“The Law of Probabilities: the more things you try, the more likely one of them will work.” –Jack Canfield
During our childhood, we have enjoyed playing with bubbles many times. To make these bubbles, we used to add detergent with water and then used to enjoy it to the fullest. But we never used to wonder, what is the science behind these bubbles. A bubble is just wrapped in a soap film. A thin layer of water lies between the two layers of soap molecules, sort of like a water sandwich with soap molecules for bread. They work together to hold air inside. The Class I students of spectrum club did the activity with dish wash gel, water and sugar and fun galore.
While the students of Class II and III tried to understand if a balloon with air weighs more than one without air. Air is all around us. Since air is mostly invisible, many young children assume it has no mass or weight. It is made up of different gases, including nitrogen, carbon dioxide, water vapour, oxygen, and other gases. All of these gases are composed of particles or molecules. In this experiment balloons filled with air are compared to show that air does have mass and weight.
The students of class II and III experimented to understand the same. First, they made a balance by tying a piece of string around the centre point of the yardstick and then tying the other end of the string to something like a shower rod, so that the yardstick balances. Next, they used the threads to attach an empty balloon to each end of the yardstick. If you put them in equal distances from the ends of the yardstick, it should again balance. Once they got this done, carefully they removed one of the balloons and inflated it. Tied the neck of the balloon, so that it could stay inflated and reattached it to the paper clip. The end of the yardstick now goes down. Hence, a balloon full of air weighs more than an empty balloon.
The session was concluded with a lot of satisfaction in students as the experiments turned out to be a great success. The students were already feeling excited and curious to know what they would be doing in their next club class.
The Spectrum Club
