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Science Experiments Related to Space

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Science Experiments Related to Space What is 3 S p a c e included: r e l a t e d 01 How to make a crater s c i e n c e How to make straw 02 rockets e x p e r i m e n t s 03 How to make a fizzy star t o t r y a t h o m e WHAT TO DO HOW TO MAKE A Spread the newspaper on the floor and place the plastic tub in the centre. Fill the tub with flour so that the tub is halfway full. CRATER Using a flour sifter sprinkle an even layer of cocoa powder over the flour. Craters are found on many planets - including Earth and can Select your first rock to be a meteorite. reveal the age of a planet's surface. They are caused by solid Using a ruler select a height to drop the rock from and then pieces of debris and other impacting objects, and can take on drop the rock into the tub at this height. Carefully remove the rock from the flour. Observe the crater it made (the cocoa various shapes based on the size and speed of debris. For powder will help you see how the surface moved). example, the surface of the Moon is covered by numerous Without fixing the surface of the flour, select another rock to circular dome holes. These are impact craters, each of which drop into the flour. Drop it from the same height as you did with the previous rock (but drop it away from the first crater). was formed when an asteroid or comet collided with the Compare its crater with the first crater. Moon's surface. Continue dropping the rest of your rocks at the same height using the same flour surface. Drop them so that they each MATERIALS NEEDED make their own separate crater and don’t overlap. Observe and compare each of the craters. Newspaper About 3-5 small round rocks and/or balls WHAT HAPPENED of different sizes. You are simulating what happens to the Earth’s surface when Plastic container/tub large meteorites hit the surface – the formation of impact Flour craters. From this experiment, you should notice that the size Cocoa powder and mass of each meteorite changes the size and shape of each crater formed. The cocoa powder represents the very Flour sifter top layer of the Earth and shows how debris is ejected during Ruler the formation of the impact crater, also known as ejecta. HOW TO MAKE WHAT TO DO STRAW ROCKETS Print out the free rocket template (refer to the last two pages of this booklet). Decorate the paper. You can colour them in using crayons or Rockets have been used to lift humans into space. A markers. Stickers are fun – but can weigh down your rocket! Use the scissor and cut out each rocket. rocket can travel 100km in just 3 minutes- 20 times faster Cut the bottom off a plastic pipette and attach it to the back than your ordinary car. It is essentially a type of high- of a rocket using tape. powered engine that helps launch space shuttles and Slip a straw into your pipette, and you’re ready to launch– blow into the straw! satellites into space. compare how different angles of the straw affect the distance the rocket travels or how adding QUESTIONS TO ASK fins or folding the rocket in different ways can affect its How does the angle you launch your rocket affect the flight. distance it travels? Try out different angles and record the results. Can you design your own rockets to attach to the pipette or MATERIALS NEEDED straw? Which designs work better? 1-4 straws Try adding a small object to your rocket with tape. How Paper (light-weight paper) does it affect the flight of your rocket? Tape Scissor WHAT HAPPENED 1-4 Plastic pipettes (or straws with a larger diameter The nose cone and fins of a rocket are mean to keep it than the other set of straws) pointing in the right direction without wobbling. Scientists Crayons/colouring pencils/markers carefully study the design of rockets to ensure that the launches are safe, and are able to fly in a straight path to the end destination. HOW TO MAKE A WHAT YOU DO Place empty star cookie cutters onto a flat surface, over newspaper or a black A3 sheet of paper. FIZZY STAR Spoon baking soda into the cookie cutters, trying to keep most of it inside the stars. On a clear, dark night, our eyes can see about 6,000 or Sprinkle some gold/silver glitter over the cookie cutters. Using the pipette or any other device, add a few drops of so stars in the sky. They seem to twinkle, or change their vinegar to the cookie cutter stars. brightness, all the time. Stars are so distant that they Now you can watch the fizzing and bubbly reaction twinkle because of the way light travels through the The bubbles make the glitter resemble the stars in night sky- atmosphere. This means that some of the light reaches us shimmering and sparkling. The black poster paper helps to mimic the night sky. directly and some gets bent slightly away. To our eyes, this makes the star seem to twinkle. WHAT HAPPENED MATERIALS NEEDED Baking soda and vinegar react with each other because of an acid-base reaction. Baking soda Vinegar FUN FACTS Glitter (gold and silver) Did you know that five largest known supergiants in the 4-5 Star cookie cutters galaxy are red supergiants: : VY Canis Majoris, Mu Cephei, KW Sagitarii, V354 Cephei, and KY Cygni. Pipette (optional) The Sun—the heart of our solar system—is a yellow Newspaper/or black A3 paper dwarf star, a hot ball of glowing gases. The star closest to the sun is known as Proxima Centauri. Venus is normally referred to as the evening star because it can be seen shining in the evening sky right after the sun sets in the west Rocket templates (print-out) Rocket templates (print-out).
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