The World of Wonders Science Museum will be posting a new science experiment each month that you can do right in your own home!

"Flaps up, keep it full throttle, and let your imagination soar."

Ok, here is another diabolical, super doper science experiment from the labs of Sgt. Major Potts World of Science

First take one empty every day and not unusual glass, narrow neck, bottle. Rinse the bottle and place it in the refrigerator four about an hour or two.

After one or two hours remove the everyday and not unusual bottle from frig. Place a quarter in water so it is nice and wet. Then place the wet quarter on the mouth of the frozen bottle. The water makes a great seal. Next rub your hands together to make them warm and place them around the middle of the bottle. Now a magical, mystifying, event will take place. If others are watching your magical feat, this is when you say, with an authority voice, "shezam Gismo, neato-Jet."

Within a few seconds you will see the quarter begin jumping up and down.

We have just done a very cool demonstration illustrating the properties of air. When air is cooled it condenses. When air warms up or becomes hot it expands. We placed the bottle into the refrigerator and shrunk the air molecules down. When we took it out and placed it on the counter the molecules began to heat up. The wet quarter made a nice seal keeping the air inside the bottle. As the air inside became warmer it expanded, began to rise, and escaped. As a result our bottle burped! Was this magic. No way! It's Science. This is Sgt. Major Potts saying Pip, Pip, and Cheerio.

SERGEANT MAJOR POTTS WORLD OF SCIENCE
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Experiment #5

Lox and donta?

Cheers scientists of the future to the incredible, extraordinary, awesome Sergeant Major Potts World of Science. Don?t hold your breath because you will need all the oxygen you can get for this one.
Potts was frantically putting a tarp over his jeep in pouring down rain when he heard his telephone ring inside. He rushed into the barracks to receive a call from his close friend, Chidiebube, in Serengeti, Africa. The phone reception was very bad and all that Potts could hear was that he must desperately go quickly to Africa because of lox and donta. "Lox and donta"? Potts questioned. He scratched his head and chomped on his cigar. "Lox is bagel and fish and donta must be Oliver Donta the great explorer of pastoral Neolithic stone age diggings in Africa." And he must like to eat lox.  Gad zukes! Potts exclaimed.  "Oliver Donta must be in danger and needs my help."
Once again Potts got on a Clipper airplane and headed to Serengeti Africa.
Soon after Potts got off of the plane in Serengeti, two tall guys in black trench coats grabbed him and threw him in a car and drove him to a two-seat biplane. Potts recognized the pilot as the notorious, evil, elephant tusk-poaching Cornelius Snod. Snod said, "I heard you were coming to stop my notorious, evil, elephant tusk poaching so I have come to stop you from stopping me." "Crum butter," Potts declared. "Chidiebube wasn't saying lox and Oliver Donta. He was trying to say loxodonta. That means elephant in Latin and Snod isn't a nice guy." The plane took off with Cornelius Snod and Potts. Potts searched in all of his pockets for a diabolical mystifying Egyptian science experiment to get him out of this situation. From the top inside pocket of his jacket he pulled out two torpedo-shaped magnets and threw them into pilot Snod's lap. The magnets made a vibrating sound like rattlesnakes. Snod jumped so high in his seat that he fell out of the plane. Lucky for Snod that he had a parachute. This gave Potts the extra time to fly back to the police authorities to reveal Snod's bad deeds and inform them of his location. Once again Potts saved the day.

What is a torpedo magnet you say? First, what is a magnet? It is a device that attracts iron from its magnetic field. What is a magnetic field? Boy you ask a lot of questions. There are invisible moving particles in an iron magnet that move from the top to the bottom and grab onto metal and don't want to let go until you pull them apart. The torpedo magnets grab each other but their shape makes them vibrate to produce an unusual sound.

