Hot Science Experiments How-Tos
How To: Make a gooey slime at home using corn flour
Gross out your friends, or just have fun playing with some goo! You can make your own slime at home easily. All you need is some corn flour and water. Add food coloring if you really want to make it cool!
How To: Make slime without using borax
This video shows you how to make slime, or goo, without using borax which can be harsh on some people's skin. Rather than spending money on buying slime for your children in the toy store, simply mix water and cornstarch. You can even make it any color you want just by adding food coloring. Make slime without using borax.
How To: Use a laser to ignite a fire within a regular balloon
All you need is a burning laser, a bit of flash paper (which you can find at any magician's shop), some thread, a balloon pump, and of course, a balloon. Then set it all up to set a fire inside the balloon!
How To: Make a water drop electrostatic generator
Wanna make some lighting in your very own home? You can with this cool how-to video. Basically what you'll be creating is called a Kelvin's Thunderstorm, or, a water drop electrostatic generator. Check out the video to see what supplies you'll need to make this experiement work.
How To: Perform a cool trick with Ivory soap and a microwave
Ever wonder what happens when you put a bar of Ivory soap (the soap that floats!) in a microwave for a few minutes? This science experiment shows what happens when water molecules in a bar of Ivory get nuked! Try it!
How To: Create a color explosion with this cool science experiement
Soap is an incredible thing and this how-to shows some of its incredible qualities. You'll need a plate, some whole mile, some food coloring, some Q-tips and some dish detergent. It's an explosion of color! Some very unusual things happen when you mix a little milk, food coloring, and a drop of liquid soap. Use the experiment to amaze your friends and uncover the scientific secrets of soap.
How To: Perform an ice-cube trick with sodium chloride
Think you can lift an ice-cube with nothing but a piece of string? In this cool how-to science lesson, Steve Spangler shows us how to do it, and explains what happens when salt is put on ice. We all know that salt is used to melt ice and snow, but do you know why? Leave it Steve Spangler to turn this basic science lesson into an after-dinner trick you'll use to amaze your friends.
How To: Perform a cool water heat conduction experiment
This is a cool science experiment to show what a great heat conductor water is. You'll need some balloons, a candle and some water. Check it out and be amazed! Common sense tells you that it's impossible to boil water in a paper bag, but this classic parlor trick was a favorite of the Victorian magician. The real difficultly in performing this effect is making it look harder than it is! As you might imagine, the secret lies in yet another amazing property of water - it's ability to conduct he...
How To: Make Gooey Green Slime Using Elmer's Glue and Borax
Remember the movie "Flubber," about mad professor Robin Williams and his gravity-defying invention of slime that could walk, talk, and transform into just about anything? Well, you can make a very similar type of green goo at home using stuff you already have lying around.
How To: Perform a superheated steam science experiment
This is a cool experiment that shows what happens when we superheat steam. Wath as we move beyond a gas to something else! Steve Spangler is the science man and he'll turn you on to something cool. We usually think of water as a substance used to put out fires... but what happens when water turns to steam and that steam gets superheated? Watch in amazement as the steam created in the experiment is used to create - not extinguish - fire!
How To: Test the myth of death by eating pop rocks and soda
Did Mikey really meet his end by eating Pop Rocks and Coke? Well, in this how-to you'll see the myth tested and be able to try it out yourself. Follow as Steve Spangler shows us why Pop Rocks pop, and how they react with soda.
How To: Make a bouncy ball and glow in the dark goo
Here's a cool video! By combining two readily accessible liquids, you can make yourself a cool bouncey ball. This how-teaches kids about polymers, chemicals. You'll also learn in this video how to make glow in the dark goo. Just what the world needs!
How To: test the acidity or alkalinity of certain liquids
Hmmm, all you've got is a piece of cabbage but you need to test the acidity or alkalinity of some liquid. What do you do? What DO you do!? Well, you start by watching this video by Steve Spangler. Ahh, the sweet smell of science! Invite your friends over to share in this super smelly but really cool activity. Plug your nose and get ready to make your own red cabbage indicator that will test the acidity or alkalinity of certain liquids.
How To: Make a tea bag rocket and blast off
3,2,1... blast off! Here's a fun little experiment you can do with a tea bag and some matches. You can try it at home and see how far up you can make your tea bag rocket go. The Tea Bag Rocket is really an adaptation of a classic science demonstration called the Ditto Paper Rocket. Each piece of Ditto paper had a sheet of tissue paper that separated the two-part form, and it was this discarded piece of paper that kids used to make the "rocket." Since Ditto paper is a thing of the past, scienc...
How To: Walk on cornstarch with this non-Newtonian fluid trick
Walk on water? Impossible. Walk on cornstarch? You bet! Check out this video to see what happens when you mix up a tub of cornstarch and water. It's goopy cool fun. Mix cornstarch and water in this classic experiment to form a gooey liquid and solid material that behaves like quicksand. Some people refer to this as the Oobleck recipe, others call it a Non-Newtonian fluid. After watching these video segments, you'll call it a great science lesson as your students learn about the amazing proper...
How To: Perform the floating rice trick
This is a cool trick that creates the illusion that one object appears heavier than the other. Check out the video, and watch Steve Spangler perform this trick and teach you how to do it! This trick, dating back thousands of years, uses two identical bottles of rice and chopsticks. One bottle appears to be lighter than the other and floats up.
How To: Make a liquid nitrogen explosion
In this how-to, Steve Spangler shows us the power of liquid nitrogen, and how you can use it to make quite a powerful explosion. Now this isn't something you'll likely try yourself, but you'll learn something, and hey, that's pretty cool.
