Science in the Library

  Everybody knows magnets are FUN, but did you know scientists use magnets when making certain kinds of polymers?  Did you know that magnets can help chemists to sort out the tangled mess of molecules that most polymers consist of? Today's Curiosity Machine class focused on Making a Self-Assembling Structure using magnets, but the class wasn't just about magnets. One kind of self-assembling structure is a polymer, a long chain of repeating molecules that bind to create one super-strong molecule. We learned about polymers and a bit about atomic structure, then we turned our attention to magnets and to making our own structures that would link together using magnetic force. First, watch this video to get the highlights of our class: Here are my slides with recommended books for further reading: Curiosity Machine: Magnet Structures! from AnnMarie Ppl Here are some of those books: We had the table set up with dice of all kinds, pencils, paper, tape disp...

I've been doing science activities in the public library for the last couple of years but realized today that it's time I started sharing them with the wider world! I'm thinking what I'll do is post what I learn or what projects I can make from books. I may not post every day or every week, just when I have something worth posting. Today's picture worth posting is of a cube bubble blower I made after reading about it in this book: Truly a wonderful book every library should own! After reading that you could do this, I simply had to try it myself. And then I had to share it with the kids in my Curiosity Machine class! First the bubble makes a square shape inside, but if you can manage to catch another bubble in it as you put it back into your bubble mixture, the result is a cube! Try it at home! I used craft wire to make mine. You could try making different kinds of prismatic bubble holders (pyramids, dodecahedron or other polyhedrons) and see...