Table of Contents:
Materials:
Pipe cleaners
Red, green, blue, and yellow plastic beads
Marker
Ruler
Scissors
Directions:
Take two long pipe cleaners and twist them together at the middle and their ends
Use a marker to make dots an inch apart from each other on the pipe cleaners
Cut another pipe cleaner into smaller pieces that can connect the dots on each pipe cleaner.
Put a red and a blue bead together on half of the smaller pieces and put a yellow and green bead together on the other half of the smaller pieces by pushing the pipe cleaner through the hole of the beads.
Glue the smaller pipe cleaners to the two big pipe cleaners at the dots you made before in any order you like.
Let the model dry for 10-20 minutes
Explanation:
What is DNA?
DNA stands for deoxyribonucleic acid, and it contains genetic information that helps your body function! This genetic information acts like a 'blueprint' for a source because it gives instructions for how to make your body. The order of the base pairs (which you will learn about in the next section) codes for different traits like eye color, skin color, height, and more! This is why you and your best friend may have different eye colors, skin colors, and other traits.
Why did we use different colored beads in separate pairs?
There are four types of bases that make up DNA: adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine. But, they only make certain pairs! There is a way to remember which base pairs with which: “car in the garage” (cytosine with guanine) and “apple in the tree” (adenine with thymine)! We showed this by using red to represent adenine, blue to represent thymine, green to represent cytosine, and yellow to represent guanine. The order of these base pairs (or the small pipe cleaner pieces) is what makes different genes and traits.
Why is modeling important?
Modeling is important because it lets scientists represent their findings on a larger scale and make predictions. Models also can help you explain your findings to other people.
Scroll through the images below for the steps:
Materials:
Leaf from a living plant or tree
A clear container
Small heavy object (like a rock)
Optional: scissors
Directions:
Fill a clear container with water.
Remove one leaf from a living plant (preferably one that is outdoors) with the stem still attached using scissors or just your hands. Try to get a medium-sized leaf.
Quickly place the entire leaf into the water, including the stem.
Place a small heavy object on top of the leaf if needed to keep it fully submerged under water.
Take the container to a sunny window or outdoors on a sunny day and leave it for 1-2 hours.
After 1-2 hours, check for air bubbles on your leaf!
Why did this happen?
Explanation:
Through a process called photosynthesis, plants use sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to make their own food. Because you took the leaf from a live plant, it was still photosynthesizing when you placed it in the water. The leaf used the water from the bowl, sunlight from either your window or outdoors, and carbon dioxide from the air to make sugars (its food) and release oxygen. The bubbles you see on the surface of the leaf are oxygen bubbles that are released during photosynthesis. This is the opposite of how you breathe! You breathe in oxygen that is produced by plants like the leaf and breathe out carbon dioxide that is used by plants for photosynthesis. So, you and the plants around you work together to breathe!
*This is a longer experiment that spans a week.
Materials:
Coca Cola*
Hot Chocolate*
Sprite*
Water*
4 eggs
4 cups
*You can replace any of the liquids with things you have at home or want to try! Examples include lemonade, Gatorade, etc.
Directions:
Pour Coca-Cola, hot chocolate, Sprite, and water into four separate cups
Place an egg into each of the four cups
Take a picture of the eggs every day for a week
Observe what happens to the eggshells over a week
Why did this happen?
Explanation:
The shells of the eggs are similar to the enamel (or outside coating) of our teeth! Each of the different liquids has a different effect on the eggshells based on how much sugar they contain and the dyes that are in the liquid. So, if you don’t want your teeth to look like the brown eggshells, don’t drink too much of those liquids, and make sure you brush your teeth!
Materials:
Celery stalks with leaves (as many as you want to color)
Food coloring (blue is the most visible)
Jars
Water
Steps:
Fill each jar with water and add at least 15-20 drops of food coloring.
Cut off the bottom of the celery stalk(s)
Place the celery stalks into the jars. You can put more than one stalk in each jar.
Observe the leaves of the celery stalks every hour for 12-24 hours. What do you notice?
Why did this happen?
Explanation:
The leaves changed colors due to the process of capillary action. Capillary action is when a liquid is able to move through narrow tubes or spaces like the thin tubes in a celery stalk. This allowed the water to travel through the tubes and into the leaves of the plant, causing them to change colors. Plants need capillary action for water to survive. Capillary action also occurs in your body! Blood travels through capillaries in your body to all the different parts of your body.