Kids learn from mad science experiments at the library

 

[July 20, 2022] 

On Thursday, July 14, children at the Lincoln Public Library’s summer reading program enjoyed educational and entertaining experiences with “Mad Scientist” Ted Drury.

Drury, also known as Dr. Implausible, works for Mad Science of St. Louis, which provide hands-on science programs for children.

Before Drury began the program, he asked the children if they could guess what the experiments would be about. Since there was a cardboard cutout of a space suit, most correctly guess Drury would be talking about space.

Three years ago, mad science started doing this space program to celebrate a space anniversary: man landing on the moon.

There were three things Drury said the children needed to know to do mad science:
 

1. Do not touch anything unless it is handed to you because there are some fragile and dangerous items.

2. Drury does not speak crowd. Therefore, children should raise their hands if they have a question.

3. Always have fun.

Next, Drury asked children what they already knew about travelling to space. Answers included, it looks empty and dark, people must use tools and bring special food, it takes a while to get there, and they travel in a rocket.

In response, Drury said space is really spread out and it takes astronauts days to travel there. In space, astronauts do eat special food because gravity will cause normal food to float away. Crumbs can cause damage, so something like a freeze-dried ice cream sandwich would not work well.

With the first trips to space, Drury said astronauts went up with no food to avoid crumbs messing with the rocket’s electrical system. John Young, one of the first Americans who went to outer space, snuck a pastrami sandwich up with him. The sandwich crumbled.



For the first experiment, Drury chose five volunteers to help. Each child was given a “rocket” made of a balloon. Drury asked how rockets work. He then said the rockets have gas in them. The fuel goes one way, down and the rocket goes another way, up. Rocket fuel is made from kerosene and oxygen in a liquid form. Drury said that is why ice falls off as rockets go up in the atmosphere.

As the volunteers held their balloons, Drury asked them to guess which one would go the furthest. Their guess was the largest one. The children then removed the clothespins holding the balloons closed and let them go as the air went out. As predicted, the big one appeared to travel the furthest before falling to the floor.

The next demonstration showed how big things get. Drury said we live in a galaxy with planets in a solar system going around the sun. The eight planets are spread out greatly.

Eight volunteers were chosen to represent the planets and held out to a long rope, which had each planet labeled.

When choosing the volunteers to represent each planet, Drury told the audience facts about each one.

Mercury is closest to the sun and its year is 79 days.
 

Venus is hottest with a thick carbon dioxide atmosphere made of acid.

Earth is our planet and is the third “rock” from the sun.

Mars is made of rocks. It takes months to travel there from earth.

Jupiter is the biggest of the planets.

Saturn has a ring around it.

Uranus is named after the Greek god of time.

Neptune is the furthest planet.

Each planet revolves around the sun. The closest star is four light years away.

Drury brought out earth and moon models for the next demonstration. The distance between the Earth and the moon is around 238,855 miles. Drury said that is over two dozen earths away.



Choosing three volunteers, Drury had one hold the moon model and one stand by the Earth model. The third one handed the child standing by the Earth model a plastic rocket to launch at the moon model.

Each time the child launched a rocket, it landed close to the moon model, but did not quite reach it.

As Drury said, the moon is a moving target, and the earth is spinning. Drury then had the child holding the moon model spin it to make it harder to reach. The child who launched the rockets aimed where the moon was going to be, which was a challenge.



Those who go into space need a special suit and a space helmet. Drury said that is because there is no air, and it can be really cold or hot. Drury chose a child to wear a hoodie that represented a space suit. The child also wore a plastic space helmet and put her feet on gravity boots. Drury taped a balloon to her arm to represent the air in the suit.

The space suits astronauts wear are heavy, but Drury said in space that does not matter. Gravity boots hold the astronauts down.
 

These suits need something to keep them under pressure. Drury said the suit is full of air bags to keep it pressurized.

The final experiment was done with “chemical powered rockets.” For this experiment, Drury chose three volunteers. Each volunteer was given a film canister filled with water and Alka seltzer.

The Alka seltzer made a gas when it hit the water to create a thrust for the “rockets.”

Drury then had each volunteer put a lid on a canister, turn it upside down and walk away. The gas builds up pressure, pushing the canister up in the air.



Two of the canisters flew up into the air, but one did not immediately launch. When Drury tried to send the canister up again, the canister launched so high, it went into the ceiling.

As Drury ended the program, he said the library is the perfect place to learn about space. He then offered to answer any questions anyone may have. Children could also pose behind the cardboard cutout of a space suit.

Thursday, July 21 will be the Silly Safari, an animal show that has been popular with the kids for many years. This show will be the final one for the Lincoln Public Library’s summer programs.

[Angela Reiners]