Prospect High School STEM Club

Starting this week, we're going to post about a new STEM field every week! Today's post is on Environmental Engineering.

Looking for free, online math and science tutoring? Look no further! Every Monday from 3:00 to 5:00 PM PST, we are hosting drop-in tutoring sessions for elementary and middle school students. We have many qualified sophomore and junior student tutors who are well versed in subjects such as Calculus, Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, and many others. Below is the link to sign up and receive the Zoom link. Hope to see you all there!

Math, Science, and HSPT Tutoring (3:00 to 5:00 PM) Elementary and middle school students can drop in to our Zoom session to receive tutoring from Prospect High School students.

Cloud in a Jar

In this experiment, you’ll learn how to make a cloud in a jar from materials that you have at home. Along the way, we’ll learn about the water cycle and how clouds form in the sky.

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Materials:
- a jar with a lid
- about ⅓ cup of HOT water (make sure you get help from an
adult when handling hot liquids!)
- ice
- hairspray

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Procedure:
- Pour the hot water into your jar and warm the sides of the jar by swirling the water around.
- Turn the lid of the jar upside down and put ice cubes on top of it. Let it sit for about 20 seconds.
- Quickly, remove the lid and spray some hairspray into the jar. - Immediately replace the lid.
- Watch your cloud form!
- When there’s a large enough cloud, you can remove the lid and watch your cloud escape into the air.

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How does this work?

To understand how the cloud was formed, we need to first understand how clouds are formed in the sky. In the water cycle, water is first ev***rated by the sun into the air. Basically, the water heats up and turns into water v***r. It goes into the sky. When it is in the sky, the temperature cools down and it condenses. This means that the v***r turns back into water. It condenses and grabs onto particles in the air like dust, pollen, and more. This creates the fluffy shapes that we see in the sky! In the rest of the water cycle, the cloud eventually becomes too dense and heavy to remain in the sky and eventually gives way to precipitation, which is what we see as rain, snow, hail, or sleet. Then, as it runs off into larger bodies of water, it is ev***rated little by little and the water cycle continues!

In the experiment, when we poured the hot water into the jar and replaced the lid, some of it turned into water v***r. When we put ice on top, it is able to cool down and condense back into water. Then, when we spray the hairspray into the jar, the water particles grab onto the hairspray particles and we are able to see the cloud forming.

Learn how to make pumpkin Oobleck! Happy Experimenting and Happy Halloween from the STEM Club!

Credit:
https://inspirationlaboratories.com/pumpkin-oobleck/

Online Intro to Programming with Scratch! The STEM Club is hosting our second Introduction to Scratch online session this Thursday, October 29, from 4:00 to 5:00 PM. This session is open to all elementary schoolers and no programming experience is needed! Our club of Prospect High School students will be assisting the session attendees in programming a some fun, Halloween-themed programs this week. Please message us privately for the Zoom link if you are interested!

Magic Inflating Balloons

Have you ever wondered if you could blow up a balloon without using your mouth? Well, you can! Magically inflate some balloons and learn about the interactions between acids and bases with this classic experiment!
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Materials:

Empty Water Bottles
Balloons
Baking Soda
Vinegar (any type)
Funnel
Teaspoon
⅓ measuring cup

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Directions:

Insert the funnel into the mouth of the balloon. This will make it much easier to get the baking soda inside. Place two teaspoons of baking soda into the funnel so it falls into the balloon. Holding the filled balloon upright, carefully remove the funnel from the balloon.

Wash and dry the funnel to ensure there is no baking soda left on it. Using the funnel, pour a third of a cup of vinegar into the empty water bottle.

Secure the mouth of the balloon to the top of the bottle. Make sure that no baking soda drops into the bottle as you do this!
While holding the bottle in place, lift the balloon to allow the baking soda to fall into the bottle.

Watch as the balloon magically inflates itself!

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How Does It Work?

When vinegar (an acid) and baking soda (a base) mix together, they cause a chemical reaction that produces carbon dioxide gas. Gases are made up of high-speed particles which move in any random direction, meaning that gasses do not have one specific shape and simply conform to whatever container they are in. After the carbon dioxide gas has filled up the water bottle, it begins to fill the balloon. The constant production of gas from the vinegar and baking soda is what continues to inflate the balloon, making it bigger and bigger right before your eyes!

