Chemapalooza – Ooey Gooey

There was a lot of ooey gooey goodness to end off our fantastic week of chemistry camp today! Today, our chemical engineers put their polymer knowledge to good use by mixing up a batch of bouncy balls according to an “industry-secret” recipe. They then evaluated the effectiveness of their bouncy balls by measuring & calculating their average bounce heights. 

Thank you for an amazing week, campers! I had a blast with all of you and hope to see you again soon. Have a great rest of your summer and an excellent school year! ❤ Megan

Ask your camper: What was the average bounce height his/her bouncy ball achieved? (What can be done to make the product even better?)

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Chemapalooza – Science of Flavors

Does our sense of smell impact the flavors we taste? Today, our young Culinary Chemists investigated how their senses contribute to flavor perception! They tried two different flavors of candy with and without their noses plugged! Then, they assessed their own ability to perceive other chemicals that have certain tastes. They discovered that there is variation in how everyone perceives the taste of these chemicals! 

Ask your camper: Why might food taste different if your nose is stuffy? (because you need both senses of taste and smell to experience full flavors)

 

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Chemapalooza – Gummy Bears & Ice Cream

What do gummy bears look like after being soaked in different solutions? Today, campers found out when they examined the results from a quick experiment they had set-up yesterday! Our young Chemical Investigators used these gummy bear data and results to plan and set-up a similar experiment using water beads! Campers were challenged to design an experiment in order to determine how the size of water beads is affected by different liquids!

Ask your camper: What is a solute? (something that has been dissolved in a liquid)

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Chemapalooza – Fizzy First Day of Fun

Our 2019 Chemapalooza Party has gotten off to a delightfully fizzy start thanks to the great chemical minds of our scientists and their understanding of how physical and chemical changes work. Today, campers learned how to identify whether different mixtures of ingredients result in a physical or chemical reaction and then were able to apply that knowledge in order to create beautifully fragrant & stress-busting bath fizzers to take home with them.

Ask your scientist: What are some of the tell-tale signs that a chemical reaction took place?

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Ooey Gooey – Chemapalooza

There was a lot of ooey gooey goodness to end off our fantastic week of chemistry camp today! Today, our chemical engineers put their polymer knowledge to good use by mixing up a batch of bouncy balls according to an “industry-secret” recipe. They then evaluated the effectiveness of their bouncy balls by measuring & calculating their average bounce heights.

Ask your camper: What was the average bounce height his/her bouncy ball achieved? (What can be done to make the product even better?)

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Gummy Bear Science – Chemapalooza

Today our budding chemists reviewed osmosis, diffusion, and absorption, set about measuring the size of their Gummy Bears and recording the data. Since an important part of science is being able to communicate your results, students were asked to create posters of their experiments that included their question, hypothesis, observations, experimental design, data, and conclusions. Our chemists were challenged to think of what factors may have combined to achieve their results.

Ask your camper: What aspects are included in experimental design? (observations, questions, hypothesis, methods and results)

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Cool Crystals – Chemapalooza Day 3

Crystals are one of earth’s most beautiful and fascinating creations, and today our scientists took a look at how they are formed! First the campers learned about the chemistry behind crystals through testing what solutes would dissolve in different solvents. Finally the campers used pipe cleaners and a saturated alum solution to create their own crystals overnight. We can’t wait until tomorrow when we will get to see how the crystals turned out!

Ask your camper: What’s the technical term for something that gets dissolved? (solute) What’s the technical name for something that does the dissolving? (solvent)

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Chemapalooza’s Instant Ice Cream

Most people have eaten ice cream before, but have you ever made it yourself? Today campers not only made their own ice cream, but instantly froze their creations with super cooling liquid nitrogen (with adult assistance of course). A famous ice cream recipe was lost to the world, but our campers experimented with different quantities of ingredients in order to make the most delicious ice cream of all!

Ask your camper: What was created when the liquid nitrogen was poured into the liquid ice cream mixture? (a gas)

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