Teachers.netKitchen Chemistry
In Amazing Kitchen Chemistry Projects You Can Build Yourself, kids ages 9 and up will experiment with kitchen materials to discover chemistry. Readers will learn about atoms, molecules, solids, liquids, gases, polymers, the periodic table, the important history of science, and much more. Along the way, they'll make goop, cause chemical reactions, and create delicious treats, and all of it will illustrate important chemistry concepts.
| Projects include everything from constructing a Buckyball and executing a (safe) explosion or two, to mixing up some "Oobleck" and making swimming raisins, with everything in between! All of the materials used are easily obtainable and most require little help from an adult. Amazing Kitchen Chemistry Projects is a fun and exciting way for young readers to learn all about chemistry and become scientists right in the kitchen |
"…This tidy kid-friendly book is crammed with activities and information on chemistry ... Lots of science information is mixed with the how-to of the projects and there is hardly a blank space on a page anywhere in the book. ...A very nicely done and reasonably priced collection." —Gwynne Spencer , Children’s Literature Fall 2008
I really enjoyed Amazing Kitchen Chemistry Projects You Can Build Yourself. I found the explanations of chemistry concepts easy to understand, the experiment instructions easy to follow, and the supplies easy to find…Ms. Brown did an excellent job of explaining the concepts but not oversimplifying the vocabulary or the concepts…It provides a lot of real-life information that answers the questions "Why do I need to learn this?" and "When has learning this subject ever been helpful to anyone?”…I highly recommend this book.—The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, July 2008
"Chemistry experiments in the kitchen! From mysterious oobleck to soda rockets, this book is the greatest fun. I can’t wait to try some of these experiments. The grandchildren? They will have to wait." —Roald Hoffmann, 1981 Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry
"I wish I had grown up with this book! I know it would have peaked the curiosity of my own, now-grown boys." —Stephen S. Bates, PhD, Research Scientist, Toxic Phytoplankton, Fisheries and Oceans Canada
"When young people actually put their hands on scientific projects, they realize how much fun science really is." —Peter Agre, M.D., 2003 Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry
"Learning about the world of chemistry is fun and exciting for the whole family in Amazing Kitchen Chemistry Projects You Can Build Yourself. If you know someone interested in chemistry, this is a book they will love." —Mike Young, Fifth Grade Teacher, Pittsburgh, PA winner of the National Science Foundation’s Teacher of the Year award
"These intriguing projects give children practice in doing something to change the world (adding different ingredients, heating or cooling, mixing—we scientists call this “doing an experiment”), seeing what happens (“observing carefully”), and playing around (“testing variables”). And even better, it’s safe—no toxic chemicals or special equipment needed beyond what’s found in a kitchen and grocery store." —Anne Hall, Associate Research Scientist, Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute, and former science teacher
Books and Articles
Aldersey-Williams, Hugh. The Most Beautiful Molecule: The Discovery of the Buckyball. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1995.
Ardley, Neil. 101 Great Science Experiments. New York: Dorling Kindersly, 2006.
Beckett, S. T. The Science of Chocolate. Cambridge: Royal Society of Chemistry, 2000.
Bendick, Jeanne. Archimedes and the Door of Science. Warsaw: Bethlehem Books, 1997.
Boorstin, Daniel J. The Discoverers: A History of Man’s Search to Know His World and Himself. New York: Vintage Books, 1985.
Boys, C.V. Soap Bubbles and the Forces Which Mould Them. New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1959.
Buddemeier, R., Dleypas, J.A., and Aronson, R. “Coral Reefs & Climate Change: Potential Contributions of Climate Change to Stresses on Coral Reef Ecosystems.” (2004) Prepared for the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, 56 pp.
Carey, M.C. “Benjamin Franklin, Lord Rayleigh, Agnes Pockels, and the origins of surface chemistry.” (1984) Falk Symposium 42: 5-26.
Downie, Neil A. Exploding disk cannons, slimemobiles, and 43 other projects for Saturday science. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006.
Downie, Neil A. Ink sandwiches, electric worms, and 37 other experiments for Saturday science. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 2006.
Downie, Neil A. Vacuum Bazookas, Electric Rainbow Jelly, and 27 Other Saturday Science Projects. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001.
Ernsberger, F. M. In Glass: Science and Technology; Uhlmann, D. R.; Kreidle, N. J., Eds.; Acad.: New York, 1980; Vol. V, Chapter 1.
“Found It! Ice on Mars.” (28 February 2002) [Accessed February 22, 2007] http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2002/28may_marsice.htm.