This vinegar-baking soda reaction is also known as an ‘acid-base’ reaction. Vinegar is not just an acid, it is actually an acid in water. This water is where this acid and base reaction takes place. When these two substances are mixed together, the baking soda takes one proton from the vinegar. This occurrence is what causes carbon dioxide gas to form, and also creates the bubbling effect you see at the bottom of the bottle.

We're having our first online session of the school year this Thursday, 10/15, from 4:00 to 5:00 PM! All elementary school students are welcome to join. We will be giving students an introduction to coding through Scratch, a programming language that uses blocks and fun games and activities.

Please DM us with your child's name and grade for the Zoom link!

Making a Sundial
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Without a clock on the wall or a watch on their wrist, how were our ancestors able to tell what time of day it was? A sundial is the oldest known device that can tell someone the time by tracking the position of the Sun in the sky. The traditional sundial is made with a dial plate, a gnomon, and hour lines. The dial plate is a flat, circular surface that is similar to a clock face. The gnomon is the object in the center of the dial plate, and usually sticks upwards at an angle. The hour lines are markings around the dial plate that indicate the hours of the day (very similar to the hour markings on a clock!). When the Sun is in a certain spot in the sky, the gnomon casts a shadow along the hour line that indicates a specific time.

Do you want to be able to tell time like our ancestors? Follow the instructions below!
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MATERIALS:
One paper plate (dial face)
Pencil (gnomon)
And of course, a sunny spot!
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DIRECTIONS:
– Like the hour lines on a clock, write ‘12’ at the top of your paper plate, and continue with the rest of the hours around the plate.
– Stick the pencil through the center of the paper plate so that it sticks up straight.
– Set your sundial in a sunny area. At around noon, the shadow cast by the pencil should align with the 12-hour mark.

And that’s all! Throughout the day at different times, watch as the shadow cast by the pencil falls on different hour lines. They should correspond with the actual time of day!
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VOCABULARY:
Sundial: the oldest known tool used to tell time by tracking the Sun’s position
Dial plate: a flat, circular surface; similar to a clock face
Gnomon: the object in the center of the dial plate that casts the shadow showing the time; similar to a clock’s hands
Hour lines: lines that indicate the hours of the day; similar to the hour markings on a clock

DIY lava lamp

Learn about density and polarity!

Materials:

Vegetable oil
Water
Food coloring
Alka-seltzer
Clear bottle or jar

Directions

1. Fill your container with oil and water.
2. Add the food coloring of your choice to the mixture.
3. Insert an Alka-seltzer into the container, and watch your lava lamp activate!

What happened?
The vegetable oil and the water have different densities, meaning their molecules are spaced out differently. Water is more dense because its molecules are more compact than oil’s, so it is “heavier” and sinks to the bottom. Oil is the lighter liquid, so it remains on the top.

Another science principle that the lava lamp uses is polarity. When oil and water are put together, they do not mix. This is because water is a polar molecule, since its hydrogen atoms have a partial positive charge, and on the other end, the oxygen atom has a partial negative charge, similar to a magnet. When this polar liquid comes in contact with other polar liquids, they mix, because they are attracted to each other magnetically. But, oil is nonpolar, so it can not mix with the water molecules, therefore creating two distinct layers in the lava lamp.

The Alka-seltzer reacts with the water molecules and produces carbon dioxide as a product. The carbon dioxide sticks to the water molecules, and makes it less dense than the oil, therefore traveling upward. When the water and carbon dioxide bubble reaches the surface, the carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere. The water is then heavier than the surrounding oil, and sinks back down. This creates the rising and falling motion of the water in the lamp that we see.

Two Properties of Water: Surface Tension and Cohesion

Water is known as the “universal solvent” because many substances can be dissolved in it. Additionally, humans need large amounts of water to survive. In fact, up to 60% of our body is water! On top of that, about 71% of the Earth’s surface is covered in water! Water has many properties that make it special, and the ones we’re going to be learning about today are surface tension and cohesion.
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Materials:
Two pennies
Pipette
Small cup of water
Small cup of oil, vinegar, or soapy water (any variation of the three is fine!)
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Directions:

1. Fill your pipette with water and start putting drops of water on one of your pennies. Make sure to count how many drops you’ve put!

