Everyone loves a good bath bomb! They’re fizzy, colourful and make your bath feel extra special! But did you know there’s some cool science going on as you drop that ball of fizz into your bath? This week we’ve been delivering our bath bomb workshop in Hull, Beverley and Scunthorpe.
Making bath bombs is all about acids and alkalines. Our
workshops are aimed at ages 5+ so this is quite a complex topic for the young
children but we demonstrate how we can identify acids and alkalis, using substances
they recognise and they’re always fascinated.
The acid and alkali combination is what makes that fantastic
fizz as you drop the bath bomb into the water. The acid we use is citric acid
and our alkaline is sodium bicarbonate. The combination of these 2 ingredients
added to water causes a chemical reaction, and gives us that fizz!
But what is citric acid? It’s a relatively weak acid that comes from citrus fruits; lemons, limes and oranges. It’s also added to the outside of fizzy sweets to give them that slightly sour, taste!
Sodium bicarbonate, otherwise known as baking powder is a
weak alkaline. If these ingredients are mixed together and then added to water
a chemical reaction occurs. The acid and alkaline neutralize the effects of
each other. A process called neutralization! Carbon dioxide is formed and this
creates rapidly forming bubbles, which is where that fizz comes from! Before
the children make the bath bombs we demonstrate this by adding the ingredients
to a balloon and watching the carbon dioxide inflate the balloon.
During our workshop the children make 2 bath bombs with a choice of colours and fragrances! The most popular fragrance this week has to be bubblegum! They actually look forward to going home and having a bath!
Thanks to everyone who attended our workshops this week!
Next week we have a mixture of volcanoes and slime workshops! See you there!
British Science Week, formerly known as the National Science & Engineering Week is a 10-day long science “feast” around the UK and the nation’s largest science celebration of its kind. The name was changed into British Science Week for two reasons. The first was for the event to reflect the organiser’s broad understanding of science which also includes social sciences, maths, technology and engineering. And the second reason was because the addition of “engineering” excluded other scientific fields, especially social sciences which are a part of science as well. British Science Week is one of our busiest weeks of the year! This week was no exception and we have been busy entertaining children in schools with science!
We started our week in Doncaster with 8 Planetarium shows. 200 children were treated to a tour of the solar system and they had some amazing questions about how our solar system began!
Tuesday saw us heading off to Beeford for a full day of workshops on the states of matter with Beeford and North Frodingham primary schools. The kids loved seeing what happens to the marshmallows in the vacuum chamber and doing their own experiments with dry ice! We all had a great time!
Today we headed to Kidgate Primary Academy in Louth for a day of Polymer workshops with KS1. They loved making slime!
Tomorrow we’re taking the planetarium to Griffin Academy in Hull, where we will be taking 2 classes on a tour of the solar system!
Welcome to the shiny new Lab Rascals blog! We’re going to be sharing lots of our exciting events and activities on here. But first, a little bit about ourselves.
We are an award winning interactive science entertainment company in Yorkshire and the Humber. We educate, inspire and entertain children with the magnificent world of science and engineering.
Due to our extensive research at the University of Hull into children’s perceptions of science we leave all the “flashes and bangs” in the Lab bring only the most enjoyable and engaging hands on experimentation into your home, village hall or classroom.
Since Lab Rascals was established in 2012 we have has a tremendous amount of support from parents, children, teachers and local companies. It’s fantastic to see how so many children and adults have become passionate about science over the past years. Several children have attended our workshops since early days and continue to do so. Thank you for your support.
From dry ice and slime parties in your choice of venue…
To school workshops…
And public events…
We’re out of this world!
We look forward to sharing our adventures with you!