General Science: The Right Stuff

This week the kids were charged with designing a spacesuit that could withstand the intensely high temperatures one might find on Venus. Lacking the funding to actually travel to Venus and not wanting to violate the Helsinki Declaration,* we used ice-pops instead of people and hot water instead of Venus. The kids made spacesuits using one of three available materials: tin foil, wax paper, and bubble wrap. Once outfitted with their spacesuits, each ice pop was submerged in a pot of boiling water for one minute. For comparison we also had a control ice pop, meaning an ice pop with no space suit. After a minute the kids opened up each ice-pop and measured how much of it had melted by pouring the liquid into a graduated cylinder. Of the 3 materials, bubble wrap was the best insulator.

*ethical principles for research on human subjects

General Science: The Right Stuff

This week the kids had to design a spacesuit that could withstand the intensely high temperatures one might find on Venus. Lacking the funding to actually travel to Venus and not wanting to violate the Helsinki Declaration (ethical principles for research on human subjects), we used ice-pops instead of people and hot water instead of Venus. The kids made spacesuits using one of three available materials: tin foil, cotton balls, and bubble wrap. Each of the subjects was then placed in a plastic bag and then then submerged in hot water for 1 minute. Afterward, the kids opened up each ice-pop and measured how much of it had melted by pouring the liquid from each one into a graduated cylinder.