150+ Easy Science Experiments

by Mark Twain Media

• ISBN13: 9781580371070
• ISBN10: 1580371078
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-07-01
• Publisher: Mark Twain Media Inc Pub

Summary

Every experiment in this text begins with a question, such as "What causes...?," or "How do we know...?" Each query supplies several simple and effective ways to find out for yourself!

Table of Contents

Introduction	1	(1)
How to Use This Book	2	(1)
Sample Experiment/Demonstration Form	3	(2)
Blank Experiment/Demonstration Form	5	(3)
Experiment and Demonstrations	8	(103)
Weather	8	(41)
How Do We Know That Air Exerts Pressure?	9	(4)
What Are Some of the Uses of Air Pressure?	13	(3)
How Can We Make a Simple Barometer?	16	(2)
How Is a Barometer Used?	18	(1)
How Does Heating and Cooling Affect a Solid?	19	(2)
What Happens to a Bimetallic Strip When It Is Heated?	21	(1)
How Can We Demonstrate the Principle of the Thermostat?	21	(1)
How Can We Make a Bimetallic Strip?	22	(1)
Why Are Sidewalks Laid in Sections of Concrete?	22	(1)
What Are Some Effects of Cooling and Heating Liquid?	23	(1)
What Are Some Effects of Cooling and Heating Air?	23	(2)
How Is Heat Transferred by Radiation?	25	(1)
Is Metal a Good Conductor of Heat?	25	(1)
Is Water a Good Conductor of Heat?	26	(1)
How Can We Demonstrate Convection Currents in a Liquid?	27	(1)
How Can We Demonstrate Convection Currents (Wind) in Air?	28	(2)
How Can We Make a Simple Thermometer?	30	(1)
How Can We Make a Simple Weather Vane?	31	(1)
How Can We Make a Simple Anemometer?	32	(1)
What Effect Does Water Have on Weather Conditions?	33	(2)
What Are Some Reasons for Changes in the Rate of Evaporation?	35	(1)
Do Some Solids Evaporate Directly From a Solid to a Gas?	36	(1)
What Effect Does Evaporation Have on Temperature?	37	(1)
What Do We Mean by Relative Humidity?	37	(1)
How Can We Determine the Dew Point of the Air?	38	(1)
What Is the Water Cycle?	38	(2)
How Can We Make a Hygrometer?	40	(2)
How Can We Make a Chemical Hygrometer?	42	(1)
How Many Inches of Snow Equal One Inch of Rain?	42	(1)
How Can We Make a Simple Rain Gauge?	43	(1)
How Can We Make Smog?	43	(1)
How Can We Make a Cloud?	44	(1)
How Can We Demonstrate Cloud Forms?	44	(1)
How Can We Demonstrate Dew?	45	(1)
How Can We Make Frost?	45	(1)
What Is Sleet?	46	(1)
What Is Sleet?	46	(1)
What Is the Cause of Unequal Heating of the Land?	46	(2)
How Are Electric Charges Built up Before a Thundertorm?	48	(1)
The Earth's Surface	49	(26)
How Can We Collect and Study Rocks?	50	(1)
How Can Rock Collections Be Made?	51	(1)
What Is the Test for Limestone?	52	(1)
What Do Crystals Look Like?	52	(1)
What Is the Difference Between a Rock and a Mineral?	52	(1)
What Are the Effects of Water on Rocks?	53	(1)
How Are New Rocks Formed?	54	(2)
How Are Fossils Formed?	56	(2)
What Effect Do Plants Have on Rocks?	58	(1)
How Does Heating and Cooling Affect Rocks?	59	(1)
How Does Water Wear Away the Earth's Surface in Some Places and Build It up in Other Places?	60	(4)
How Can We Demonstrate the Formation of Stalactites and Stalagmites in Caves?	64	(1)
How Can We Demonstrate Some of the Geological Features Formed by a Stream?	64	(1)
How Can We Demonstrate the Action of Ice in Changing the Earth's Surface?	65	(1)
How Do We Know That Ice Contains Particles?	65	(1)
Was This Area Covered by Glaciers?	65	(1)
How Are Kettle Holes Formed?	66	(1)
Does Air Carry Sediments?	66	(1)
What Does Wind Do to the Debris on the Ground?	66	(1)
How Are Sand Dunes Formed?	67	(1)
What Are the Forces That Help Make Soil?	67	(1)
What Are the Layers of Soil?	68	(1)
What Are the Constituencies of Soil?	68	(1)
How Is Soil Tested?	69	(1)
How Can We Demonstrate Soil Erosion and Conservation?	70	(1)
How Can a Model of the Earth's Surface Be Made From Modeling Clay?	71	(1)
How Can a Model of the Earth's Surface Be Made From Plaster of Paris?	71	(1)
How Can a Model of the Earth's Surface Be Made From Papier Mache?	72	(1)
How Can a Scale Model Be Made?	72	(1)
How Is the Earth's Surface Built Up?	73	(1)
How Can We Show a Cause for Faulting?	73	(1)
How Can a Glass-Sided Trough Be Made?	74	(1)
Water	75	(10)
Does Water Exert Pressure?	76	(1)
What Is the Water Table?	77	(1)
What Is the Effect of Lowering the Water Table?	77	(1)
Upon What Does the Height of the Water Table Depend?	78	(1)
What Is the Evidence That the Water Table Is Near the Surface?	78	(1)
How Can the Amount of Runoff Water Be Reduced?	79	(1)
What Is the Effect of the Water Table on Seedlings?	79	(1)
How Can We Chemically Remove Impurities From Water?	80	(1)
How Can We Filter Water?	81	(1)
How Can We Distill Water?	82	(1)
What Is the Function of Soap?	82	(1)
What Is the Disadvantage of Hard Water?	83	(1)
How Can We Make Water Softer?	84	(1)
How Can We Make Water ``Wetter''?	84	(1)
Airplanes, Jets, and Rockets	85	(14)
How Does Changing Air Pressure Affect Objects?	86	(2)
How Is a Plane Lifted?	88	(1)
How Is Thrust Provided by Propellers?	88	(1)
How Is Lift Provided by an Airplane?	89	(1)
How Can We Demonstrate Drag?	89	(1)
How Can We Demonstrate Thrust in Jets and Rockets?	90	(4)
How Can We Demonstrate the Principle of the Helicopter?	94	(2)
How Can We Demonstrate the Function of the Elevators and Rudders?	96	(1)
How Can We Demonstrate the Function of the Ailerons?	97	(1)
Air Safety: What Are Seat Belts Used For?	97	(1)
How Can We Make a Parachute?	98	(1)
What Is the Principle of Artificial Satellites?: What Is Meant by Centrifugal Force?	98	(1)
Time and Place	99	(12)
How Should We Approach the Study of Time?	100	(1)
What Are Some Devices for Keeping Time?	100	(1)
Upon What Does the Period of a Pendulum Depend?	101	(1)
What Are the Time Zones in the United States?	101	(1)
How Can We Make a Time Cone?	102	(1)
What Is Meant by Latitude and Longitude?	103	(1)
How Can We Show That the Angular Distance of the North Star Above the Horizon Equals the Latitude?	104	(1)
How Can We Use a Sextant to Measure Latitude?	105	(1)
How Can We Make a Sextant?	105	(1)
How Can We Make a Map?	106	(3)
How Can We Make a Contour Model?	109	(1)
How Can We Use the Scale of Distances?	110	(1)
How Can We Use a Topographic Map?	110	(1)
Glossary	111	(10)
Answer Keys	121