Second Grade Science Project Reject

This past week Kana submitted a science project. The teacher of her class sent home a sheet which referenced on-line documents by the state of California and a local handbook which I downloaded and read diligently. But not well enough, obviously.

 

I suggested a project to Kana that involved the measurement of liquids as I mistakenly though the section on process was one of the areas to focus on. Not so. We needed to focus on something involving life sciences or what not. Sigh. We'll have to resubmit another proposal.

 

That said, we think our first project will be fun. We are going to measure the amount of liquid displayed by dropping Mentos in to Diet Coke and see if a change in the number of Mentos displaces more liquid. More later with photos.

Comments

[Erik Zsemlye]

I picked up one of these for the boys a while ago, and we still use it regularly:

http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/product/geyser-tube

Besides being a ton of fun, it could be perfect for your experiment. The reaction happens very quickly, so it would be hard to drop multiple Mentos (TM) one at a time and judge the change caused by the additional mints. By the time you got to the second or third mint, the liquid would already be all over the place. With the tube, you can vary the number of mints, and they'll all drop in at once. The real plus though, is that you pull a pin in the tube that's attached to a string, so Kana (or you) can trigger the reaction from a less mess-inducing distance.

Five bucks well spent.