2. Continue putting drops of water on the penny until the water spills over the side. How many drops of water were you able to put on the penny before the water spilled off the penny? _______

3. Wash out your pipette and fill it with your second liquid. Start putting drops of that liquid on your penny. Make sure to count how many drops you’ve put on your penny!
4. Continue putting drops on the penny until the liquid spills over the side. How many drops of the second liquid were you able to put on the penny? __________
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Questions:

1. Which solution, water or your second liquid, stayed on the penny with more drops? Why do you think this happened?

2. How does the chemical formula of water (H2O) relate to how many drops of water you were able to place on the penny?

3. Where have you seen water droplets form the same/similar shape as the one on your penny in real life? Why is it important for water to form these shapes?
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Explanation:
Water’s structure is two hydrogen atoms bonded to an oxygen atom. Water molecules have very strong hydrogen bonds between each other, allowing for strong surface tension and cohesion. A high surface tension in a liquid means that it takes a lot of energy and force to break the bonds on the surface. Cohesion is the bonding between water molecules. Due to these unique properties that water has because of its chemical properties, more water is able to stay on the penny compared to almost all other liquids.

To learn more about why water is so special, check out this video by Crash Course Kids: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkAhB-8CtZg

Water Water Everywhere: Crash Course Kids #14.2 So you know about Freshwater and Saltwater now and you know that there's not that much Freshwater for us (and other life) to get to. So how do different anim...

Make Your Own Board Game!

What’s your favorite board game? In this activity, you’ll be able to make your own board game, filled with activities that help to promote your knowledge! This can be extended to learning times tables in math, learning interesting science facts, or anything else that you would like to learn while having fun. This is also a fun way to work on the hidden ‘A’ part in STEM: Art! Feel free to decorate your game in any way you choose.

You Will Need:
Paper ( a large roll would work best, but you can also try to make a big sheet by taping together a few sheets of normal printer paper)
*Try to reuse and recycle! Instead of using many new sheets of paper, see if you have any scratch paper with one blank side. Tape them together to make a big sheet of paper without having to use unnecessary resources!
Construction Paper (see directions if you don’t have any)
Scissors
Tape
Glue
Markers/Pens
Dice (or a spinner, use what you have at home!)
Game pieces: These can range from old, small toys that you have at home to coins or washers!

Directions:
1. Roll out paper to cover a large surface, like a table. (If you don’t have a roll of paper, use this step to tape together many sheets of paper to make one large sheet).

2. Cut construction paper (or your regular paper) into squares. These squares should be small, but not so small that they’re hard to see. Aim for 3-4 inches per side.
Use some of your squares to make a path along your big piece of paper. This will be your game board! Glue the squares onto the paper to make the path.
IF YOU DO NOT HAVE CONSTRUCTION PAPER: Use markers or pens to draw a game board. Make sure you have spaces that you can move forward or backwards in.

3. Feel free to decorate with anything you have on hand!

4. Draw with markers or pens or decorate with stickers! Make this game board unique.

5. Take the rest of your squares and make up activities to write on them. Be creative here!

You could have math activities: e.g. count by 3’s, recite times tables, etc
You could also try doing something physical: e.g. 10 jumping jacks, dancing, etc
If you like science, try remembering some facts! e.g What is an animal that can live on both land and water? (the answer is an amphibian)
If you don’t have any ideas, try looking up some general trivia questions and write them down.
Leave most squares blank, but try to think of some things you can ‘land on’ to make the game more interesting! For example, you could have one saying ‘move up 2 spaces’ or ‘roll again’.
Now, make up rules to your game. Make sure they’re fair and that your family agrees with them!
Have fun playing with your family!

If you don’t have dice or a spinner, you can use Google’s random number generator. Make sure you restrict it to only numbers 1-12!

Have fun playing your brand-new board game!

Join us for our online session on Thursday, August 6th! We will be learning about what makes tall structures stable through a fun activity. To make your online experience more interactive, make sure to bring some toothpicks and tape to this session! Please DM us for the link. Ages 7+

How do clouds form? In this experiment, you will be able to make your own cloud and see how they work!

Note: An adult must be present to help with this experiment.

Materials:
Clear 2-liter plastic bottle with cap
Warm water (tap)
Matches

Instructions:
Fill the clear plastic bottle ⅓ full of warm tap water (not boiling) and cap it.

Squeeze the bottle hard and release it. Does anything happen?

Shake the bottle if the inside is covered with water droplets.
Uncap the bottle and ask an adult to light a match, blow it out, drop it into the bottle, and quickly put the cap back on.

Squeeze the bottle hard and release it. What happens?

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Here are some questions to think about. Write your thoughts/answers in the comments below!

- If you saw droplets on the inside of the bottle after you added the warm water, how do you think they formed?

- Why do you think we needed to use a match?

- What does squeezing the bottle do? How does this help the cloud form?

