Science Fair 2011

Lucy discovered why the sunset is red. We had a lot of fun checking out the sky each night.

Painting her display was pretty fun, too. I love how, for some of my kids, the science project turns into an art project.
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FYI: light travels through more atmosphere and therefore more dust during sunset hours which scatters the shorter wavelengths of light letting the longer reds and oranges through. Who knew? We all do now!

Mae wanted to alter the recipe for making bath bombs to see if she could get more fizz. This was totally fun because we made bath bombs. She measured the fizz by collecting the reaction gas in a balloon attached to a cylinder with a pressure gauge.
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FYI: yes, by changing the amount of baking soda or citric acid you can get more fizz.

Henry wanted to use his r/c car somehow for his science project and with Jackson's help, the question of gear ratio and its relationship to top speed was answered. But, since he didn't have a speedometer, he measured the distance the car went off a jump (both length and height) instead.
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FYI: a smaller gear ratio made his car jump higher and farther.
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This was our 7th year doing science projects and I do believe this was the smoothest year so far. I love how excited our kids get about science, and not only their own project. Tonight at dinner, they recalled nearly all of their classmates cool projects as well.