Thursday, August 26, 2010

Experiments

Matthew has been performing a series of "experiments" involving water and different substances at various temperatures. It wasn't until this last one that I considered documenting them; they aren't exactly landmark studies. But just to show the progression, here's a brief description of each study.

Study #1 - Matthew submerged a wad of chewed gum wrapped in its wrapper in a jar of water and observed it for about a week (until I couldn't stand it sitting on my counter any more!).

Study #2 - Matthew combined three ice cubes in a glass of water by stirring and then froze the all the contents of the glass for about a week (until I couldn't stand the glass in the freezer any more . . . Do you see the trend?).

Study #3 - Matthew combined a cup of sugar and about three cups of water in a container and then froze it.
elapsed time: about 2 hours
Noting that he hadn't been very good about tracking and observing the progress of his experiments in the past, he decided that he would observe this one for five days. Probably the greatest outcome of this experiment the chart he made to track his progress.
We love the bead-work marker holder that he produced.

Matthew hasn't decided on his next experiment, but maybe we'll provide a little more direction for his experiment designs. That is, if he'll take it.

1 comment:

Lefty said...

I love this! The girls LOVE doing science experiments. Though they have a kit they use--you may (or grandparents may) think about getting these for Dr. Issacson -not to pigeon-hole him or anything. The one they have is Mind Blowing Science, but there are several out there.