Science Boffins workshops

This week a company called Science Boffins visited Galliard Primary School and carried out some spectacular workshops and assemblies. The children were amazed by some of the things that they saw and it gave them an opportunity to ask questions and share some of their scientific knowledge.

     

Nursery, reception, Sunbeam and moonbeam watched an assembly where they saw some optical illusions and some exciting potions being made which created some interesting chemical reactions.

Years 1, 2 and 3 learnt that everything is made of atoms and that they are made of neutrons, protons and electrons.  They were shown how static electricity is made using a balloon and all had a go at using a plasma ball to light up a light bulb! The children also learnt that polymers are many particles all clinging together in a long line and enjoyed making and experimenting with the well-known polymer - slime!

      

Years 4, 5 and 6 learnt about states of matter.  They named solids, liquids and gases and discussed their properties before seeing a visual representation of changes of state using dry ice. They learnt that dry ice is carbon dioxide gas that has been super chilled to minus 78 degrees celcius (which is colder than the Arctic!); it’s good at putting out fires and is heavier than the air we breathe.  The children thoroughly enjoyed observing closely as the dry ice turned into a gas and spread across the floor in the hall – they learnt that this change of state is called sublimating!

Thank you to Science Boffins for providing the children with such an incredible experience!

Here are some comments from the children:

“I liked it when the balloon popped and there was water everywhere!” Yusra, Daffodil

“That’s amazing! My hands were lighting it up!” Raynell, 1R

“I know that atoms make like a train to make bigger atoms and neutrons can make oxygen.” Tristan, 2P

“My sister is 18 years old, I’ve heard those words [proton,electron and neutron] before!” Arafat, 2P

“I’ve learnt that atoms are made of neutrons, electrons and protons and everything is made of atoms including us, water and air. My favourite thing was when we put our hands on the ball and electricity was going through our body.” Khalil, 3G

“Atoms are tiny things that are in our body and we have trillions and trillions of them.” Zenith, 3M

“I’ve learnt atoms are all over your body. When you put your hand on the plasma ball, the electricity goes through your hand and the thing starts beeping. I didn’t know that electricity could go through your body and transport to the other hand!” Jaiveer, 3C

“Atoms make up all the things of the universe. Neutrons like to stay in the middle of the atoms and electrons like to stay on the outside. Polymers are big clumps of atoms that like to connect to each other and they are one of the building blocks of glue.” Kuzey, 3C

“Slime is my favourite thing to play with and today I learnt that it is made from polymers which stick together. It makes the slime stretchy and squidgy.” Aylan, 3C

“This was like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do this; it was just so cool. The dry ice was turning into a gas and it was like laying down on clouds! Sidal, 4JR

“This was amazing and so magical. My favourite bit is when the lady made clouds. I learnt that if you put warm water into dry ice, it will make warm water vapour and if you put cold water into dry ice, it will make cold water vapour.” Nikodem, 4JR

“I loved that we got to touch clouds! And when I blew on the ice, a big cloud appeared! The solid was turning into gas and the gas was expanding.” Zhani, 4B

“I think it was very fun experimenting with different states of matter. We created something I’ve never seen before when we mixed hot water and dry ice - it made like a cloud!” Judy, 4LR

“It was so amazing, it was like I was swimming in cloud and it felt so cold!” Khalif, 4JR

“This was amazing and something I may never see again. Dry Ice was put into a balloon and gives off a gas which is blowing up the balloon. The balloon got really big!” Zakariyya, 4JR

“This was crazy fun and really explosive!” Tasman, 4LR

“The session was majestic and I learnt with science you can do lots of things like blow up a balloon without touching it.” Leah, 5M

“This session was fun and surprising and dazzling to see! I learnt that carbon dioxide is heavier than the air that we breathe that’s why when she put the boiling water on the ice particles it crawled on the floor and didn’t go up.” Eleya, 5M

“This is the best lesson of the year because I’ve learnt about carbon dioxide and how it works.” Jaxon, 5S

“I’ve learnt particles in a solid stay together, in a liquid they move freely and in gases they move everywhere. We did moves to show this. My favourite bit was watching the dry ice crawling on the ground, the gas felt cold and fluffy.”  Jannat, 5S

“I really enjoyed this and learnt about states of matter and that dry ice is carbon dioxide. I also didn’t know that there was a forth state of matter which is plasma. At the end, the lady put hot water that was 100 degrees onto dry ice which was minus 78 degrees and it turned the dry ice into a gas which is called sublimation.” Riley, 6W