Partial Lunar Eclipse

So, last night there was a partial eclipse of the moon that we were supposed to be able to see.  But we had rain in Portland and the cloud cover that rolled in with it meant the lunar eclipse was hidden from us.

What I learned from NASA:

1. This is the longest partial lunar eclipse in a millennium - 3 hours, 28 minutes and 23 seconds.
2. On February 18, 1440, a partial lunar eclipse lasted 23 seconds longer and it will remain the longest partial lunar eclipse for 648 years until Feb. 8, 2669.
3. There will be a longer total lunar eclipse next year on Nov. 8, 2022.

Vaccination Euphoria

 

2:21 PM - shot administered
2:36 PM - cleared to leave

Microbes!

Homemade root beer

Hen's homemade $10 root beer is delicious!

Science: Biology - bones and organs chalk people

I saw a similar idea on Pinterest, except those folks dressed and drew facial features on their chalk people. To incorporate a bit more science into the project, we used two books as reference - Avery brought her book and Hen grabbed one from his home library, and we were off. Avery took on the bones in the body, concentrating mainly on the ribs, thigh- and shinbones, shoulder blades, and pelvis. Hen focused on the internal organs, including the brain, heart, lungs, liver, stomach, and intestines. I love this project and will most likely do it again because the opportunity exists to label a bunch of other things.

Of course, there were pictures…

Science: How did my soda get carbonated?

We're making our own root beer, people! 

We bought a kit and set to work.

This included a walk up to the store for supplies, following directions, creating our own root beer labels, a lot of stirring, some taste testing, pouring, bottling, and posing with our finished soda.

Or rather, what will become soda in 3-5 days when the carbonation kicks in.

It's chemistry, ya'll.

How does it work? Yeast feeds on sugar. When it consumes the sugar, it creates carbon dioxide or what is known as the fizz in your soda.

Test taste of the finished product to follow in a few days.

Do these kids look ready for science of what?

Label making #1

Label making #2

$10 root beer made by Henry

Root beer $25 made by Avery

Stirring in the root beer extract

Initial taste test

Bottling process: Funnel in action #1

Avery's homemade root beer

Bottling process: Funnel in action #2

Henry's homemade root beer

Totally Irresponsible Science: Turning Milk to Stone

We had to wait for the perfect time to do this trick. You want to have a milk jug that has enough milk to do the experiment but not so much that you'll be wasteful emptying out the jug for the trick you can perform once you are done with the experiment. As far as experiments go, this was sort of a letdown as we used a lot of milk and vinegar and did not get much out of it. I would recommend doing multiple batches to get lots of stones. It does get high marks for the trick, though. Hen was super excited to ask his papa for milk that night, and thought it was super funny when the stones came out of the jug instead of milk.

Totally Irresponsible Science: The Sandwich-Bag Bomb

The directions for this experiment stated there could be a mess so we gathered all the necessary items - baking soda, vinegar, warm water, paper towels, and sealable plastic bags - and took them outside. If there's going to be a mess, I'd rather have it all over the sidewalk than all over my kitchen. It was wildly successful but finding a couple bags without holes proved quite difficult (next time I shall buy Ziploc, Western Family). Also, the book mentions a 2 - 5 hour window for time. I'm guessing they are assuming that after you do it once, your kid will want to do it again and again and again and again and five more times because in actuality just going through it once took about five minutes.

On a side note, with all the government spying going on I'm curious to see if the use of the word "bomb" will draw any attention. Will government agents come to my house? Will they want to know if I have a pressure cooker?

things you'll need

that's baking soda, that is

water

vinegar

preparing for the drop

do step 6 quickly, particularly the seal part

a reaction happens

it continues to happen

the satisfying pop let's you know when you're done