Franklin, Benjamin, “Of the stilling of Waves by means of oil.” (1774) Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society 64: 445-60.
Frederickson, M., M.J. Greene and D.M. Gordon. “Ants bedevil devil's gardens.” (2005) Nature 437:495-496.
Fritz, L., Quilliam, M., and Wright, J. An Outbreak of Domoic Acid Poisoning Attributed to the Pennate diatom Pseudonitzschia Australis. (1992) J. Phycol. 28: 439-442.
Giles, C. H., and Forrester, S.D. “The Origins of the Surface Film Balance.” (1971) Chemistry and Industry: 43-
Green, Martin Burgess, Gandhi. New York: Continuum, 1993.
Hakim, Joy. The Story of Science: Aristotle Leads the Way. Washington, Smithsonian Books, 2004.
Hakim, Joy. The Story of Science: Einstein Adds a New Dimension. Washington: Smithsonian Books, 2007.
Hakim, Joy. The Story of Science: Newton at the Center. Washington: Smithsonian Books, 2005.
Hoffman, Roald. The Same and Not the Same. New York: Columbia Press, 1995.
Jeng, M., 2005. "Hot Water Can Freeze Faster Than Cold?!?" PhysicsarXiv:physics/0512262, v.1 (29 Dec 2005) [accessed March 20, 2007] http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/physics/pdf/0512/0512262v1.pdf.
Kerrod, Robin and Holgate. Sharon Anne, The Way Science Works: Discover the Secrets of Science with Exciting, Accessible Experiments. New York: DK Publishing, 2002.
Kleypas, J.A., R.A. Feely, V.J. Fabry, C. Langdon, C.L. Sabine, and L.L. Robbins, 2006. Impacts of Ocean Acidification on Coral Reefs and Other Marine Calcifiers: A Guide for Future Research, report of a workshop held 18–20 April 2005, St. Petersburg, FL, sponsored by NSF, NOAA, and the U.S. Geological Survey, 88 pp.
Langone, John. Theories for everything: an illustrated history of science from the invention of numbers to string theory. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic, 2006.
Mainstone, J., “An Improbable Journey from Cambridge to Cambridge.” (2005) Australian Physics Vol. 42, No. 2.
“Making a Splash on Mars.” 29 (June 2000) [Accessed February 24, 2007] http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2000/ast29jun_1m.htm.
Malik, T., “Changing Mars Gullies Hint at Recent Flowing Water.” (12 June 2006) [Accessed February 27, 2007] http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/061206_mars_gullies.html.
Merk, F.S., Deegan, R.D., Goldman, D.L., Rericha, E.C., and Swinney, H.L., “Persistent Holes in a Fluid.” (2004) Physical Review Letters Vol. 92, No. 18, 184501-1 to 184501-4.
Mestel, Rosie. "Hitch's birds deranged by dodgy anchovies (toxicity of domoic acid in Alfred Hitchcock's seabirds)." New Scientist 147.n1987 (July 22, 1995): 6(1). Expanded Academic ASAP. Thomson Gale. EIN Remote Access. 29 Mar. 2007.
Mpemba, E.B. and Osborne, D.G., “Cool?.” (1969) Phys. Educ. 4, 172-175.
Noddy, Tom. Tom Noddy’s Bubble Magic. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Running Press, 1988.
Plimpton, George. Fireworks: A History and Celebration. New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1984.
Plumb, R.C., "Antique windowpanes and the flow of supercooled liquids." (1989) J. Chem. Educ. 66 (12), 994-6.
Quilliam, M. A. and Wright, J. The Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning Mystery. (1989) Analytical Chemistry vol. 61, no. 18., 1053-1060.
Roach, John, “Ants Use Acid to Make Gardens in Amazon, Study Says” National Geographic News, 2006. (09 September 2005) [accessed on March 21, 2007] http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/09/0921_050921_amazon_ant.html
Safer by the Sip: “Nano-rust” Cleans Arsenic from Drinking Water. [Accessed on March 12, 2007.]
The Science Channel’s 100 Greatest Discoveries. Chemistry [videorecording]/produced by Thinkfilm, Inc; the Science Channel; produced and directed by Michael F. Fountain; writer, Ivan Amato; executive producer, Joseph Aloysius Becker. Silver Spring, MD: Discovery Education, 2005.
Seki, K & Toyoshima, M. Preserving tardigrades under pressure. (1998) Nature 395: 853–854.
