We have had a fantastic time celebrating Science Week in 6TC!

First we used a wooden stick and modelling clay to see if it was more stable to place the modelling clay at the end of the stick, or lower down. We found out that it is much more sturdy and easier to balance when it is at the end of the stick as it moves around much less!

Next we tried to drink using the ‘Magic Straw’ (two straws, one of which is outside the water bottle). We found that you can’t suck any water up! For the water to be forced up the straw, the pressure in your mouth needs to be lower than the atmospheric pressure!

Next, things got a little bit messy! We made a non-drip jug! By tying a length of string around the jug handle and holding the (already wet) string tight, the water will cling to the string and move down to collect inside the cup. This is called the Coander Effect!

This one was lots of fun, but we found that a strong plastic bottle was required! If you pierce a hole in the bottom of the bottle and inflate a balloon inside it, you can stop the balloon from deflating by covering up the hole with your finger. Amazing! This happens because as the balloon expands, it pushes air out of the bottle. This makes the air pressure inside the bottle lower than that in the balloon, so it wasn’t strong enough to squeeze the air out!

Have you tried this before? By interlocking the pages of two books, you can make it impossible to pull apart! This is because the friction that is created is very, very strong!

Finally, we carried out a candle burning enquiry? Why do different sized jars cause a candle to burn out at different speeds? We saw that larger jars will allow the candle to burn for longer. This is because the larger volume allows more oxygen to be present which the candle needs to burn. Once all the oxygen is used, the candle will go out.