Science Sunday, Week 1

I should explain the recent titling of posts. I'm participating in National Blog Posting Month, NaBloPoMo, once more. Every day in November, I will attempt to post. I've done this for a few years, some years more successfully than others.

Last year was my most successful year, and I'm confident it's because I gave myself some structure. I wrote an advice column. If you want to read my daily blatherings, all of the posts are linked here. I actually had a lot of fun with this challenge last year.

This year, I decided to break the challenge into days of the week. I plan to write about a different topic, posting roughly four times on each topic. I decided this on November 1, so it's been a little shaky getting things going. The structure is this:

Thursday: Around the House
Friday: {this moment}
Saturday: Fall / Winter Crafts
Sunday: Science Sunday
Monday: Connor's Day
Tuesday: Politics
Wednesday: Helen's Day

Wish me luck.

The first installment of Science Sunday happened quite unexpectedly this afternoon. It is one of the many good by-products of Connor's broken arm. A friend of mine that I met in 7th grade sent Connor a care package. It's basically a small plastic tube and a roll of Mentos candy. In order to make a geyser, you are supposed to secure the plastic tube to a diet soda bottle (and that diet part is important, because apparently diet soda is a lot less sticky than regular soda). Then you place a pin in the plastic tube, stack the Mentos on top, pull the pin out and watch a 25 foot geyser happen.

Connor and I carefully read the instructions on the package, and then Ed helped Connor with the experiment. I don't think Ed ever read the instructions, and that explains this video.

The play-by-play is this.

1. Ed does not follow the instructions.
2. Helen warns her friend Naim of impending doom.
3. Naim's mom and I assure Naim everything is fine. Clearly, we are optimists.
4. Connor paces nervously, and then tries to assure the crowd about what will happen.
5. Ed warns about a "splash zone".
6. Ed discovers the splash zone at the point it becomes obvious he didn't read the instructions to the experiment.

In case anyone ever wondered why Ed and I do not home school our children, I think the above video puts that issue firmly to bed.

Elaine