Penguin Posted October 2, 2014 Share Posted October 2, 2014 Ruth, I have read a couple of your threads about the Silly Putty as an open - ended science experiment and I would like to try this with my 8th grader. How would you tailor it for 8th grade? By the way, have you seen this fairly new Cookie Science blog? I read about it on the chat board, and I would like to get my son to do something like this, too. It is really difficult for me to obtain any types of chemicals - good food science might save chemistry for me. We have been using Mr. Q's Advance Chem labs, but most of them are demonstrations. For those of you curious about Ruth's Silly Putty Idea: Post #4 http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/485250-the-scientific-method/ Post #2 http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/314693-chemistry-science-fair-project-ideas-help/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted October 2, 2014 Share Posted October 2, 2014 Oh fun! I think it would be easy to tailor for 8th grader. Simply, make your ds do all the experimental design, record keeping, and designing of graphs. When I did it with my children at a younger age, I had to do these three things. But an 8th grader could do them mostly independently, although it would still be a challenge. I'm telling you, 3 variables make it really complicated! I was like :blink: when we were doing it. Ask me some specific questions, and I would be happy to help! Ruth in NZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted October 2, 2014 Share Posted October 2, 2014 cookie science looks like something my younger would looooove. Will give it a closer look tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penguin Posted October 15, 2014 Author Share Posted October 15, 2014 We started the Silly Putty Experiment yesterday. In the spirit of Ruth's awesome chronicles of big projects, I thought that it be fun to chronicle this version of her silly putty experiment. So far, DS has made two batches of putty. He has chosen to let the amount of borax be the independent variable. The putty is being tested for (1) bounce height (2) how far it can stretch without breaking and (3) how well it transfers newspaper ink. We are using this recipe which requires first creating a solution of water (118 ml) and borax (5 ml) and then incrementally adding the borax / water solution to the water / glue solution. For the first batch, he added 60 ml (15 ml at a time) of borax/water solution to the glue/water solution. He had a ball of putty (approximately baseball size) and a good bit of glue/water remaining in the bowl. In retrospect, in might have been better to keep adding the borax/water solution until it was gone. For the second batch, he doubled the amount of borax in the borax/water solution but held the amount of added solution at 60 ml. What he immediately found was that he created approximately twice as much putty - but was it twice as much of the SAME putty or would this putty also have different properties? Initial observations of the texture indicate different properties, but maybe that is due to the fact that Batch #1 sat overnight. Given that Batch #1 will always be older than Batch #2, this factor may have to remain a source of error. Tomorrow, he will create Batch #3. We are wondering when the borax/ water solution will become saturated. So far, doubling the amount of borax did not saturate the solution. Saturating the solution might make an interesting aside. Batch #2 was definitely stretchier than Batch #1. Batch #1 transferred black ink only whereas Batch #2 also transferred color newsprint ink a little bit. They both transferred black newspaper ink equally. Bounce height seemed about the same - it is hard to measure this, though. So far, he has five pages of lab notes. This experiment could easily be taken further by manipulating the other variables, but I think that after Batch #3 tomorrow we will call it good. I wasn't aiming for a full-blown project, and he will still have graphing to do and a write-up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted October 16, 2014 Share Posted October 16, 2014 :hurray: Awesome! We never thought of the transfer of color idea. Will suggest it in a few years when my younger gives this a go. This experiment could easily be taken further by manipulating the other variables, Isn't that the truth. It is by far the best *real* chemistry experiment that I have found -- manipulating chemical composition to create a new product with different properties. Plus it is super fun because you make silly putty! Ruth in NZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwik Posted October 16, 2014 Share Posted October 16, 2014 I was always curious Ruth, what kind of glue did you use? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penguin Posted October 16, 2014 Author Share Posted October 16, 2014 It appears that the ability to lift colored print has diminished due to changes in the types of ink used. http://www.altweeklies.com/aan/silly-putty-doesnt-work-anymore/Story?oid=168408 http://chymist.com/toy_store.html Scroll down to Silly Putty kiwik, I read somewhere NOT to use Elmer's school glue. We are using Elmer's Glue-All. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penguin Posted October 16, 2014 Author Share Posted October 16, 2014 Day #3: We definitely hit diminishing returns on the third and final batch. This time, the borax/ water solution included 15 ml of borax. It was a sticky mess. It was hard to knead it into a ball, and it stuck to the newspaper. Oh, and the water/borax solution saturated. So he doesn't know exactly how much borax actually ended up in the third batch. If we were going to keep going with this experiment, I would suggest another batch using 12.5 ml of borax. Because the 10 ml batch was superior (*) to the 5 ml batch, I would be curious about the tipping point from awesome to mess. (*) In my opinion, which I will keep to myself until DS proclaims a batch to be superior :) Ruth, this was great. It hit the spot for DS and the lab assistant, too. I was reminded how much I had enjoyed my materials science courses in college. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwik Posted October 18, 2014 Share Posted October 18, 2014 It appears that the ability to lift colored print has diminished due to changes in the types of ink used. http://www.altweeklies.com/aan/silly-putty-doesnt-work-anymore/Story? [url=http://chymist.com/toy_store.html]http://chymist.com/toy_store.html Scroll down to Silly Putty kiwik, I read somewhere NOT to use Elmer's school glue. We are using Elmer's Glue-All. I don't think we have elmers here. I figure Ruth must have found the NZ equivalent. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penguin Posted October 19, 2014 Author Share Posted October 19, 2014 I don't think we have elmers here. I figure Ruth must have found the NZ equivalent. Thanks. Oops! Sorry. I now understand the dilemma. One of the hardest things about doing labs where we live is chasing down ingredients. I did this one while visiting my mom in the USA because I knew I could find what I needed :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 We tried lots of different types of glue as a part of the experimenting. You can use wood glue as it is basically the same as elmers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happyhome Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 Does anyone have a resource for how to do the reporting (experimental design, graphing, report format). I think this would be great fun during the Holiday breaks coming up, but I haven't done something like this in 25 years😳 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penguin Posted October 22, 2014 Author Share Posted October 22, 2014 happyhome, if you google informal lab report format you will get some ideas. DS has not done his write up yet - we had a bunch of other things on our plate the last five days or so. I think he will start today. He ended up with six or seven pages of notes. I am going to have him try to figure out the graphing before I give any ideas. Normally, the independent variable goes on the x axis. I just found this great graphing primer for science: http://mathbench.umd.edu/modules/visualization_graph/page01.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happyhome Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 Thanks so much!! That helps. DD14 has offered to design the whole thing for us. I think it will be fun!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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