The other day, the four year old came home from preschool with the results of a cool experiment they’d done.  It was so simple and intriguing that I decided to replicate it at home and share it with you all.  At first, I kind of misremembered the project—more on that later.

The experiment demonstrates the elasticity of polymers.  I guess polymers are pretty cool, since this is the second experiment/project I’ve done with them.  For the first, see my post on how to make flubber.

All you need is a Ziplock bag and a sharp pencil.  And water, but I kind of assume you all have that around.

To really give you the sense of the project, you have to see it in action.  So the four year old and I made you a little video.

The science here lies in the plastic bag,  It’s made of polymer chains, so when the pencil pokes through, it manages to slide between molecules, and the polymer molds itself around the pencil.  That’s why you don’t get any leaking.

On a side note, it’s also a good way to illustrate to your kids that if they ever get impaled with anything, they should leave it in and let the doctors take it out.

Now, I mentioned before that I kind of misremembered the project at first.  I thought it was a balloon, for some reason.  And the four year old didn’t correct me.  So we got our balloon all ready and did the experiment, and it didn’t really go as planned.  Therefore, I give you: RD Bloopers!

I don’t think the balloon is made of polymer.  Do you?

On another side note, the four year old was SO MAD at me.  Did you see his face at the end?  He told me he was never doing that experiment again.  That’s why he backs up like a maniac on the second go round.

Good grief, I love bloopers.

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