Science Themed Fun?

Science Themed Fun?

March 10th, 2010 @ 10:02 am by Mrs. Guinea Pig
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Last week, our lab put together some fun science demonstrations for a group of high schoolers coming to our university to learn about how awesome science is. I can hear you groaning. But I still insist science is (or can be) fun!

One of the nifty tricks we test-ran is a solution of chemicals that turns blue when you shake the bottle, and then if you let it sit about 30 seconds, that same solution changes back to clear. Shake the bottle: blue! Let sit: clear! It sounds so basic and yet something that simple entertained us seasoned scientists for a good 30 minutes the other day. Then again, maybe we were just trying to avoid work…

(Tutorial on how to do this here, although I have no idea if these chemicals are widely accessible. Also I feel like I should warn you to be careful when dealing with corrosive chemicals!)

In a weird connection my brain has been making a lot these days, I thought about how fun it would be to have this at our wedding. Yes, you read that right. I want people to play with science at our wedding.

Some people have lawn games:

(I don’t blame them for playing croquet with that spectacular setting! Source)

I want… science games? How cool would it be to have some stuff set up before the ceremony to keep people occupied if they get there early, or during cocktail hour to keep people talking and guessing about how something works?

(Clip art from Microsoft Word)

Part of the fun of the blue solution for my lab was that one of the guys in lab had put this together and made the rest of us guess what was in the bottle causing the reaction. I immediately pictured a station set up with a few bottles, a cute sign, and cards for people to write down their guess for what’s happening.

The one (teensy tiny) problem with this? I only know tricks that involve things exploding, fire, or hazardous chemicals. The blue solution trick is on the mild end of the spectrum, but with Sodium Hydroxide as one of the ingredients, if any leaks it’s rather corrosive (to everything, skin included).

Alas, I think (okay I know) our venue would not be pleased with me setting up a station with exploding purple powder, open flames, or corrosive chemicals. Perhaps I’m missing some easy non-dangerous science tricks? I will continue to sleuth!

What are you doing to keep your guests entertained? Anyone know of some fun science party tricks that won’t get us kicked out of our venue?

Tags: baltimore, decor, reception |

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38 Responses to “Science Themed Fun?”

1 2 Last

Guest

Lisa

If your guests don’t mind getting their hands dirty, they could make slime out of cornstarch. It’s fun because it’s a solid that can suddenly turn into a liquid.
http://www.camping.com/camp-kids/1764-fun-for-kids-slime-time

3/10/10 @ 10:09 am (reply)

Member

Amaryllis (message) 4,075 posts, Honey bee

Maybe find a high school science teacher friend? Those sorts of labs are usually more on the safe side but equally charming as far as getting a reaction.

3/10/10 @ 10:11 am (reply)

Guest

Ms. Scrabble

Are you going to provide safety goggles? Haha, I’m in a gen chem lab right now and we can’t even walk in the door without our goggles on. I also worry about someone mixing things they aren’t supposed to - if you go this route I’d suggest having someone watching over the table.

3/10/10 @ 10:16 am (reply)

Bee

Miss Hermit Crab (message) 3,530 posts, Sugar bee

sounds so fun - i would love to go to a wedding and do science experiments!

3/10/10 @ 10:16 am (reply)

Member

NM (message) 5 posts, Newbee

That’s so cool! You should dot it ! My FH is a spacerocket engineer so we’re planning to teach people how to build water rocket (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_rocket#Multi-bottle_rockets_and_multi-stage_rockets) and lwe’ll aunch them during our cocktail hour !

3/10/10 @ 10:21 am (reply)

Member

alivoo01 (message) 2,622 posts, Sugar bee

What a nifty idea for wedding entertainment. Can’t wait to find out what you discover and letting your guests play with!!

3/10/10 @ 10:23 am (reply)

Member

mandalee0624 (message) 676 posts, Busy bee

We were both bio majors (same grade/college)… I went on to become a dietitian and now hes in med school. So, we’re both science geeks. It would be awesome to pay homage to this… after all, it was our science courses that brought us together! I’d love a great idea such as this.

