ScienceWithMe! brings you another simple science experiment from our Science With Africa! series.
As spring times approaches and we have more reasons to head outside with the kids this is a fun experiment to do with them. Katy who is only 4 years old did it!! My 12, 10 and 9 year also enjoyed it. For our new readers… ScienceWithMe! is trying to spread science and scientific thinking around the globe. To this end, we have sponsored an expat in a rural community in Africa to get African kids doing ScienceWithMe! We hope you in the Americas, Australia, Europe and Asia follow suit! Enjoy this experiment! And be sure and leave Katy a comment below! If you are new to our site be sure and browse through our ScienceWithMe! archives, sign up for our free activities, or just come back in a few days for a new post. Enjoy! elva
ScienceWithMe! brings you another simple science experiment: Do you want to do this activity with Katy and her Mom? Here is what you will need:
Water Chalk
Pour some water on the sidewalk and spread it around with your hand.
Then use the chalk to draw a border around the water spot.
Now leave it for a few minutes. Go back and check it. What happened?
Here is Katy’s water spot.
What happened to Katy’s water spot?
Try your experiment again in a sunny spot.
Which disappeared faster, the one in the shade or the one in the sun?
Katy and her Mom put a water spot in a place where the wind blew and then another one in a place where the wind didn’t blow.
Katy learned a lot about evaporation. Did you? She hopes so!
For now she says- “Bye, see you next time!!”
Parent’s Corner Water can exist in three states- solid (ice), liquid (water), and gas (water vapor or steam). Evaporation is the name given to the process by which a liquid, any liquid, changes to a gas. Explain to your child that that the water doesn’t disappear it is just changing form from liquid to gas. This experiment also looks at ways to increase the rate of evaporation. By drawing your circle in the sun, the rate of evaporation will increase because heat is one of the factors that causes water to evaporate faster. Another thing that increases the rate of evaporation is wind. The more wind the faster the rate of evaporation. You could also expand the activity by looking at the depth of the water. If the depth of the water is more, evaporation will take place slower. The reason for this is that evaporation can only take place at the surface as the water molecules are able to “jump” into the air. If the water is deeper, or the surface area smaller, than less molecules have the chance to jump so evaporation slows down. If you want to do even more science with the kids in your life be sure and engage in more of our ScienceWithMe!