SERGEANT MAJOR POTTS' WORLD OF SCIENCE
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Experiment #4

ONE MORE AMAZING SPECTACLE

Ok, now we are going to prove that science and chemical reactions can be real weird some times. We will make a bouncing ball using glue and soap. I told you it is weird. Since it is not something that you would usually keep in your pocket, or at least I hope not, you will have to ask mom or dad if you can get some Borax soap and glue.
In a container, combine one teaspoon of Borax to one cup of water and stir until the Borax is dissolved. To make it real neato-jet, put in a few drops of food coloring. Now squirt the glue into the container of Borax and water and stir the contents. You can now use your hands to knead it like dough. Now tighten your seat belt because magical mystifying molecules are doing weird things unknown to the human eyes. The Borax molecules are changing the glues different molecules, (polyvinyl acetate). Borax eliminates one molecule in the glue so the other glue molecules will stay stuck together. This is called polymer cross-link. Did I loose you?  Ok imagine 6 students holding hands as a long chain. They are the glue molecules. Now 6 other students, the Borax molecules, come in and grabs onto the glue molecule hands bonding them together as one big blob.  That is what you just made. Your blob is similar to silly putty that can be made into a ball. And it bounces. Separate it into little blobs and place it into a container. After a few moments, those molecules will all hold hands again and move it back into one big blob. It will eventually dry out so keep it in a plastic bag. And Mom, it can wash out with soap and water. Is it magic? No way! It is science.

This is Sergeant Major Potts World of Science signing off until next time.

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Experiment #3

Cheers science experimenter of the universe. You are now in the midst of the
 amazing, diabolical, super duper Sergeant Major Potts world of Science #3.

Major Potts heard news of the sunken, ancient Chinese ship Liki Tiki that has just been discovered due to the winter monsoon rains, wind, heavy waves, and low ocean tides. "Gad Zookes," Potts expressed. "The Hong Dong looter, pirates will find the great treasures before me." Potts took the first China Clipper airplane to the Chinese coast and swam down to the newly revealed sunken ship. Unfortunately three Hong Dong pirates arrived soon after, capturing Potts with fishy, smelly, sharp harpoons pointed at him.  Pirates Ding Gong, A-Ling, and Ding thought to use Potts as ransom for money but Potts had other ideas. Potts told them if he gave them a magic bottle, will they let him go? Hong Dong Pirates Ding, A-Ling, and Ding Gong agreed so Potts whipped out an everyday and not unusual plastic bottle and an eye dropper. He placed the eye dropper in the bottle and secured a cap on the top of the bottle. Holding the bottle with one hand he said, with an authority voice, "Shezam, Gismo, Neato-Jet." And the eye dropper magically sank to the bottom of the bottle. Hong Dong pirates Ding, A-Ling and Ding Gong looked at each other in amazement. They grabbed the bottle and left. Was it amazing? Yes. Was it magic? No. It was science that you too can now do. All that you need is a 1 liter clear every day and not unusual plastic soda bottle. An eye dropper, and water.

Fill the bottle all the way to the top with water. Squeeze water into the eye dropper up past the base of the black rubber squeezer thingy. Place the eye dropper into the bottle and screw the top onto the bottle tight.
Now place the bottle on a table and with one hand hold the bottle and the other, unless you have three, (use your judgment), pretend there is a string attached to the eye dropper when you move your hand down the outside of the bottle and squeeze the bottle with the other hand. As you squeeze the bottle, you are causing water pressure that is sending more water into the eye dropper, making it heavy and it will fall to the bottom of the bottle. . Some people may go crazy trying to figure this one out. Yes, this is the time that someone may pass out or can?t remember their own name. And don?t forget the magic words. If the eye dropper does not go down easily, take it out and add more water to it.

This is the Sergeant Major Potts World of Science signing off until next time.

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Experiment #2

Here is your # 2 Sergeant Major Potts science secrets from the tombs of the Egyptian Pharaohs. The past experiment was amazing beyond belief. But hold onto your hats, your toes, your peanut butter sandwiches, or anything else to keep you from falling over because here are more amazing, beyond belief, science secrets that we are entrusting to you to pass on to the world, or thousands. Maybe 100. Possibly 50. More than likely 10 or 15.

