/usr/web/www.marshallindependent.com/wp-content/themes/coreV2/single.php
×

Chemistry with kids

Playing with slime, making rockets — learning about science with the SMSU Chemistry Club was messy and fun

Photo by Deb Gau Titus Schotzko sprayed window cleaner on a balloon that Spencer Erickson held steady for him. The window cleaner was one of three substances kids could spritz on a balloon, in an experiment to see if it would pop. Limonene, the chemical that gives orange peels their smell, was what made the balloon pop in the end.

MARSHALL — They took the idea of “hands-on learning” seriously.

All around the multi-purpose room at the Marshall Area YMCA, kids were building, making crafts, doing experiments — and playing in goop. Just about all of the young visitors to a science activity event Saturday at the Y stopped at the tables where they could make their own slime, or touch “oobleck,” a thick white mixture of corn starch and water.

“This stuff is like glue!” Calvin Lanoue said. But he said that was one of the cool things about it. “It doesn’t let your hands go.” Lanoue let his hands sink into a pan of the gooey corn starch, and then struggled to pull them free.

Substances like the “oobleck” don’t behave like other fluids. Under certain kinds of pressure, they feel solid instead of runny. Southwest Minnesota State University students like Sarah Engels talked about some of the oobleck’s weird abilities with the kids.

“You can roll it in a ball,” Engels told the kids, as they each grabbed a glob of oobleck and started rolling it in their hands.

“Don’t stop rolling,” she said. “As soon as you stop, it runs.” When Engels opened her hand, the oobleck ball melted back into a slimy puddle.

The science activity day has become an annual event for members of the SMSU Chemistry Club.

“This is kind of a way to get involved with the community and get kids interested in science,” said Easton Popma, an SMSU senior and co-president of the Chemistry Club.

“I love the kids’ reactions. They have so much fun,” said club vice president Shelby Borst.

The club has held a science event for kids for at least three years running, said club adviser Noelle Beyer. The YMCA has turned out to be a great place to hold the event, she said.

“We always get a good turnout,” she said.

Some of the experiments the kids and students were doing Saturday were a little more explosive. Kids helped SMSU students put a mix of water and Alka-Seltzer inside a plastic film canister. Everyone stood back for a few seconds, before the fizz from the antacid launched the canister into the air with a pop.

“It hit the ceiling!” one kid called out.

The club picks out different activities to give kids different experiences each year, Popma said.

“We always do slime,” he said. “Then we try to do something with popping,” like the Alka-Seltzer rockets, or popping a balloon with orange peels. (Popma said limonene, the chemical in orange peels that gives them their smell, dissolves latex balloons.)

When Beyer and university students find new experiments, “We’ll try them out in Chemistry Club,” student Brenna Kramer said. Besides being fun, it gives them an idea of what would work best for kids.

Bringing science activities to the community is a lot of fun, club members said.

“It’s really cool to show little kids because they get excited,” Kramer said.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.38/week.

Subscribe Today