Category Archives: Elementary science experiments

Milk of Magnesia – Cool Science Experiment

Check out this and other cool science experiments at http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiments/ Sometimes great food and heartburn go hand in hand. Many people rely on products like Milk of Magnesia to settle their stomachs, but have you ever wondered how those antacids really work? This highly visual demonstration will show you exactly how Milk of Magnesia neutralizes the acids in your stomach – using some cool color changing chemistry – and saves the day after a great meal.

About Steve Spangler Science…

Steve Spangler is a celebrity teacher, science toy designer, speaker, author and an Emmy award-winning television personality. Spangler is probably best known for his Mentos and Diet Coke geyser experiment that went viral in 2005 and prompted more than 1,000 related YouTube videos. Spangler is the founder of www.SteveSpanglerScience.com, a Denver-based company specializing in the creation of science toys, classroom science demonstrations, teacher resources and home for Spangler’s popular science experiment archive and video collection. Spangler is a frequent guest on the Ellen DeGeneres Show where he takes classroom science experiments to the extreme. Check out his pool filled with 2,500 boxes of cornstarch!

Cool Science Toys – http://www.SteveSpanglerScience.com
Sign up for the Experiment of the Week – http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment-of-the-week
Watch Spangler’s Science Videos – http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/video/
Attend a Spangler Hands-on Science Workshop for Teachers – http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/teacher_training/
Visit Spangler’s YouTube Channel – http://www.youtube.com/stevespanglerscience

Join the conversation on Steve Spangler’s blog – http://www.SteveSpangler.com

Additional Information:

On the education side, Spangler started his career as a science teacher in the Cherry Creek School district for 12 years. Today, Steve travels extensively training teachers in ways to make learning more engaging and fun. His hands-on science boot camps and summer institutes for teachers inspire and teach teachers how to prepare a new generation for an ever-changing work force. Over the last 15 years, he has also made more than 500 television appearances as an authority on hands-on science and inquiry-based learning.

On the business side, Spangler is the founder and CEO of Steve Spangler Science, a Denver-based company specializing in the creation of educational toys and kits and hands-on science training services for teachers. The companys unique business strategies and viral creations have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Inc. Magazine, Wired and TIME Magazine where online readers voted Steve Spangler #18 in the Top 100 Most Influential People of the Year for 2006 (what were they thinking?). You’ll find more than 140 Spangler created products available online at SteveSpanglerScience.com and distributed to toy stores and mass-market retailers worldwide.

Spangler joined NBC affiliate 9News in 2001 as the science education specialist. His weekly experiments and science segments are designed to teach viewers creative ways to make learning fun. His now famous Mentos Geyser experiment, turning 2-liter bottles of soda into erupting fountains, became an Internet sensation in September 2005 when thousands of people started posting their own Mentos explosions on YouTube.com.

As founder of SteveSpanglerScience.com, Spangler and his design team have developed more than 140 educational toys and science-related products featured by mass-market retailers like Target, Wal-Mart, Toys R’ Us, Discovery Channel Stores and over 1,400 independent specialty toy stores. His educational science catalog and on-line business offers more than a thousand science toys and unique learning resources. Recently, Spangler has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Inc. Magazine, WIRED, the History Channel, Food Network and TIME Magazine where on-line readers voted Steve Spangler #18 in the Top 100 Most Influential People of the Year for 2006.

His recent appearances on the Ellen DeGeneres Show have taught viewers how to blow up their food, shock their friends, create mountains of foam, play on a bed of nails, vanish in a cloud of smoke and how to turn 2,500 boxes of cornstarch and a garden hose into a swimming pool of fun.

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Help! Some ideas for a school science fair project?

I’m in high school so my project needs to be, you know, high-schooly. None of that elementary stuff. Now, the fair is about 3 days away, so I need an experiment that can be done in under 1 day and a half. I know it looks like I was procrastinating, but I honestly thought it was next week. Please help!!!!!!!!
Oh, um, please nothing that blows up or anything. That happened last year and I was disqualified…Oh, and please the objects used need to be simple, nothing HUGE or expensive cuz I’m in Egypt and we don’t have everything other countries have.

A great project that I did in highschool (and it went over pretty well) was electroplating. Don’t get scared by the idea — it’s really REALLY simple to set up and do, as long as you find some instructions to get you started.

If you have access to the chemistry lab materials, there’s a number of really sweet projects you can do too. I’d suggest googling for "elephant toothpaste" and look on youtube for "potassium chlorate gummy bear". Definitely crowd pleasers.

WARNINGS: Okay, covering my ass here. Each of these labs should be demonstrated with the assistance of a competent adult, if not a chemistry teacher. Elephant toothpaste requires 30% Hydrogen Peroxide which is VERY DANGEROUS to handle. Always point beakers and tubes away from people when performing these experiments!

School system is experimental?

As a college student looking back at my elementary, junior, and high school years, I question what I really learned. I feel that the school system just experiments with us, requiring us to take biology, physics, science, etc. just to experiment and test us to see what we’d like. I feel this wastes a lot of years for students and that students should choose to follow a certain path that students care to follow. This would also shave off years off a student’s education and save tax dollars.

Does anyone agree with me or have any opinions on this?

First of all, most students in college change their major at least once. You certainly don’t want to be stuck in one profession in high school. Second, believe it or not, you don’t just take them to see if you like them. Any person with a basic education should know something about science – how genetics works, evolutionary biology, which chemicals not to mix together, the law of gravity, and most importantly, how we figure those things out.