Rockets

Of course we made film canister rockets as part of learning about fireworks! They're so fun. Some resources:

Rocket launching https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mD8HxvI4Xms

••Parts of a rocket https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8-MHP4lVOc

••How rockets work https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jI-HeXhsUIg

Rocket science https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZ5mobRcXAU

Fuels, explosives, propellants https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEhH7735gSs 

••https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcjYdEW_HLQ chemistry of rocket launch

Make film canister rockets  https://stemium.com/science-fair-project-alka-seltzer-rocket/ diagram

Also of course, we repeated our ever-popular "building demolition" demonstration where we use strings (not explosives!) to tear down a block creation. It makes me nostalgic to remember how much the big boys loved doing this when they were little. (And this group reminds me so much them, including little Daisy!):

Demolition and other uses of explosives resources are here:

https://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/car-technology/a14479213/heres-how-much-explosive-power-is-hiding-in-your-airbag/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRcajZHc6Yk slow-motion airbag

Mine blasting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXfYkw6B-kw

Building demolition https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gISv99-aqfM

Demolition https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRJz0PePXZ8

Skyscraper demolition https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-H7E-KQgHQ

Colored Fire

I have always remembered how cool it was the first time we made colored fire (this was WAY back when we first started homeschooling) so we decided to try it again. Sam helped since it always scares me to do things like this alone.

(People don't look extremely enthralled here, but they were!)

Chemicals to use:

Colored fire: Yellow HEET (methanol)

Lithium from battery—red
Calcium chloride ice melt—orange
Baking soda (sodium) or red HEET—yellow
Boric Acid (ant and roach killer)—green
Plain yellow HEET, copper sulfate—blue/turquoise
Potassium chloride salt substitute—violet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2XIMKX3ktg&t=124s How to make rainbow fire
https://thekidshouldseethis.com/post/explore-the-science-behind-fireworks-and-the-galaxy Colored chemical reactions in the galaxy
https://thekidshouldseethis.com/post/youre-a-firework-scientifically-speaking
https://thekidshouldseethis.com/post/the-science-of-firework-color

Firework models; Chemical Reactions

 

We haven't ton a ton of chemistry lately in school, so it was fun learning about some basics like chemical and physical changes and chemical reactions with the kids. We did a bunch of the classic demonstrations like convection currents and baking-soda-and-vinegar and hydrogen-peroxide-and-yeast reactions. (Here's a fact sheet and experiment page for that last one.)

I love their pleased smiles as the reactions work

…some of them had pleased smiles, anyway.

They liked this "fireworks in a jar" demonstration too (instructions here, but you can just google "fireworks in a jar" if that link breaks; there are tons of examples of it)

The kids really liked making these fireworks "models" out of lentils and poppyseeds and so forth. (That smiley face Ziggy made is how they really would make one of those shaped hearts or smiley faces you see sometimes at fireworks shows!) You can look at pictures of cross-sections of real fireworks to get an idea what they look like and how to make them (one is here, and we'd also watched a few documentaries about the process).

https://www.reddit.com/r/ThingsCutInHalfPorn/comments/8z0a46/cross_sections_of_fireworks_1761_x_1125/ cross sections
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1ixjhzwr_E how fireworks work
••https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfkjm2YRG-Q&t=963s fireworks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mS7AXFcvkS4 How it’s made
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuZdCvcZyxw How it’s made

No matter how much tape we put over these sections, some of the seeds and beans always get out!

This is Gus pretending to be a fireworks man, in his safe little hut with all his computer-controlled display set out for the show!

Fireworks Unit Study; Flame Heat and Color

In the summer I did some "Summer School" units with the little kids since the bigger kids were busy with camps and needed more of a break :)

It was fun to revisit some of the things we'd done very long ago when the big kids were younger! 

Here are a bunch of links and resources I used when planning (most are in the table above, but it's too small and you can't click on them!)

Daytime fireworks (smoke) 

https://thekidshouldseethis.com/post/14221863591

https://thekidshouldseethis.com/post/planet-slow-mos-daytime-fireworks-in-4k

Fireworks failure:

https://bigbayboom.com/news/videos-2012/

https://thekidshouldseethis.com/post/felted-fireworks-a-stop-motion-display-by-andrea-love

https://thekidshouldseethis.com/post/fireworks-in-reverse-melbourne

https://thekidshouldseethis.com/post/a-record-breaking-firework-explodes-across-the-sky-in-zurrieq-malta

https://thekidshouldseethis.com/post/pyrotechnics-pro-jim-souza-explains-the-art-of-a-massive-fireworks-show

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUsgkry7kDs&t=67s Shaped fireworks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbPnju11IQs&t=7s Shaped fireworks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LJa5M4MV9M Make a fireworks snake

https://www.salon.com/2018/07/03/a-pyrotechnics-expert-describes-what-its-like-running-a-fireworks-show/

Drone shows:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fKfBb7x9WQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adPqagG1dc0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxIc969qtYo

https://thekidshouldseethis.com/post/the-new-fireworks-firefly-drone-shows-spark-wonder-without-smoke

Sparklers:

https://thekidshouldseethis.com/post/sparklers-how-its-made-video

Molten Iron Fireworks https://thekidshouldseethis.com/post/dashuhua-nuanquan-molten-iron-fireworks

Chemistry of fireworks full lecture https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M03esB_HBzM&list=PLLnAFJxOjzZsuAK_f6NSYZcQV9M3TjaMY&index=11

Sam gave a little art lesson on flame color (and the temperature of colors in, for example, stars) and showed the kids how to draw fireworks or flames.

Gus took it all very literally to produce this drawing

I also let the younger kids try painting fireworks with a toilet paper tube as shown in this video. It was pretty fun (though they could have gone through millions more papers than this—it goes very quickly and uses up lots of paper!).

I can't remember who did which of these pictures, so I suppose that information will be lost to the ages

Daisy's maybe?

This one was Junie's

This might have been Goldie's?