Free Everything Kids' Magical Science Experiments Book by Tim Robinson

experiments to see just how long the penny seal holds. If you work at it, you might be able to perfect the sealing technique and it could lead to a new way to fix leaking tires!

    Did You Know?

    The latex in most rubber balloons comes from the sap of a special kind of tree called a rubber tree, which grows in Malaysia.
    Science Quote

    â€œIf I have seen further than others it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.”
— Sir Isaac Newton, an English physicist who described the laws of motion
Peeling a Banana
    Question: How do you peel a banana without using your hands?
Experiment Overview
    Peeling a banana isn't the most difficult task ever. But wouldn't it be amazing to be able to watch a banana peel itself? You can, with this activity. You will have to open the top of the banana, just enough to reveal part of the fruit inside. Then you will rely on a difference in air pressure to do the rest of the work for you.
Science Concept
    You have already seen a few situations where higher air pressure causes something to be pushed toward lower air pressure. In this experiment, the burning paper uses up some of the available air in the bottle. With less air inside the bottle, the outside air pressure will push the banana down into the bottle. By opening the peel slightly, you allow the banana to be pushed down into the bottle and peel itself.

    SAFETY NOTE: When this experiment is complete, the banana will be covered in smoke and perhaps burnt paper. Please do not eat any food item used in a science experiment.
    KIDS' LAB LESSONS

Materials
Glass bottle with a mouth approximately as large as a banana
1 ripe banana that, when peeled, is about the same size as the mouth of the bottle
Small piece of paper
Matches or a lighter
Adult helper
Procedure
Peel back the tip of the banana, exposing the fruit inside.
Ask your adult helper to carefully light the paper and slide it inside the bottle. Alternately, your helper may be able to place the paper inside the bottle and use the long tip of a lighter to start the paper burning.
Place the banana, exposed side down, into the mouth of the bottle. Be sure there are no air holes around the banana.
As the paper burns itself out, watch as the banana begins to peel itself.
Questions for the Scientist
It's possible that the flame went out before the paper was completely burned. Why do you think this happened?
Describe what happened to the banana after the flame went out.
Why do you think the difference in air pressure causes the banana to be pulled down into the bottle?
Why is it important that there are no air holes at the mouth of the bottle? What might happen in this experiment if there were (air holes)?
Science Fair: Canned Water
    Everyone knows that to store water in a jar, you simply open the lid and pour it in. But if you turn the jar upside down, you'll have a big mess on your hands. No one wants a puddle of water on the floor, so instead, you can try this experiment. By reducing the air pressure inside the jar, you can pull water up into the jar and keep it there. What's more, you can test different jars and different types of candles to see which combination draws the most water up into the jar.
    Question: How can a candle fill a jar with water?
Experiment Overview
    In this experiment, you will place a candle in a pan of water. You will then light the candle and cover it with a glass jar. When the flame goes out, the water will magically be sucked up into the jar. Until you remove the jar from the pan, the water will stay there. You task is to test various candle shapes, sizes, and heights, to see which allows the greatest amount of water to be sucked up into the jar. You will also be able to test different types of jars (glass only) to see whether jar shape has any effect on the amount of water that can be pulled up. Be sure when doing this experiment that you only change one variable at a time. If you change more than one part of your experiment, you won't know which one