4TH OF JULY. EXPERIMENT ebook. as seen on Steve Spangler Inc. All Rights Reserved Englewood, CO (800) SteveSpanglerScience.

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1 4TH OF JULY EXPERIMENT ebook as seen on

2 A WORD ABOUT THIS EXPERIMENT ebook Don t settle for another barbecue, swimming pool and firework filled 4th of July. Actually, do all of those things but make sure to mix in some hands-on science experiments, projects and activities with the 4th of July ebook. This Independence Day, make the most out of all the fun in the sun with Rocket Geyser Skateboards, your very own Soda Dispenser and a cool but easy to make Smoke Bomb Smoke Ring Launcher. Then at night, discover the magic of fireworks with our element decoder and Flame Test experiment. Worried you ll run out of July 4th activities? Don t worry. We ve got even more Independence Day-themed activities right here: SAFETY! Everything in this ebook has been thoroughly tested and is not considered to be hazardous if used with adult supervision. That s right, the experiments in this guide require adult supervision. This ebook is not intended to be tossed at a kid with the instruction, Have fun. Instead, you might want to use this opportunity to interact with a few ankle-biters and learn a little science at the same time. Remember that this is a science guide and science can be messy. There are liquids, so you will get wet. Stuff falls on the floor, so you will need to clean it up. Don t put chemicals in your eyes or ears and don t eat your experiment. Trust us, they don t taste good and it s a bad thing to do. The bottom line is that this ebook requires adult supervision and common sense simple concepts to ensure a fun and safe experience.

3 HOMEMADE SODA GEYSERS as seen on

4 WHAT YOU NEED DIET SODA MENTOS CONSTRUCTION PAPER DUCT TAPE TOOTHPICKS ADULT SUPERVISION 1 2 Shape the paper into a tube using the Mentos. Remove the roll of Mentos and secure both ends of the tube with tape. 3 4 Place one end into the 2 liter bottle. Secure the tube to the bottle with tape.

5 5 6 Insert a toothpick just above the tape. Drop 5-7 Mentos into the tube. 7 Remove the toothpick and stand back!

6 HOW DOES IT WORK? Here s the question of the day... Why do Mentos mixed with soda produce this incredible eruption? You should know that there is considerable debate over how and why this works. While we offer the most probable explanations below, we also understand and admit that other explanation could be possible... and we welcome your thoughts. As you probably know, soda is basically sugar (or diet sweetener), flavoring, water and preservatives. The thing that makes soda bubbly is invisible carbon dioxide gas, which is pumped into bottles at the bottling factory using tons of pressure. Until you open the bottle and pour a glass of soda, the gas mostly stays suspended in the liquid and cannot expand to form more bubbles, which gases naturally do. But there s more... If you shake the bottle and then open it, the gas is released from the protective hold of the water molecules and escapes with a whoosh, taking some of the soda along with it. What other ways can you cause the gas to escape? Just drop something into a glass of soda and notice how bubbles immediately form on the surface of the object. For example, adding salt to soda causes it to foam up because thousands of little bubbles form on the surface of each grain of salt. Many scientists claim the Mentos phenomenon is a physical reaction, not a chemical one. Water molecules strongly attract each other, linking together to form a tight mesh around each bubble of carbon dioxide gas in the soda. In order to form a new bubble, or even to expand a bubble that has already formed, water molecules must push away from each other. It takes extra energy to break this surface tension. In other words, water resists the expansion of bubbles in the soda. When you drop the Mentos into the soda, the gelatin and gum arabic from the dissolving candy break the surface tension. This disrupts the water mesh, so that it takes less work to expand and form new bubbles. Each Mentos candy has thousands of tiny pits all over the surface. These tiny pits are called nucleation sites - perfect places for carbon dioxide bubbles to form. As soon as the Mentos hit the soda, bubbles form all over the surface of the candy. Couple this with the fact that the Mentos candies are heavy and sink to the bottom of the bottle and you ve got a doublewhammy. When all this gas is released, it literally pushes all of the liquid up and out of the bottle in an incredible soda blast. You can see a similar effect when cooking potatoes or pasta are lowered into a pot of boiling water. The water will sometimes boil over because organic materials that leach out of the cooking potatoes or pasta disrupt the tight mesh of water molecules at the surface of the water, making it easier for bubbles and foam to form. When a scoop of ice cream is added to root beer, the float foams over for essentially the same reason. The surface tension of the root beer is lowered by gums and proteins from the melting ice cream, and the CO2 bubbles expand and release easily, creating a beautiful foam on top. Next question... Why should you use diet Coke or diet Pepsi? The simple answer is that diet soda just works better than regular soda. Some people speculate that it has something to do with the artificial sweetener, but the verdict is still out. More importantly, diet soda does not leave a sticky mess to have to clean up. Hey, that s important! What s the record for the biggest Mentos fountain? My official record is a 18 foot blast that shot up and almost took out a half million dollar, high-definition television camera. You ll find video on-line at of some of our favorite eruptions. Now you ve learned first-hand what results from a bunch of hard, minty candies dropping into a bottle of soda. Did you know that you can go even further? Of course you can, this is science! We re going to introduce you to the Super Soda Dispenser, an invention that let s you catch and drink all of that erupting soda. Then, we ll guide you on how to harness the power of your geyser eruption and turn it into a soda-propelled rocket!

