Partner school visit - 21-27/05/15

Greetings fellow Scientists!

For the last 7 days, The Smarties Science Club members have been hosting a group of students and teachers from our partner school from Poland.

Our guests started the visit with the tour of the school and were really impressed with our facilities. Together we also conducted a number of experiments.

London sightseeing was the main part of the visit. Together we toured Wembley Stadium and visited Tower of London.

Thank you for the visit, we hope you had a good time :)

RSC Global Experiment 2015 - first investigation

Greetings fellow Scientists!

Today we have investigated How much water can our hydrogel hold? For the purpose of this experiment, we used the following equipment:

We started by cutting out 10x10cm cloth sample to check its absorption:

Our cloth sample absorbed on average 33 ml of water.

Then, we predicted how much water a hydrogel sample can hold. To check our preditions, we cut out a Pampers nappy into 10x10cm samples and saturated it with water. On average, the hydrogel sample absorbed 325.2 ml of water.

Visit RSC website if you would like to do this experiment at home.

Scrub Up On Science Challenge - session 2

Greetings fellow Scientists!

Today we continued our journey with the Scrub Up On Science Challenge (click here to read about session 1).

How can we generate the most fizz? was the question we focused on. We quickly revised what happens in a  neutralisation reaction:

acid + alkali  --> a salt + water

Or, if the alkali is a carbonate or hydrogen carbonate:

acid + alkali    -->  a salt + water + carbon dioxide

Then, we tested out different combinations of sodium bicarbonate and citric acid to check what ratio is going to give us the most fizz and the most desired pH. 

Now it's the time to make our own bath bombs!

Scrub Up On Science Challenge - session 1

Greetings fellow Scientists!

Four members of the Smarties Science Club are taking part in a challenge organised by the Society of Cosmetic Scientists. The task is to create a bath bomb or shower gel and explain the Science behind creating the product.

Josephina, Oliwia, Brooke and Lauren

In today's session we were trying to answer the following question: What qualities do cosmetics and toiletries have? We discussed the smell, colour, opacity, texture and viscosity. We also tested the pH of selected products.

Click here to read more about the competition.