[KIDS] PROJECT 001
{Photographs by Sally J Shim}
I was originally going to title this post "SCIENCE EXPERIMENT 001" since it appears I have an affinity towards numbering projects and posts. But I thought that might be too ambitious since I'm not sure how many science experiments we'll be conducting throughout the year. I admit I'm a social science type of gal but J loves science and I'm trying to encourage him to pursue his interests so maybe you'll see more science projects + experiments around here in the future. For now we'll stick with "PROJECT 001" because I definitely plan to share more kid-friendly projects on this blog.
Last week J participated in his school's annual science fair. His experiment was titled "Pencil Vs. Ziploc Bag". I thought I would share it here since it might interest those of you with children. You only need three things to conduct this experiment [sharpened pencils, ziploc bags and water] which makes it easy to do at home. First off you want to ask the question, "What would happen if you put a sharpened pencil through a ziploc bag filled with water?" Some might guess the bag would leak and others may hypothesize that the bag would not leak. Next fill a ziploc bag with water [3/4 full], seal the bag and pierce a sharpened pencil through the bag [rounded pencils work best]. You can put several more pencils through the bag. The bag should not leak. Why? The plasic is made of polymers, long chains of molecules, that allow the plastic to stretch. When you stick a sharpened pencil through the plastic bag the polymers move around and form a seal around the pencil. Pretty neat, right? When you're finished with the experiment make sure you place the ziploc bag in the sink and then remove the pencils. Otherwise you'll have some nice little puddles of water to clean up.
KIDS 
Reader Comments (7)
You are so clever! Love this and love that assistant of yours in the picture! X
JOKE // :)
I love the pencils! Where are they from??
fantastic + child-appropriate experiment.
and love the pencils! :)
LEE // I found them in the $1 section of Target over the summer.
JANE // Thanks! ;)
Good find on the pencils...very cute! And this is a great project...definitely adding it to our summer list!
HEATHER // Enjoy!