7 SODA DISPENSER as seen on

8 WHAT YOU NEED GEYSER TUBE DIET SODA MENTOS SIX CUPS TWO 3/4 INCH PVC END CAPS SIX PIECES OF 3/4 INCH PVC SIX PIECES OF 1/2 INCH PVC SEVEN 3/4 TO 1/2 INCH PVC REDUCING TEES ADULT SUPERVISION HERE IS WHAT YOU NEED FOR PART ONE. 1 - ONE REDUCING TEE - ONE PIECE OF 3/4 INCH THINWALL PVC - GEYSER TUBE Place the Geyser Tube cap inside the 3/4 inch thinwall piece of PVC then attach it to the reducing tee. HERE IS WHAT YOU NEED FOR PART TWO. - THREE REDUCING TEES - TWO PIECES OF 3/4 INCH PVC - THREE PIECES OF 1/2 INCH PVC 2 3 Connect the reducing tees using the 3/4 inch pieces of PVC. Attach the 1/2 inch pieces of PVC.

9 4 Build one more identical piece. HERE IS WHAT YOU NEED FOR PART THREE. - TWO PIECES OF 3/4 INCH PVC - FINISHED PIECE FROM PART ONE - BOTH PIECES FROM PART TWO 5 6 Place a 3/4 inch piece of PVC into each side of the reducing tee from part one. Connect the pieces from part two to each end of the 3/4 inch PVC.

10 7 Place end caps in each opening. HERE IS WHAT YOU NEED FOR PART FOUR. - FINISHED PIECE FROM PART THREE - MENTOS - DIET SODA - GEYSER TUBE - SIX CUPS 8 9 Fill the Geyser Tube with Mentos. Attach the PVC Soda Dispenser to the top of the geyser tube. 10 Place a cup under each 1/2 inch PVC pipe. Pull the tab on the Geyser Tube and enjoy a refreshing soda!

11 HOW DOES IT WORK? Tired of wasted diet soda, Steve s son, Jack, invented the Soda Dispenser. Jack had seen Steve drop Mentos candy after Mentos candy into 2-liter bottles of soda, but that corn syrupy goodness was always lost to the ground. Finally, he took some PVC piping (and a little bit of hands-on-science-know-how) to create a system of dispensers that gives you six delicious cups of tasty soda. It s a fun, creative, hands-on way to utilize the epic Mentos Geyser in a way that harnesses it for your drinking pleasure. Think we re going to stop there? Nope. Continue onto the next experiment to find another fun summer-inspired way to have fun with soda geysers! Check out Jack Spangler s original Soda Dispenser creation! Jack created a Mentos dispenser using a ball bearing, neodymium magnet, baby soda bottle and tornado tubes. Try using other materials to create your own custom dispenser!

12 ROCKET POWERED SKATEBOARD as seen on

13 WHAT YOU NEED SKATEBOARD STRONG TAPE MENTOS CARDBOARD PAPER DIET SODA ADULT SUPERVISION 1 Place some cardboard on the skateboard to cushion the soda. Place the soda on the cardboard. 2 Pull off a section of strong tape. Securely tape the soda to the skateboard.

14 3 Make a funnel out of paper. 4 5 Drop some mentos into the funnel. Uncap the soda and drop the mentos into the soda. 6 Quickly set it down.