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Clouds start to form when water in oceans, lakes, and other bodies of water ev***rates, or turns into a clear gas called water v***r. The water v***r travels in the air, and it condenses, or changes from a gas to a liquid, to form water droplets in the air. It is easier for water v***r to condense when there are particles like smoke, pollen, and dust present for them to condense on. When the warm water in the bottle ev***rated, adding the match to the bottle produced smoke particles which provided the water v***r a surface to condense on. When you squeeze and release the bottle, you increase and decrease the pressure inside it quickly, so that the air pressure inside it is low enough to form a cloud. Although you can’t see this happen in real life, this process occurs all the time in nature! To learn more about clouds and how they are formed, visit https://climatekids.nasa.gov/cloud-formation/.

How Do Clouds Form? Learn more about how clouds are created when water v***r turns into liquid water droplets that then form on tiny particles that are floating in the air.

We will be having our next online session tomorrow, 7/28, at 5:00 PM. A hint about the activity: we will be learning about different types of animals and their classifications, as well as their habitats through a fun, creative activity!

Please DM us for the Google Meets link.

Sound Waves

Have you ever wondered how sound travels? By doing this experiment, you can see sound travelling in front of your own eyes!

Materials:
- One speaker to play music
- Some grains of rice

Place 5 to 10 grains of rice on the speaker and play some music. Notice what happens when you change the volume of the music. Do the grains of rice move differently when there are different songs playing? When the volume of the songs are different? Comment your observations below!

Sound waves change based on pitch and volume. Take the picture attached as an example. Wave 1 is a normal sound wave. Wave 2 is a sound that's louder, but has the same pitch, as Wave 1. Wave 3, on the other hand, is at a lower pitch and louder volume than Wave 1. Finally, Wave 4 is at a much higher pitch than Waves 1, 2, or 3. (Credits: https://www.explainthatstuff.com/sound.html )

We will be having our second online session this Tuesday, July 21st, at 5:00 PM. This time, we will be putting our problem-solving skills to the test in a complicated logic riddle! Privately message us for the Zoom link and password.

Germination is the process during which a plant sprouts it’s roots. When seeds are under the soil, its hard to see the roots grow, but in this activity, there is no soil, so you can see everything take place!

To germinate a pinto bean, dampen a paper towel. You can use a spray bottle for this. Place the damp paper towel into a Ziploc bag and place the bean on top of it. Close the Ziploc bag and place it in a sunny spot. Add more water using the spray bottle as the paper towel starts drying out and watch as your bean plant germinates! As shown in the picture below, you can also do this activity in a clear cup to watch the plant grow upwards.

Photo: https://lifeatthezoo.com/growing-beans-science-home/

Everyday Geometry:

There are shapes surrounding us everywhere in our daily lives. With the help of a parent, try to find objects in your house that are some of these basic shapes, such as a circle, square, or cylinder. For an extra challenge, try to find some of the shapes listed in the "Challenge Shapes", such as a pentagon, hexagon, or square pyramid.

If you found any interesting shapes, comment them down below! If you enjoyed this activity, make sure to give it a like and follow our page for more activities like this.

Please message us privately for more information + Zoom link. Hint: the activity has something to do with the upcoming Artemis mission to the moon!

From now on, we will be posting one activity per week! Here is the first one:

Sit outside and observe your surroundings. This can be anywhere--your backyard, front yard, or anywhere else safe outdoors. Observe your surroundings. Are you sitting on grass or dirt? When you look up, can you see trees or just the clear sky? Use 4 senses to observe your surroundings (sight, smell, hearing, and touch). Make sure to make observations at every level; can you see mountains in the distance? Ants crawling beneath your feet? Write down your observations, and comment them below!

Experiment #6: Oobleck

This experiment is an interesting one, so make sure to be careful of your surroundings! Oobleck is fun, but can get pretty messy. 😄

Experiment #5: How are Mountains Formed?

Think about the questions asked throughout this experiment. Comment your thoughts and answers below!

Experiment #4: Paper Bridges, inspired by "My Big Science Book" by Roger Priddy

Think about the questions asked throughout this experiment. Comment your thoughts and answers below!

Experiment #3: Egg in Vinegar

What do you see forming on the egg shell after a few minutes? Comment your observation below!

Experiment #2: Walking Water

After doing the experiment, think about these questions:

1. What color is the water in the middle glass? Why?
2. How much water is in each glass at the end of the experiment?

Comment your answers below!