How To: Understand Newton's laws of motion and centripetal force
With this cool little how-to, learn about Newton's laws of motion and try first hand to see centripetal force in action. You'll need balloons and a coin and a lug nut.
How To: Create a cloud in a bottle
Cool! A cloud in a bottle! You can make one yourself by watching this little how-to. You'll need a bottle, a bike pump and a little attachment from the hardware store.
How To: Build a tornado or whirlpool tube
Wish you could put a whirlpool in a bottle? How about a tornado? Well, this cool video shows you how to do both. Add food coloring or dish soap to highlight the water or the air. It's a cool project!
How To: Make a carbon dioxide sandwich bomb
No one ever gets tired of making little explosions by adding vinegar and baking soda. In this video, you'll make a sandwich bomb in a sandwich bag and watch as the contents bubble, brew and explode. Mmmm lunch is ready!
How To: Make a Stack of Different Colored Liquids
Here's a simple home science experiment to demonstrate to kids the different weight and viscosity of various liquids. The liquids near the bottom are more dense while the liquids on top are less dense. This can also be used to determine the relative density of solid objects. Place them in the container and see where they float.
How To: Learn the difference between reflection and refraction
In this video you'll visit one of the largest solar power farms in the world to learn the difference between reflection and refraction. Unlike most solar farms, this farm uses giant mirrors instead of photo electric cells. Check it out.
How To: Make a Double Heart-Shaped Homopolar Motor: The Valentine's Day Gift of Science!
Homopolar motors tend to be typecast as simplistic in nature, and that's true for the most part. The bare minimum requirements are a battery, conductor, and magnetic field, but when it comes to Valentine's Day, they're nothing short of complex.
How To: Wrap your head around the concept of Entropy
Entropy can be a tricky concept to wrap your head around, but this clear and detailed video helps make it easy. By using a variety of props as examples, you too can master the idea of entropy to amaze and impress your friends!
How To: Salicylate determination with visual colorimetry
If you're interested in forensic toxicology and are trying to determine the presence of salicylate by using a visual colorimetry, then look no further. This indepth and compelling video takes you into world of salicylate determination.
Quantum Mechanics: Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle Explained
Physics can be a real mind bender, but this educational video will show you how to wrap your head around Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. And no, that's not the same Heisenberg that's in Breaking Bad. We're talking about the famous German theoretical physicist Werner Heisenberg, someone whose work you'd be more likely to see in Fringe.
How To: Buy lab chemicals for home science experiements
If you're looking to get your hands on some chemicals for your home science experiments, this video is for you. The home scientist will find this sourcing guide helpful when putting together their home lab. Don't think you can't get the chemicals you want, you can!
How To: Perform some easy air and water tricks
Ever wonder how a tree gets water all the way up to the top? Ever thought about how a stream of air can hold a ping pong ball in place? This simple how-to shows you a few experiments to try with air and water.
How To: Create fun fog tricks with dry ice
Ahh, it's a real pea souper! Well, it could be if you get your hands on some dry ice and check out these home science experiments. You can make some fun fog tricks if watch this how-to and follow along.
HowTo: Make Instant Fog
What happens when you toss boiling water into the -30 degrees celsius, bitter cold Canadian air? Instantaneous "fog" (AKA a big vapor cloud of awesomeness).
How To: Make an air battery of out of zinc
This is a great science project! For this, you will be able to make an air battery using zinc. You will also need a paper towel, some steel wool, and an electrolyte solution. An air battery can keep for decades as long as it's dry.
How To: Make a propane balloon of doom
Looking for something new and unusual to light on fire? How about a propane bomb? This little how-to shows us the explosive power of propane when we expose it to flame. With a balloon, some propane and a piece of toilet paper we can make a pretty ball of flame.
How To: Make a battery at home out of table salt and aluminum
For this tutorial, you will need some water, table salt, a few square feet of aluminum foil, a needle, some steel wool, a pair of wired alligator clips, a thick paper towel and a voltmeter to test out your new battery.
How To: Mutilate Candy Gummy Bears with Exploratory Science Experiments
Who could resist a gummy bear? Those rubbery little candy creatures shaped like a bear are just too cute and too delicious to pass up. If you can't get any enjoyment out of those gelatin-based confectioneries, then you're simple not human. Even scientists love them, but not for their seductively sweet properties...
How To: Freeze a gummi bear in liquid nitrogen and shatter it
If you've ever taken high school chemistry, you may already be familiar with the ability of liquid nitrogen to freeze soft object so hard that they will shatter. This video will teach you a fun experiment utilizing this property of liquid nitrogen. It invovles gummi bears frozen and soaked in water or liquid nitrogen (or not, for the control) and then smashed in a most satisfying way.
How To: Use Gummi Bears to demonstrate osmosis and crystallization
Gummi Bears are great for science experiments due to their gelatinous makeup. In this video you will learn how NOT to make a Gummi Bear conduct electricity, but in fact how to use them to demonstrate osmosis and crystallization by preparing them for conductivity.
How To: Liquefy a Gummy Bear with high-frequency sound waves using a sonicator
A sonicator is a scientific device used to liquefy cells in order to study their proteins. The same tool can also be used to liquefy other things, including Gummy Bears! This video will show you how to use a sonicator to destroy a Gummy Bear completely in a very scientific way.
How To: Use electrochemical principles to grow small silver metal crystals
This is a great school project or weekend fun. Grow some silver crystals that you can see under a microscope! Use the princples of electrochemistry to create crystals out of silver metal, and watch them grow right before your eyes.
How To: Create a simple, spiraling heat motor with rising hot air
Know someone who's full of hot air? Grab them and make a heat motor with this cool home science experiment with Mr. G. When air is heated, it rises. This experiment uses that natural law to create a simple, spiraling heat 'motor'.