The Bucket Science Blog

Solid Mercury

2011-10-25T04:20:00.000-07:00

I'm down to my last litre or two of liquid nitrogen. I've seen it done and now I'd thought I would give it a go myself. I added about 50mL of Mercury to a foam cup full of liquid nitrogen and this is the result.

How to boil water with your hands

2011-10-11T21:11:00.000-07:00

A simple trick. I'm holding a conical flask that has an outlet leading to a hand driven vacuum pump. The water is luke warm and starts to boil once air is removed from the stoppered flask. Water boils at a lower temperature when under less atmospheric pressure. This makes it hard to have a hot coffee on Mt Everest where water supposedly boils at 70 degrees Centigrade.

Cornflour Shenanigans

2011-10-07T19:58:00.000-07:00

Me getting crispy and getting covered in cornflour in front of my class. This is an excerpt from the DIY Cornflour Bomb tutorial below.

DIY Cornflour Bomb

2011-10-07T19:53:00.000-07:00

An age old favourite I've been doing for the past 15 or so years. It was tried on a big scale on Mythbusters. The difference here is that the combustion is contained in a confined space making a small explosion.

Elmo's Last Stand

2011-10-07T19:47:00.000-07:00

I had to find something to finish Elmo off with. A suitable amount of KNO3 and sugar seemed like the trick. It's a pity the timing was out and Elmo was having technical difficulties from his previous explosion(see below). A fair bit of smoke plus Elmo's spine exposed and moving.

Really Simple Rocket Science

2011-09-28T03:15:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure who gave me this idea fifteen years ago, but it works really well. This rocket is almost a simple pulse jet but it only gives one pulse. Being made of flexible plastic stops any further combustion. You can investigate lots of variables with this simple rocket. Try changing the size of the nozzle, the size of the bottle and use of lubrication on the glass or aluminium tube. You can vary the amount of fuel but have an adult around and use small(no more than 5mL) amounts of methanol/methylated spirits. Watch both of the videos below for full instructions. I am not responsible for your safety so make sure you have a qualified adult to demonstrate this to you.

Making anatomy fun!

2011-09-15T06:41:00.000-07:00

While I was doing my degree I despised anatomy and it's rote learning aspects. I wish I'd of had access in the 1990s to a site similar to the one below. It might not be university standard but my high school students love it. A few have even managed to master all human bones in one hour with this game! Click on the link below to see for yourself.

http://www.anatomyarcade.com/games/WAB/WAB.html

2011-09-11T03:58:00.000-07:00

Yes I know! More gratuitous waste of liquid nitrogen and silence, though I can back this up. Coke or similar PET( Polyethylene Terephthalate) bottles are quite strong but not as great at handling heat. This demo shows how dangerous violent boiling liquids in containers i.e water tanks can be. Always have a relief valve in a water heater or this could happen to you. The effects would be the same with boiling water if the PET bottle could handle boiling water.

Starting off

2011-09-10T08:03:00.000-07:00

So here it starts. The video above is not going to be typical of the videos I add to this blog in future. That's not to say that the future will be boring. There will be occasional mayhem, but I intend to post a stream of useful experiments using video. Perhaps fellow science teachers may find this useful. Maybe those with an interest in science will tag along to view future blog entries.
The explosion above is the result of a 1.25 litre PET bottle containing 1/2 a cup of liquid nitrogen placed inside a miniature home. My year 11-12 class had just finished testing their 'energy efficient homes'. After all the effort in their design nobody wanted to take these things home. A bit of end of class fun.