We made 3 lava lamps the first one worked okay, the second one worked okay and the third one worked a lot better then the others. Due to that we saw what worked well and what didn't work well. Due to this, we have found a way that works better then most ways. The thing we added was a bit of coconut oil. What this did was made the lava, act like a lava lamp. Another thing we did was add the water before we added the lava. We also used the color green which worked a lot better also. The only issue with this lava lamp, was the glass from the bottle was causing it to stick to the sides.
We have now managed to get to section 2. All the work from here is work from section 2.
This week, was a super great week for me. Connor and I managed to get a lava lamp built, and work super well. Although we did not have it work like the other ones kids made after us with the coconut oil, it worked worked well for the benzoyl alcohol ones. Now we have came to a finalized approval to make a Rubin's tube, which is going to be amazing. Now today we are going to thinking about a project that revolves about the ocean. This is one thing that I have been thinking about all year, and now I want to make a project around it.
Simple Testing: The simple test that we did, was we put a small piece of dry ice, into a glass of water and observe. When we did this, Gabriel and I saw that the dry ice to the water causes the gases to emerge out of the water into the air. These gases are C02 gases, and it is a very interesting thing to do. Then we put the dry ice into a mix of hot water and the dry ice, and the process of the bubbling of the gases and the steam of the gases went way faster then cold water. At this time Connor pulled a few coins out of his pocket and started pressing it on the dry ice, with pressure, and it started to make a noise like if you had a piece of chalk and you were rubbing it against a black board. It was a very horrible sound, but it was a lot of fun making it. What we realized was, by time when the coin also got cold it wouldn't work, the only time that it would ever work was when the coin was nice and warm. This also showed, when you would compress the gases with the warm coin, it would cause the gases to expand and make the sound, being forced around the coins mass.This was a great learning experience for me, I really found cool new ideas on dry ice. Advanced Testing: This was a lot more interesting due to being able to see the carbon dioxide gases, expand by time. From this we observed that, when you trap a small piece of dry ice, which is around a 1 inch by 1 inch cube, the C02 gases expanded causing the ballon to expand rapidly. The first ballon that we did, expanded super slowly, due to only having the air temperature. What we realized towards the end of the lab, is when you put the ballon under hot water and look at it, it starts to expanding super fast, almost uncontrollably. This was a great learning experience for me, due to being able to see the gases actually working and being trapped. I have done several of experiments last year, with dry ice. For example, making a scent, with compressing the substance with the dry ice, getting all of the oils out. Last year I was wondering what this looked like in a smaller version, this experiment showed me, on a way smaller scale. You could actually see the gases expanding! It was super awesome. These are the images that I took throughout the lab, I was learning so many new things, I wasn't really thinking about taking any photos. From this, It has made me to always remember to document the experiment, so you can show exactly what I did on my blog posts.
Partnership: Connor Partida and Phillippe de Kervor Science Behind Lava Lamp: One thing that Connor and I did before we started was we did some research on how to make a lava lamp, but we didn't look at the science on why it actually works. From this we now have started doing some research on this, due to being so interested on this. There are two ingredients inside a lava lamp: a liquid and a waxy compound which is the lava. A major aspect of a lava lamp is determined by density. For example, if something that is dense and is submerged in water it will sink. And if something is less dense it will rise and will float. This is exactly what you are wanting in a lava lamp, you want the lava lamp water to be almost exactly as dense as the waxy compound which is the lava. And also you want this density to change with the new tempter changes. When the lava is cold you want it to sink to the bottom, then when it warms up the lava will then become less dense and float, exactly like how a real lava lamp is made. Why did we do this?: The reason why we did this was, Connor and I were interested on making an actual lava lamp. This is one thing I have always wondered about, my entire life. Connor and I were interested on the science behind it, but we were interested more into the final product. One major factor to this project was density, which is something I have never really looked into. From this, now I know a bit more on what density is, read about the science behind the lava lamp, right above it and check out the science. Materials List:
Lava Lamp Critique: This critique was not specific at all, which wasn't helpful at all. One thing that everyone needs to work on, which is going to change everyones work a lot if we get good at critiquing. This is one thing I learned a lot about my self in this project, and it made me realize that I would like to improve on my critiquing skills. The Construction Of The Lava Lamp: The construction of the lava lamp went super well, we first got a base for our lava lamp from Connors house, so our lava lamp wouldn't look home made. Then we went to Trader Joe's and got a bottle for it, one of the pink lemonade bottles. Then we didn't like that bottle, so we moved to a Perrier bottle. From this, we finally came down to using the first bottle. Then we started doing the chemistry behind the lava lamp, which took some time. The first thing that we did, was getting our lava colored. The color that Connor and I picked was green, which turned out really awesome, due to it coloring the lava and the water a light green. Then what we did was started putting the salt in the water, which was interesting. What we did, was we used distilled water, and pored a lot of salt to the water, causing it to have so much salt that the water was white. Then we added about 2/3 of fresh water, into the glass bottle. Then we waited around 20 minutes to make sure that the salt water would be crystal clear. From there, we started making the water less dense, from the salt water. This process took a while, due to trying to make it just right. When we would add the salt water to the fresh water, it would make the lava at the bottom move around weirdly. By time we got the lava just to float, and then we added just enough fresh water to sink back down. Then we left the lava lamp on until noon, and the lava started to rise. Now we have a working lava lamp! Looking Inward: This project went super well and I think Connor and I worked good as a partnership. One major aspect in a project with a partnership and a group is, communication. I have been in several of projects through my middle school and high school experience at High Tech High, and communication was been number one when it comes down to the work aspect of it. This project has made me want to do more awesome projects like this, due to the awesome out come of it. Looking Outward: In the long run, I really think this lava lamp is going to be a cool thing to be displayed in the room and at exhibition, or in a room at My house or Connors house. In the long run, I am going to be able to show people how to do this, and this has made me want to do more awesome experiments like this. Backward: While working on this project, Connor and I worked very well together. Our first plan was to use a Starbucks glass Frappuccino, then we thought we would use glass Pierre bottle. But by time we are now using a clear, glass Trader Joe's Pink Lemonade bottle. From this, we had to use a lot of communication to work together, and make the right plan. On Friday, we communicated with Andrew about whats going on, and I had to do the dry ice experiment due to being sick on the day everyone else did it. So what we had to do is, plan to do it next Monday to finish it up. Forward: Now that we have finished the lava lamp, we now are going to fine tune it to make it best as possible. I truly wish that we had more time on the chemistry so we could have spent more time getting it just perfect. Beyond: Connor and I went above and beyond on this project, I truly think we put a lot of though into this project to make it the best as possible. We took a lot of time to fine tune the lava lamp to make it best as possible, now we can still make it better, I want to find a way to make the lava lamp work better, due to the lava staying in one clump which kinda sucks. Now we are going to work on making it even more fine tuned. This year, we have chemistry so we had to prove to our selfs that we know lab safety. So the first week of class, we studied lab safety and then took a quiz on it which was Jeopardy. From this our table proved that we know lab safety, and we won the game and got 3600 points.
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AuthorPhillippe Marc de Kervor Archives
December 2015
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