Sunday, July 22, 2012

Make dirty water clean - How to filter drinking water


Most young children have not given too much thought to clean water. They turn on the tap and clean, ready to drink water comes out. Some are used to drinking water out of a water filter system.
This nature education experiment shows children how dirty muddy water can be cleaned by filtering it through gravel and sand and shows them what goes on inside a water filtering system.


You will need:


  • sand
  • blotting paper or 3 or 4 coffee filters
  • clean flower pot
  • transparent jug
  • large measuring cup or pouring jug
  • Scissors
  • Tablecloth or dish towel
  • Gravel
  • Cotton wool
  • Dirty water (you can make tap water dirty by adding food colouring, cooking oil, small bits of plastic or soil)
  • Glass




Have small groups of children take turns making a water filter (or if necessary the class can sit in a circle and watch as you do it)



  • Put blotting paper or 3 or 4 coffee filters, then sand, and finally gravel in a clean flower pot
  • Place the flower pot in a larger transparent container so the filtered water can drip through and the children can observe it
  • In a large measuring cup, place dirt, bits of plant matter and water
  • Mix it up to make muddy water
  • Pour the muddy water into the flower pot as shown in the image on the right.
  • Children observe the color of the water dripping out the bottom of the pot into the transparent container
  • Ask questions - Where did the dirt go? Why did cleaner water come out?
  • Take the filter apart and try and find the dirt and bits of plant matter

What's happening?

Your filter gets rid of solid large particles that are not dissolved in the dirty water. The size of the particles that can be removed by filtration depends on the size of the filter you use.

A filter with small holes will stop more particles getting through than a filter with large holes.

Your filter won't get rid of food colouring, because food colouring is dissolved in the water. A technique called distillation is used in laboratories to get rid of substances dissolved in water.

The water you drink from taps is cleaned by lots of processes. Filtration is just the start. The water is also disinfected to get rid of microbes.


More: Try arranging the layers in a different order and compare the color of the filtered water.

How density works and How you can change the density of a liquid using by SALT WATER EGG EXPERIMENT

Have you ever tried swimming in the sea? Did you notice that you could float more easily in the open waters than when you’re swimming in fresh water or even in a swimming pool? This experiment will help you understand why!

 An egg sinks to the bottom if you drop it into a glass of ordinary drinking water but what happens if you add salt? The results are very interesting and can teach you some fun facts about density.


  Objective: To understand how density works and how you can change the density of a liquid.


  how density works and how you can change the density of a liquid using by SALT WATER EGG EXPERIMENT


Materials Needed:

  • Cups 
  • Eggs 
  • Salt



 

Step 1) Fill 3 glasses with 250ml of water and place a fresh egg in one of the glasses, watch as it sinks.


Step 2) Put 4 tsp of salt into one of the glasses stir it up and place an egg in the water. Watch as it floats.

StStep 3) Put 4 tsp of salt into the final glass stir it up and pour out some of the salt water. Now place an egg in the water. Slowly and carefully pour fresh water into the glass of salt water and watch as the egg sinks down till the middle.

 HOW IT WORKS:

Density is the amount of space something takes up per volume and when you add more mass to the same amount of space being taken up you can change the density of a liquid. When you drop a raw egg into fresh water the egg doesnt displace enough water making the egg more dence then the water around it. Creating an unbalanced force which sends the egg to the bottom of its container. When you add 4 tsp of salt to 250 ml of water and stir, the salt crystals break down into molecules and and fill in the holes inbetween the water molecules. The solution now has more mass in the same space or volume, which changes the density of the water. When you add the egg to the salt water you displace the same amount of water but that space has more molecules in it and the egg becomes less dence then the salt water around it. When you slowly add fresh water to salt water the less dence fresh water floats on top of the more dence salt water and you create a dencity colum of water. The egg sinks through the less dence fresh water and floats on the more dence salt water. To make anything that doesnt float, such as a bowling ball that doesnt float, you just have to increase or lower the density of the liquid you want the object to float in.