(P.S. I remember playing w/ this rxn in Gen Chem I! lol )

3/10/10 @ 10:27 am (reply)

Bee

Miss French Fries (message) 2,217 posts, Buzzing bee

I probably would have played with that solution all afternoon.

3/10/10 @ 10:28 am (reply)

Member

ChiCat (message) 335 posts, Helper bee

Oh that’s so cool! I’m a chemical engineer, so I totally think stuff like this is fun
In terms of sciency stuff, you could either do a table during the coctail hour, or you could have these as fun interactive cocktail centerpieces, and have a different one at each table to encourage mingling!
Not as exciting as your project, but you could do mason jars filled with layers of different colored liquids with different densities. Tell guests to shake them up and watch the colors all seperate again. And since one of your colors is yellow, there’s the always classic lemon powered light bulb.

3/10/10 @ 10:29 am (reply)

10.

Member

enerihsu (message) 6 posts, Newbee

How about a fuel cell kit? They only require water and a multimeter, for the most part. Some also have a solar panel and if you connect it to some water and tubing, you can see how light can be used to make hydrogen bubbles. Some also come with a car, so you can see the fuel cell working in action. No chemicals and it demonstrates the science behind alternative energy technology!

3/10/10 @ 10:29 am (reply)

11.

Bee

Miss Hot Wings (message) 2,213 posts, Buzzing bee

I would LOVE to have science entertainment. I was going to do cootie catchers and jigsaw puzzles. I’m thinking of psych entertainment now… would be interesting.

3/10/10 @ 10:31 am (reply)

12.

Bee

Miss Sewing (message) 2,701 posts, Sugar bee

sounds like my kind of wedding! please do it! though i guess shooting skittles out of test tubes is out of the question? I’m partial to anything involving dry ice..though that can be dangerous. Or how about “shine the laser through the diamond ring”? Though that too, can be dangerous with a high powered laser..haha. I’m sensing a trend..

3/10/10 @ 10:36 am (reply)

13.

Member

jrl03 (message) 94 posts, Worker bee

I don’t know what kind of chemicals you have access to, but polyvinyl alcohol + baking soda + aluminum sulfate solution = magic muffins (mix it in a little cup and the CO2 makes it instantly puff up and form a solid top that looks like a muffin). Or you could make slime with PVA and sodium borate. I used to work for an afterschool science program, and that was one of the few things I could think of that would have safe ingredients. All the cool experiments require stuff like 35% hydrogen peroxide!

3/10/10 @ 10:39 am (reply)

14.

Bee

Miss Pug (message) 3,753 posts, Honey bee

heehee. i love the idea of your guests setting off mini-fires and melting the furniture before the ceremony. this isn’t science-y, but i liked miss cheeseburger’s OOT bag idea of having little wedding-related crosswords and word search puzzles.

or you could have a bingo card with ceremony-related words and people can yell out “bingo!” during the ceremony when they win.

3/10/10 @ 10:53 am (reply)

15.

Member

dookie32 (message) 173 posts, Blushing bee

My FH is a magician so he really wanted to hire a magician for the coctail hour to walk around and do card tricks. Hopefully that will keep people entertained for a little while!

3/10/10 @ 11:14 am (reply)

16.

Guest

Liz

You could buy some white plastic flowers. Dip them in phenolphthalein (clear). Then, when you put a basic chemical on them (I usually spray them with windex), they turn red! No titration required!

3/10/10 @ 11:17 am (reply)

17.

Member

GreatDay (message) 46 posts, Newbee

You can buy some of these for your centerpieces for people to play with: http://cgi.ebay.com.my/Hand-Boiler-Bubbler-Transfer-Energy-Love-Meter-Purple-1-/180319650141

3/10/10 @ 11:26 am (reply)

18.

Member

amariem25 (message) 3,733 posts, Sugar bee

could you just do science themed decor instead?
A punch bowl with dry ice in it perhaps?

3/10/10 @ 11:37 am (reply)

19.

Bee

Miss Locket (message) 2,837 posts, Sugar bee

hmm this sounds like a sun idea, but for some reason all I can think about involves baking soda and vinegar to blow up a balloon…nothing too fun, but YAY SCIENCE! speaking of which…it looks like it’s time to take my plates out of the incubator.

3/10/10 @ 11:38 am (reply)

20.