Sarah Rogers
Haven’t you ever wondered what it would be like to control the forces of nature? To make matter dance, to have complete power over the formation of ice, or to control the movement of liquid? Well, while ordinary humans do not possess that power, here are some really cool science tricks that can make others THINK you can!
#1. Flammable Gummy Bears
You can get an energetic reaction from candy by dropping it in a little heated potassium chlorate. The resulting reaction is extremely exothermic, meaning it releases heat.
Learn how to do it yourself here.
#2. Slowing Down Gravity
The cube being spun into the tube is actually a magnet. The magnet isn’t attracted to the copper pipe but to the magnetic field created by the pipe that interacts with the one from the magnet itself, slowing the fall.
Learn how to do it yourself here.
#3. Freezing Water Instantly
If you’ve been dying to control ice, just like in the movie Frozen, here’s your chance! Purified water can be cooled past freezing temperatures while staying as a liquid, as long as there isn’t a nucleus for the ice crystal to form, like an impurity in the water, or another piece of ice, as shown. The water is so cold that introducing an ice crystal causes a runaway freezing effect in the supercooled water.
Learn how to do it yourself here.
#4. Instant Hot Ice
When sodium acetate is disturbed enough to have a point of nucleation, the formula quickly creates crystals and lets off heat. Pouring the solution onto a plate then forms hot ice sculptures.
Learn how to do it yourself here.
#5. Waterproof Sand
The sand has been coated with a hydrophobic chemical which means the sand does not like water. The grains clump together and the sand does not dissolve. This forms the creation of spindly under-water sculptures. When the sand is taken out of the water, it acts like ordinary sand again, losing its shape.
Learn how to do it yourself here.
#6. Dry Ice Bubble
This mini explosion is what happens when bubbles intersect with dry ice. When a chunk of dry ice is put into water, it produces a great deal of steam. By adding a bit of soap to the water before adding the dry ice, you can make a bubble that fills the bowl. When the bubble pops, a mini explosion is created as the steam is freed.
Learn how to do it yourself here.
#7. Disappearing Marbles
We can see the spoon pulling marbles out of water, but the instant they’re submerged, they disappear. The marbles are made out polysaccharide which can hold 300 times its weight in water.
When they’re full of water, they have a refraction index similar to water. This means that light bends in the same way through water as it does through marble. Since the light does not bend in a way that differentiates the marble to our eyes, they become invisible.
Learn how to do it yourself here.
#8. Colorful Milk Art
The surface tension on milk is reduced when it’s touched by a cotton swab that’s dipped in dish soap. The parts of the milk that haven’t been affected by soap try to run away which ends up mixing the color with milk. Add a couple more swabs in different places to come up with crazier swirly patterns.
Learn how to do it yourself here.
#9. Water Bending
You can make water bend by using static electricity. The positively charged particles in the water are attracted to the negatively charged particle on the pipe. When they’re brought close to each another, the water will actually bend toward the pipe. You can achieve the same thing by running a plastic comb through your hair a few times and holding it near running water.
Learn how to do it yourself here.
#10. Oobleck
With a 2:1 ratio of starch and water, oobleck is a non-Newtonian fluid. While it acts like an ordinary fluid most of the time, it firms up and becomes solid when force is applied!
#11. Dancing Oobleck
Admittedly, punching a pile of oobleck can be fun but it’s even more fun to let sound waves control this slimy goo! In order to make oobleck dance, put it on top of a speaker and crank up the bass. The sound waves push it into forming solid shapes that dance around. And if this isn’t enough for you, throw in some food dye and watch the mess of colors swirl together hypnotically.
Learn how to do it yourself here.
#12. Magnetic Liquid
This black liquid can be manipulated through glass because of a magnetic substance called ferrofluid. Make a batch by using ink toner, vegetable oil and a rare Earth magnet found at your local hardware store.
Learn how to do it yourself here.
#13. Fluorescein
Fluorescein is a fluorescent tracer that can be used in various ways from microscopy of biological organisms to studying the flow of rivers. NASA also used fluorescein to find space capsules that landed in the ocean. This bright green color can be created in a glass bowl of water after the fluorescein has been harvested from ordinary highlighters.
Learn how to do it yourself here.
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