Cycle 2 Week 13 - States of Matter!
Welcome back to Wonderful Wednesdays! It was such a nice break! Now it's time to get back into the swing of things and start our second half of the CC year! Week 13 dress up was anything related to the Industrial Revolution - we had miners and train conductors today!
Supplies needed:
- Large pom poms in variety of colors
- Black posterboard
- White construction paper
- Permanent marker
- White glue
We started by writing what the various states of matter were by definition, on the top of each piece of construction paper. Then we ordered and glued the pom poms on, according to how molecules behave in those various states. So for solids they are lined up and very close, liquids they are not as close and less ordered, in the gas state they are pretty far apart from one another and random, with plasma we used three symbols instead - however, we should have just used the Sun -the others while plasma, are not considered states of matter type plasma...ooops :)).
We also did a variety of experiments from the Solagratiamom© Wonderful Wednesday Plan related to the various states of matter.
The first one was called "steamy" about condensation. I had the kids go to a window and then they breathed on it to see what happened. We discussed how breath is hot and contains water making it a vapor. Then explained that the vapor hitting the cold glass cools it rapidly turning it into a liquid -which is condensation.
The Next experiment was called "fishing with string" and it was to demonstrate melting and freezing. Basically, you fill up cups with water and then add an ice cube and using a string to lay across the ice cube - you then add salt and wait 15 seconds. Then try and pull up the ice cube. The salt melts the ice at first, but then it re-freezes and traps the string, which allows them to lift the ice cube out with the string like they "fished it". It worked well and the kids were fascinated.
OK - so maybe we were too! LOL 
The next experiment we did was called "dancing raisins" and this was fun. This experiment demonstrates gasses and molecules. You fill a clear glass with gingerale and then drop a few raisins into the cup. The raisins begin to "dance" in the soda. The gas adheres to the raisins and acts like a "floatation device" lifting the raisins up to the surface. Then the gas bubbles burst and the raisins fall to the bottom again, only to have another gas molecule attach to them and lift them up again. The kids really liked this one as well!
The next experiment we did was Goop! This is a thixotropic mixture (which basically means its a liquid under some circumstances and a solid under others). This was a mixture of 1 cup cornstarch to 1/4 cup of water (give or take). It's a great sensory activity and the kids of course, loved it! What a messy, fun thing to do in the name of science - don't you think???
This s very interesting project and one I will keep in mind when we visit this subject again. I do have to note, however, that although milk and blood have components called plasma, they only share the name with the plasma which is considered the fourth state of matter. Plasma, as the fourth state of matter, is an electrically neutral medium of positive and negative particles that are unbound, but not ‘free’. When the charges move they generate electrical currents with magnetic fields, and as a result, they are affected by each other’s fields, which influences their degree of freedom. Our Sun, and all stars, much of interstellar space, interplanetary space are good examples of this type of plasma. The types of plasma found in milk and blood are not related to the states of matter, but just share the same Greek word, πλάσμα which means "anything formed." I hope that this is helpful to you and your students.
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