Christmas science experiments to do at home.
Over the holidays you may well find your home filled with the usual Christmas paraphernalia – why not use some of the items to carry out some Christmas science experiments?
Dancing tinsel orbs
For this experiment you will need the thin tinsel that you throw onto your Christmas tree, known as lametta.
Take around six strands and tie a knot in one end. Then, tie another knot about 15 cm from the first to create an orb of tinsel.
Charge up a balloon by rubbing it on your clothes or the hair of someone who doesn’t mind a messy hair-do!
Drop the tinsel orb onto the balloon, it should float above the balloon.
The science
When you rub the balloon, you are building up static electricity on the surface. This happens because you are transferring electrons from your clothes onto the balloon – so it now has a net negative charge. As soon as the tinsel orb touches the balloon, it picks up some of the electrons so it, too, has a net negative charge. As like charges repel, the orb will move away from the balloon. Also, as each strand now has the same charge, they will repel from each other, causing it to take on a ‘ball’ appearance.
Keeping chocolate cool
One of the great things about Christmas is having plenty of chocolate to hand to eat – and also to use in science experiments!
Unfortunately, with the heating turned up to keep us warm inside, our chocolates can suffer by melting under the heat. Why not investigate different ways of stopping your chocolates from melting?
You can place unwrapped chocolates under a bright lamp and investigate different coverings for the chocolate. Will aluminium foil be best? What about bubble wrap or kitchen roll? Does making the kitchen roll wet make any difference?
The science
This experiment gives you plenty to talk about when it comes to heat transfer. Insulation, conduction, reflection and evaporation can all be used in explanations.
Coloured light
Don’t throw the chocolate wrappers away – the coloured transparent wrappers can be used to investigate colours of light.
Place wrappers over the ends of torches and secure with elastic bands. Shine the light onto an area of white wall and investigate what colours you can make by mixing the coloured light.
The science
White light from the torch is a mixture of different coloured light.
The sweet wrappers act as filters. They will only allow one colour of light from the torch to pass through.
Red, green and blue light are known as primary colours of light. You can make secondary colours by mixing two primary colours:
Red and blue make magenta; red and green make yellow and blue and green make cyan.
If you mix all three colours you get white light.
Further Festive Science
Another fun experiment you can do at home is to make a homemade Christmas present using science. Take a look at the article Christmas Science – Making bath bombs for instructions.