Nano Chemistry

Last week we were learning about Nano Chemistry!

Nano Chemistry is Physics and Chemistry on a VERY small scale.

A nanometer is just one-billionth of a meter...It's hard to imagine how small this is. 

'To give you an idea of the size comparison it would be like comparing the size of a basketball to the size of the earth!' (House of Science Teacher guide).

We did different science experiments to see different materials reacting with each other. We discussed what we could see and learned about what we could not see (because it is so tiny).

We made flubber (slime) by mixing blue glue with Borax. These two chemicals react and the molecules clump together and form slime.

 

We mixed sulphates (copper or magnesium) with hot water to see what sorts of crystals would grow.

We had to dissolve the sulphate in hot water until no more could dissolve and we could see the sulphate in the jar. Then we poured the mixture into the dish and test tube and left it over the 

weekend.

Some crystals started to form straight away 

After the weekend we discovered so many different sorts of crystals had formed.

We wondered what makes the crystals form SO differently?
We decided it could be:
The amount of sulphate we used
The amount we mixed it with the water
The different types of sulphate
The amount we poured into the petri dish and test tube...

Our last experiment was to make glow in the dark worms!!

We mixed Sodium alginate ( Worm Goo ) which comes from seaweed (algae). When it contacts calcium ions in the Worm Activator it instantly cross-links to form a gel skin layer. You can't see the ions or the particles, that's the nano science...but you can definitely see the glow in the dark worms and feel the goo in the gel skin layer!

So we.... Observe, Wonder, Think, Question, Discuss and have lots of fun!

Brilliant.

Thanks House of Science