that it can grab onto. Those tiny bumps are called nucleation sites: places the gas can grab onto and start forming bubbles. Nucleation sites can be scratches on a glass, the ridges of your finger, or even specks of dust – anywhere that there is a high surface area in a very small volume.

The surface of a Mentos is sprayed with over 40 microscopic layers of liquid sugar. That makes it not only taste sweet but also covered with lots and lots of nucleation sites. In other words, there are so many microscopic nooks and crannies on the surface of a Mentos that an incredible number of bubbles will form around the Mentos when you drop it into a bottle of soda.

Since the Mentos are also heavy enough to sink, they react with the soda all the way to the bottom. The escaping bubbles quickly turn into a raging foam, and the pressure builds dramatically. All that pressure has got to go somewhere, and before you know it, you've got a big geyser happening! Do you think this is a physical, or a chemical change? It’s a physical change – the carbon dioxide simply concentrates and expands, but stays carbon dioxide!

superhero science - cosi

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