15 HOW DOES IT WORK? Soda basically consists of lots of sugar, some flavoring, water, and preservatives. What gives soda its bubbly appeal is invisible carbon dioxide gas that has been forced into the liquid using tons of pressure. Until you open a soda, which makes room in the soda bottle, the gas mostly stays suspended in the liquid and can t collect to form bubbles, which is what gases naturally do. However, if you shake the soda and then open it, the gas is quickly released from the protective hold of the water molecules and escapes with a whoosh, taking some of the liquid along with it. There are other ways to cause the gas to escape. Just drop something into a glass of soda and notice how bubbles immediately form on the surface of the object. For example, adding salt to soda causes it to foam up because thousands of little bubbles form on the surface of each grain of salt. Also, compare the foaming of diet soda to regular soda when each is poured over ice. The same happens when you drop Mentos candies into a soda! Each Mentos candy has tiny pits on its surface where bubbles form called nucleation sites. They re the perfect geyser starter! The geyser is cool and everything, but how does it move the skateboard? Well, Newton s Third Law of Motion states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. The force of the soda geyser whooshing backward out the bottle is exactly matched by a force pushing the rocket forward. The strong the backward geyser, the faster the car moves forward. That s why you tested different sodas and amounts of Mentos, to get the best launch!

16 FLAME TEST COLORFUL ELEMENTS as seen on

17 WHAT YOU NEED CUP OF WATER POPSICLE STICK BORIC ACID CREAM OF TARTAR LIGHTER ADULT SUPERVISION 1 2 Dip the popsicle stick in the water. Now dip the popsicle stick in the boric acid. 3 Place the popsicle stick in the flame and observe what color the flame is.

18 4 5 Dip the popsicle stick in the cream of tartar. Place it in the flame and check out the fireworks! HOW DOES IT WORK? The experiment that you just conducted is called a flame test. A flame test is a procedure used to detect certain elements in a material. When you stuck the boric acid in the flame, you should have notice a bright green flame. The green flame denotes the presence of the element Boron. The cream of tartar should have yielded a purple flame, the color associated with the presence of potassium (cream of tartar is a potassium salt). These element-specific colors are a result of their emission spectrum. The emission spectrum of an element is the color emitted when an atom s electrons make a transition from a high energy state to a low energy state. Use this firework decoder to discover the composition of each firework you witness in the night sky.

19 SMOKE BOMB SMOKE RINGS as seen on

20 WHAT YOU NEED EMPTY PLASTIC COFFEE TUB UTILITY KNIFE SMOKE BOMB LIGHTER ADULT SUPERVISION 1 Cut a circle out of the bottom of the coffee tub. This is what it should like like when finished. 2 Light the smoke bomb outside in a safe location.

21 3 Let the smoke bomb begin to smoke. Quickly rest the coffee tub over the smoke bomb. 4 Let the coffee tub fill up with smoke and then tap the back of the tub to create smoke rings. After perfecting the ring launcher, try it with different colors!

22 HOW DOES IT WORK? The proper name for the air cannon device is vortex generator. The ball of air that shoots out of the cannon is actually a flat vortex of air, similar to rings of smoke blown by a talented cigar smoker. A vortex is generated because the air exiting the bucket at the center of the hole is traveling faster than the air exiting around the edge of the hole. That swirling or vortex motion can be observed if a little smoke is blown into the bucket just before giving the rubber membrane a gentle push. This activity demonstrates that air occupies space... and the flying smoke rings are an added bonus. The smoke machine is the traditional way of creating smoke rings in your air blaster, but there s no need for a smoke machine when smoke bombs are readily available around the 4th of July. After lighting the smoke bomb (with adult supervision, of course), fill the coffee tub with the colored smoke. Use caution as hot debris can shoot up from the smoke bomb and burn tiny holes in the membrane. The trash can is ready for you to tap the membrane and produce dozens of colorful smoke rings. Whether you choose the more traditional smoke machine or the much more exciting smoke bomb, the rule is the same - never blow smoke in anyone s face (people or animals!) Aim the flying rings of smoke in the air and fire away. We also recommend that you do this activity outside or be prepared for the smoke alarms to go off. It s always interesting to have to explain the smoke rings to the fire department, especially when the rings are created by smoke bombs... been there, done that.