  FLOAT AN EGG IN THE MIDDLE OF WATER!! (DENSITY COLUME) SCIENCE EXPERIMENT "

density experiment" "water density experiment" "egg density experiment" "liquid density experiment" "egg floating in salt water" "egg float experiment" "how to make an egg float in water" "density colume" "how to make a density colume" "science experiments" "cool science experiments" "science fair prodjects" "science experiemnts for children" "science fair prodject ideas" "science experiments gone wrong" "science tricks" "science experiments for school" "science fair projects for school" "science experiments to do at home" "science experiments you can do at home" "science experiments explosions" "science experiments cool" "science experiments at home" "science experiments easy"

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Dispersal of seeds

-------------------------
Before they can grow into new plants, seeds need to leave the seed pod. If all the seeds a plant produced landed just underneath the parent plant, they would be too crowded, and the established large plant might not leave them enough light or water for them all to develop properly. When you plant seeds too thickly in a pot, you can see that they grow tall and leggy, and each plant is weak and spindly. The various methods of seed dispersal are designed to ensure that as many seeds as possible have a good chance of growing up to produce seeds of their own.




Sometimes, the pod or fruit containing the seeds is carried away from the parent plant; sometimes, individual seeds are spread to a new location. The size and shape of the seedpod or the seeds influences how they are dispersed. The main methods plants use to disperse their seeds to places with better growing conditions than directly under the parent plant include gravity, animals, force, wind and water. Often, a plant will spread its seeds by a combination of these methods. For instance, a fruit falling to the ground by gravity might then be carried away by animals, or a seed blown by the wind might land in water and be transported somewhere else before germinating.

On some plants native to Australia and South Africa, the seedpods may need the heat of the natural bush fires occurring in these areas to open and release their seeds, which are then dispersed by other means.

Dispersal of seeds videos









Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Been Seed coat activity

=====================================

1. Been Seed coat activity





Monocotyledons (monocots) and dicotyledons (dicots) make up the two large groups of flowering plants, differentiated by their seed structures. Monocot seeds contain one cotyledon, or embryonic leaf. When these seeds germinate, the cotyledon remains below ground, absorbing nutrients from the endosperm, the starchy food supply in the seed. The coytledon transports these nutrients to the developing seedling. Dicot seeds contain two coytledons, which absorb and store the nutrients from the endosperm before the seed germinates. The cotyledons, thick with stored nutrients, emerge above ground during germination, and then transport the stored nutrients to the developing seedling. For a brief time, the cotyledons also serve as the first photosynthesizing leaves, but they wither and die when the true leaves emerge.













2. Seed Germination



According to Katina Mooneyham, starting seeds and plants indoors is a good idea, especially for the kids' garden. It starts the season and the kids can get a good grasp on germination and plant needs. Seed experimenting can also help germinate a kid's interest in gardening.

Paper towel experiments

There are many experiments to try with seeds and paper towels. Maybe you could see whether those extra absorbent towels hinder, help or don't affect the seed's sprouting abilities. You can observe and make a mental note about which, if any, paper towels help seeds grow faster or slower. You could make it a science project. If you use it as a science project, you will need to make notes in a journal. You should keep the amount of water and light the same for each paper towel unless you're experimenting on other factors.

Seed growth rate

What affects the seed growth rate? Make a list of the things a plant needs, then try changing one of those factors. The list should include sunlight, water, food and air. Does changing any of these factors affect how fast the seed germinates?



Growing without soil

Believe it or not, seeds and plants can be grown in just water. It's a plant science known as hydroponics and can be very effective (and clean) for growing plants. You can do experiments with different plants and compare growth in water to traditional growth in soil. Start the seeds the traditional way and see if you can get some to start in just plain water.

Does soil matter?

Does the type of soil matter? Test this by conducting an experiment. Get several different types of soil. For example, get top soil, potting soil and a germinating mix. Take three seeds of the same kind. Place equal amounts of each type of soil in three-inch pots. Then plant one seed in each pot. Take notes. Does one seed grow faster than the others? Do any of the seeds grow fast and then just stop growing? Let the experiment run on for a few weeks.

There are so many experiments that kids can do to have fun with seeds. Start the gardening season with knowledge that will help you succeed in this year's gardens.






To Watch more Video Click here


Epigeal germination climbing bean time lapse