The Magic of Science

My nine year old grandson recently had a full on "Science Lab" birthday party http://www.grandmaslittlepearls.com/2010/04/science-lab-party.html for him and his friends. My daughter also hosted a family birthday celebration with the cousins.

One of the activities for the cousins was seeing what would happen to a bar of Ivory soap if you put it in the microwave.

They were all were very interested and listened intently as the experiment was presented.

You open up a bar of "Ivory" bath soap and let it briefly sit in a bowl of water.

Remove the bar of soap from the water and cut it into chunks and place on a plate that has been covered with a paper towel.

At this point she asked for all of the cousins ideas on what might happen if they placed it in the microwave. They all shared their ideas and they were very anxious to see if anyone had guessed the correct result of the experiment.

They placed the plate of cut up soap in the microwave on high. (Set for 5 minutes)

Does it look like they are interested to see what happens?  The other kids were yelling at these three to get back so they could see too!

The kids thought it was absolute magic! Once the bar of soap has done it's thing you remove it from the microwave. Careful, it will be hot.

As you can see it expands to probably 30 times it's original size. The kids were very fascinated with the change in it's texture too. Remind the children not to touch their eyes once they have touched the soap. Allow each of the kids to take a chunk of the poof...y Ivory soap and wash their hands to complete the activity.