Thank you for the great response to our first newsletter of the term, as well as our Home Workshops. They are the perfect way to enjoy Curiosity Lab’s unique blend of hands-on science and wonder during these unprecedented times from the safety and comfort of your home.
If you are interested, you can find out more details about these here.
EVERYDAY
MYSTERIES
We continued exploring the mysteries of light and colour by asking, “Why are white things white?” It may seem a simple question, but there is more to it than meets the eye! Take, for example, soap bubbles - even though the soap used is brightly coloured, the bubbles themselves are white. Once again, we discovered that scattering is the keyword here! But, as our experiments with white lab coats and hydrochromic ink revealed, white things tend to get transparent when wet. This led us to explore refraction and bend light so much that we turned glass truly “invisible”. Finally, we warmed up our throwing arms and headed over to our photon-energy level firing range to explore colour and transparency at a subatomic level.
A FANTASTIC
VOYAGE WITHIN
Our voyage through the human body started at our largest organ, the skin. After taking a closer look at our own skin under microscopes, we delved into its main purpose: keeping our insides inside while the germs outside are kept at bay. Using water balloons filled with red dye and pierced cherry tomatoes left to rot, we explored the necessity of skin. Next, we tested another awesome aspect of the skin, its role as a sensory organ. By testing different parts of our bodies, we discovered where we have the greatest sensitivity to touch before soaking our hands in water of varying temperatures to understand how it performs thermoception.
CHEMISTRY IN
PLAIN SIGHT
We are surrounded by light, from the Sun to candles to bulbs, but can we make light using chemistry alone? Fire, a famous oxidation reaction, is exothermic, but can we find a safer, less heat-fuelled solution? The animal kingdom can paint magnificent scenes through bioluminescence. Our scientists, however, achieved the same with some chemiluminescence, the process that adds the glow in glow sticks. By combining luminol - a chemical with a penchant for light - with a dash or a drop of catalyst, we filled our dark lab with ethereal light!
