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Slime time
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Third-grade students at Hilltop Elementary School had a blast making slime and showed it off during COSI’s “It’s Simply Chemistry” visit Jan. 11.
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Students at Hilltop Elementary School had the chance to perform an experiment using pH during the COSI On Wheels “It’s Simply Chemistry” visit.
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COSI On Wheels visited Hilltop Elementary School to present its “It’s Simply Chemistry” show Jan. 11.
By ABBY SLANKER
Hilltop Elementary School students went home with some slippery souvenirs from COSI on Wheels’ visit to the school on Jan. 11.
Students in grades two through four performed hands-on experiments after the “It’s Simply Chemistry” show was presented by Christi Mallasch of the Center of Science and Industry.
After the presentation, students were free to try all the experiments COSI provided, but by far the favorite was making slime. To make the slime, PTO volunteers measured and mixed polyvinyl alcohol and sodium tetra borate and the students added the food coloring of their choice and then shook the mixture to create slime.
The students also experimented with states of matter, endothermic and exothermic reactions, density, pH and were able to observe various powders under a microscope.
Mallasch, the “chemistry detective,” started off the day with a student assembly during which the students helped her solve a great mystery using chemistry. The ingredients for the slime the students were supposed to make were stolen by Arthur Slimerheimer.
Mallasch and the students used chemistry to figure out his clues, like using universal indicator to discover the pH of soda pop, a black light to see a secret message and whoosh tubes that made a huge noise when fire was added to ethanol. With the help of chemistry, the students were able to get the ingredients back so they could make their slime.
According to Mallasch, when explaining the density experiment, cans of diet soda floated in the water, but cans of regular soda sunk to the bottom of the container.
“The cans of diet soda floated in the water because the artificial sweetener that is used to make the soda is very light and causes the cans to float, while the sugar that is used to make the regular soda is heavier than the artificial sweetener and thus causes the cans of regular soda to sink to the bottom,” Mallasch said.
In the name of safety, the students were required to wear goggles at all times during the experiments and any chemicals used were very much diluted.
COSI On Wheels, based in Columbus, travels to schools in Ohio and six other states and offers six shows with various topics concentrating on science.
Students were given a handout about the “It’s Simply Chemistry” show which included an experiment to try at home, a list of web sites and books about chemistry that students could use for further reference and a coupon to visit COSI in Columbus.