Visit to the partner school

Greetings fellow Scientists!

Today I visited our partner school, Gimnazjum no 4 in Stargard Szczeciński, Poland. Together we made bath bombs - one of the activities they read about on our blog. We had loads of fun and created some beautifully scented bath bombs:

Clean Water Science

Greetings fellow Scientists!

Today we used the Clean Water Science kits:

We put together the filtration kit to purify dirty water:

The filtration column consisted of gravel, sand, active carbon and filter paper.

The result was really impressive:
From this:                                        To this:


 After that we tested various samples of water using strips for testing for water hardness, the presence of nitrates and iron ions:

Tomorrow's Engineers: The Energy Challenge

Greetings fellow Scientists!

Today five of our members took part in a Science workshop called: Tomorrow's Engineers: The Energy Challenge:

Tia, Emma, Olivia, Deanna and Lauren have been given a chance to work with an engineer, Mr Nigel Moore. The students focused on the following areas:

·         Our World, Your Future – the effects of a growing world population;

·         Potential Energy – the global energy mix including renewable and non-renewable energy;

·         Kinetic Energy – building and testing a solar car;

·         Engineering Careers – looking at what engineers do and the routes into engineering careers.

Together with 50 other Y9 students, the girls tested a wind turbine and built a solar car:

Well done girls!

Making bath bombs

Greetings fellow Scientists!

Today we endulged in the art of making bath bombs.

This is the recipe we have used:

• 200g sodium bicarbonate

• 100g citric acid

• 100g corn flour (corn starch)

• 100g Epsom salts (optional)

• 1 tea spoon of witch hazel

• 5 tea spoon of essential oils

• a few drops of the fragrance oil

• dye

We started with mixing together all the dry ingredients:

After that, the remaining ingredients were added and mixed well:

We finally put the mixtures in the moulds:

The bath bombs have to set for 24-48 hours and then will be ready to use.

Investigating shampoos

Greetings fellow Scientists!

If you visit your local pharmacy you are going to find there a wide range of shampoos. We decided to test if there are any specific differences between them and not just the price tag.

Here are the shampoos we looked at:

We first focused on comparing the pH of the shampoos.

Then we compared the flow properties.

After that we tested which shampoo makes the most lather.

Lastly, the grease-removing properties were compared.

In conclusion, we found out that the price of the shampoo didn't play a significant role on its properties.