Silver, Brian. The Ascent of Science. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.
Smith, Alastair, ed., Usborne Big Book of Experiments. New York: Usborne Publishing, 1996.
Susan McKeever, ed., The DK Science Encyclopedia. New York: DK Publishing, 1998.
Tanford, Charles. Ben Franklin Stilled the Waves: An Informal History of Pouring Oil on Water with Reflections on the Ups and Downs of Scientific Life in General. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.
Walker, J. "The Amateur Scientist: Hot Water Freezes Faster Than Cold Water. Why Does It Do So?" (1977) Scientific American 237 (3): 246–257.
Wolf, Charles. Chemistry Applied and Descriptive. Dallas: J.M. LeBel Enterprises, 2002.
Work, T., Barr, B., Beale, A., Fritz, L., Quilliam, M., and Wright, J. Epidemiology of Domoic Acid Poisoning in Brown Pelians (Pelecanus occidentalis) and Brandt’s Cormoroants (Phalacrocorax Penicillatus) in California. (1993) Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine 24(1): 54-62.
Zubrowski, Bernie. Bubbles: A Children’s Museum Activity Book. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1979.
Web Sites
Information and interview with Stephanie Kwolek, the inventor of Kevlar, as well as other scientists. http://web.mit.edu/invent/www/ima/kwolek_video.html
Information on Charles Goodyear, the discovery of rubber, and the history of the Goodyear Tire Company.
http://www.goodyear.com/corporate/history/history_story.html
History of Science (information on lots of scientists, organized by subject). http://www.woodrow.org/teachers/ci/1992/
Contributions of 20th Century Women to Physics, including Agnes Pockels. http://cwp.library.ucla.edu/
Chemical Achievers (biographies of many chemists from the Chemical Heritage Foundation). http://www.chemheritage.org/classroom/chemach/index.html
Information on secret codes, invisible ink, and captured letters from the American Revolution.
http://www.si.umich.edu/spies/index-methods.html
Story of the Gold Medal and Nazis, as well as other Nobel laureate stories. http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medals/
Activities and demonstrations:
Tons of fun science activities with explanations, videos of everything from science demonstrations to following scientists in the Antactic, from an award-winning museum of science, art, and human perception. www.exploratorium.edu
Activities and games from a traveling museum exhibit developed by the Ontario Science Center on the properties of matter. http://www.strangematterexhibit.com/
Chemistry Comes Alive! Video collection of explosions and other chemistry experiments from the Journal of Chemical Education. http://jchemed.chem.wisc.edu/JCESoft/CCA/pirelli/index.html
Bubbles, bubbles, and more bubbles, from an expert in the art of making them. http://www.tomnoddy.com/
If you have some time, a handy adult to help, and the desire to make a giant soap film. http://maartenrutgers.org/fun/howto/howto.html
Everything you ever wanted to know about polymers, especially for kids. http://www.pslc.ws/macrog.htm
Broadcasts by Nobel laureates and other experts on a variety of science subjects, including buckyballs, with a “schools” link for kid-friendly projects and information. http://www.vega.org.uk/
Information and recipes about candy from the National Confectioners Association. http://www.candyusa.org/default.asp
Theory and Information:
Periodic Table (click on each element to find out more information): http://www.chemicool.com/
Periodic Table (a visual interaction): http://www.chemsoc.org/viselements/
3-D Interactive Structure of many Molecules. http://www.3dchem.com/index.asp
Corning Museum of Glass. http://www.cmog.org/
Northwest Fisheries Science Center, Harmful Algal Blooms Program.
http://www.nwfsc.noaa.gov/hab/index.html
DK Online Encyclopedia that links to kid-friendly science websites with downloadable images for reports. This website can be used alone, or with DK’s linked book, E.encyclopedia.science. http://www.science.dke-encyc.com/home.asp
Blair D. Shedd was educated at the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art, Inc. In 1999, he formed oneGemini Studios, where he now works as a freelance illustrator and writer. Since then he's worked with numerous clients, including Marvel Entertainment, Upper Deck Entertainment, Kellogg's Pop Tarts, the Rittenhouse Archives among many others, as well as taking on storyboarding and character concept chores for independent films and television. His work can also be found in many private collections across the United States, Canada, Central America, Europe, and Australia. Blair is currently writing and illustrating a comic book based on his Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized screenplay, Wayward Son. Blair resides in Vermont with his wife Sarah, son Devon, and brand-new daughter Madlyn. www.oneGemini.com
Make Your Own Crystals