Another famous saying of Sergeant Major Potts: "Aim high, fly straight, and don't crash."

Back when Sergeant Major Potts was exploring through pyramid tombs, he came upon a room with a golden chest that was resting on a dusty table. Potts slowly opened the chest and found white sand inside. He put much of the white sand into a canvas bag because he figured that the sand must have magical powers. Lucky for Potts that he tied the canvas bag onto his belt because when exiting the pyramid tunnel, he was greeted by 50 sword swinging Tajari soldiers. They weren't happy that Potts was inside their sacred pyramid. They were angry, and also had bad breath, and were coming closer to Potts with their sharpened blades.

With a snarl and a grit of his teeth, Sergeant Major Potts grabbed a hand full of the magic white sand from his canvas bag and threw it into a puddle of muddy water that was between Potts and the bad-breathed, yellow-teethed, angry soldiers. Potts raised both hands and said, "Shezam, gismo, neato-jet" and the muddy puddle began to grow higher and higher. This scared the soldiers so much that they ran away in a cloud of dust. Potts also had a mystified look on his face that turned into a grin. He then said, "Ah! Another amazing, shocking, awesome, science experiment." Now it is your turn to demonstrate the magic of the white Egyptian sand to others.

Ok, first you need a large plate, 2 ounces of water and 1 1/2 cap full, the white cap, of the sacred magic sand. (You can find this magic sand in our land in the form of Suddenly Snow!) Place the cap full of magic sand in the middle of the plate. Then pour the 2 ounces of water over the sand and with an authorative voice you know what to say. "Shezam, gismo, neato-jet" and the sand should expand 100 times its original size. Did I hear someone say Wowie Zowie!!!??? The magic sand is called super absorbent polymer. Polymer is synthetic, plastic molecules that are linked together, as if they are holding hands and not letting go, and expand 100 times their size when absorbing liquid like a sponge. When the amazed audience touches the expanded polymer, you tell them that this is the stuff that they put in baby diapers to absorb moisture. Ouououou! Let the polymer dry without squeezing it and you can use it over again. You will also see that it returns to its 1 ? capfull size after the water is all gone. (The super absorbent polymer was originally developed for the forest service that plant seeds in the polymer, since it holds water. The seeds do not dry out and will sprout into trees). Amazing? Yes! Is it magic? NO!!! It is science!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ONE MORE AMAZING SPECTACLE

With this experiment you will need a 1 liter EMPTY clear, plastic, every day and not unusual soda bottle, cheap cooking oil and food coloring. Inside the box you will find Alka-Seltzer. Now, pour the cheap cooking oil 4 inches from the bottom into the empty soda bottle. Add water until the contents reaches 3 inches below the top of the bottle. Wow! You will see the water separate from the oil. What is heavier the oil or the water? Now add one or two drops of food coloring, of your choice, in the bottle. Wow, Wow, watch the food coloring drop into the oil. "Neato-jet." But that isn't the amazing spectacle. Now break each Alka-Seltzer into 2 pieces. After the oil and water separate, drop in a few Alka-Seltzer pieces and watch the show. Now that is is the amazing part! The carbon dioxide gas rises sending water drops up into the oil. But since water is heavier than oil, the water floats back down. You now have a water, oil, Alka-Seltzer lava lamp.

WARNING: The Alka-Seltzer makes a carbon dioxide gas. If you twist the bottle cap on tight, while the gas is bubbling, you will get quite an explosive oil-water mess. [MOM]: after the Alka-Seltzer is finished fizzing, you can then put the cap back on to save the contents, and save from cleaning a mess, because you will be able to do the experiment over and over again. 

This is Sergeant Major Potts World of Science signing off until next time.

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Experiment #1