Science Fair 2014

This week is Science Week in Scoil Mhuire. We began science week with a science fair in the hall. Each class had a stall demonstrating and explaining one experiment. We decided to display our wonderful lava lamps. 4 girls from our class went to the hall for the morning and then after break 4 other girls got a chance to explain our experiment.

We all had 20 mins to go and have a look at the different stands and ask the different classes questions about the experiments. It was fantastic! We learnt a lot of interesting things today.

These 8 girls in the above pictures were our scientists in the hall today. Well done on explaining our experiment so clearly.

Below are a few pictures from the science fair today.

 working with magnets 

 exploring the effects of gravity 

 lava lamps 

 brain quiz 

 Chromatography 

 Creating a lighthouse 

 Investigating slopes 

 Balancing the scales

 Static electricity

 String Telephone

Mirror writing 

Diving drops and sinking feelings

St Brigid

Sr Mary very kindly brought us in some rushes on Friday and taught us how to make a St Brigid's Cross.
Once we got the hang of it it was quite easy. We tied the four ends with elastic bands to hold the cross together. Amy from sixth class came in to help us.

Thank you very much Sr Mary and Amy!

Making lava lamps

This week we decided to try to make a lava lamp! Our school takes part in the Discover Primary Science programme so we are using this experiment for both science and maths.
We had great fun doing this on Friday.

First we had to gather all the equipment. We needed 1L clear plastic bottles, vegetable oil, water, food colouring, effervescent tablets (Alka Seltzer), non effervescent tablets (Vit C) and measuring jugs.

Next we had to calculate how much of each we needed. We are all so good at fractions this was very easy for us to do! Then we used the measuring jugs to make sure we had the correct amount of water and oil.

Next we added food colouring. This does not mix with the oil but it does mix with the water. We used red and green food colouring. Finally we added the Alka Seltzer tablet and watched our lava lamps work! 

The chemical energy from the Alka Seltzer reacts with the water produces a gas called carbon dioxide. This gas travels through the oil and tries to escape from the top. This is why the bubbles travel through the oil to top of the bottle. We can see this happening because we dyed the water using food colouring. 

To reuse this lava lamp at any time just add another piece of Alka Seltzer