Kathleen

Directions

1. Cut gummy worms into two strips lengthwise
2. Fill clear glass with 1 cup warm water and 2 Tbsp. baking soda and stir.
3. Add gummy worm strips and soak for 15 minutes.
4. In the meantime, fill second glass with vinegar.
5. After 15 minutes, scoop gummy worms out of glass with baking soda and transfer to the glass with vinegar.
6. Watch your gummies wiggle.

What’s happening to my gummies?

Acetic acid in vinegar plus bicarbonate in baking soda equals carbon dioxide gas bubbles. Acid + Base = Bubbly reaction. The baking soda absorbing into the gummy worms makes bubbles when transferred to the vinegar. Bubbles rise to the top, taking your gummy worm with them giving the appearance of wiggly worms.

Try different gummy worm lengths and sizes to see which ones wiggle the most, which ones wiggles the least, and which ones don’t wiggle at all. Take notes in a notebook and draw some pictures. Measure with a ruler for exact measurements.

What other gummies wiggle? Gummy bears, gummy spiders, gummy insects?

Directions

1. Line the bottom of the bag/container with at least one inch of baking soda (bottom should be covered thoroughly and not visible).
2. OPTIONAL: measure and weigh your hotdog with the ruler and kitchen scale. Then record your results!
3. Place the uncooked hotdog in a Ziploc or sealable bag/container.
4. Cover the hot dog completely in another layer of baking soda.
5. Place the bag/container in a dark location with a neutral temperature.

      The Ziploc bag or sealed container is like a portable desert! Deserts can be hot or cold. Their defining condition is little yearly precipitation, in the form of rain or snow. Because deserts are so dry, it takes bacteria far longer to break down or decompose organic material. This allows once living tissues to be preserved—so long as they remain in the same dry conditions. The process of organic material drying out or mummifying is called desiccation and will start to happen to your hotdog in as little as 2 days!

Examine your hotdog after a few days. If you weighed and measured it before, do so now. What’s different? Does it still feel the same? You can put the hotdog back in the Ziploc bag or container and leave it for a few more days and repeat this process. Just don’t eat the hotdog when you’re done!

Directions

1. Using washable markers, start to color the coffee filter or paper towel cut into a circle. Don’t color a face yet; we’re saving that for last! Use whatever colors you’d like.
2. Spray the coffee filter with water. Try not to use too much! You’ll see the colors begin to bleed almost immediately.
3. Place the filter on your drying station. Allow about 5-10 minutes to dry.
   
4. What jack-o-lantern would it be without a face? Put the final touches on your creation!
5. Once your jack-o-lantern is fully dry, you can use tissue paper and tape or glue to add a stem. A pipe cleaner can be used if you’d like your jack-o-lantern to have a vine.

      But what actually happened? In chemistry, a mixture is a combination of two or more substances that can be separated because they aren’t chemically bonded. Because the washable markers aren’t chemically bonded to the paper, they bleed through when sprayed by water. What do you notice about the colors you used? Did some of them blend together? Color chromatography can be used to see different color combinations as well!

Directions

1. Pour 2 cups of cornstarch into your mixing bowl.
2. Add 1 cup of water. (If you want more or less slime than 2 cups worth, just mix the cornstarch and water to a 2:1 ratio.)
3. Mix until combined.
4. Add food coloring if desired.

The trick to creating true snail slime is the consistency, or the way in which a liquid holds itself together. While it’s not actual snail mucus, our snail slime has similar properties and can help us understand more how snails and slugs move—by sliding along their mucus, they press down on it gently. What happens when you press down on your snail slime?

This type of polysaccharide acts like both a liquid and a solid—you can pour it like water or let it ooze out of your hands, but pushing it creates a solid reaction instead. This consistency of a liquid can be measured. In science, this is called viscosity; the state of being thick, sticky, or semifluid due to internal friction. This is why snails and slugs can climb virtually anywhere on their mucus—even upside-down!  

If your snail slime is too runny, try adding more cornstarch. If you grab it and it stays in a ball without oozing out of your hands, add more water.