Physics/Chemistry/Technology

What goes up must come down, but have you ever wondered why? The answer is gravity. Gravity is an invisible force that pulls one object toward another. Anything that has mass – including humans – has gravity. The more mass an object has, the stronger its gravitational pull. We can’t...

Let’s say you needed to lift something very heavy. How could you do it? Sure, you could ask a friend to help – or maybe even two or three friends. But what if the object was REALLY heavy? You might need some extra power, right? Simple machines increase force and

Have you ever watched a milkweed seed, a bit of cottonwood fluff, or a feather float through the air? We know that gravity is always present, pulling any object that goes up back down. Why do these objects seem to take a long time to reach the ground though? It’s not because they’re light,...

Think about the waves in the ocean. They seem to roll forward. Sometimes the waves are wide and slow. At other times, the waves seem close together and they move quickly. Light moves in waves too. Some of the waves seem to move slowly with wider spaces between them. Others move more quickly with...

Think about all the ways you can make heat. Put a log on a fire and it burns, creating heat. Run around the playground and your body gets warm. Turn up the thermostat on the furnace and warm air flows from the vents. Or, rub your hands together and you'll notice heat. Fun...

Chemistry is the study of matter and energy and how they work together. It is similar to physics. Before chemistry, early scientists studied alchemy. These scientists wanted to understand how the world worked. They were looking for...

Chemical composition has more than one meaning. If you’re discussing a substance with one component, such as water, the chemical composition means the type and arrangement of elements and molecules within the substance. If you’re discussing a substance with more than one component,...

You know that water is a liquid, ice is a solid, and steam is a gas. But what exactly is a gas? The molecules in a solid are stable. They don’t move and they’re packed closely together. The molecules in a liquid are spaced farther apart. But the molecules in a gas are active. They move...

Chemistry is a wide, deep subject, broken into five main areas or branches. One branch concerns living things and the human body; another branch studies products and materials made in a lab. Which branch of chemistry interests...

How do scientists make new discoveries? How do we know their research is accurate and valid? They use the scientific method, of course! The scientific method is an organized, specific way of learning. You can use the scientific method too.

The inventor, Thomas Edison, loved learning and experimenting. His mother taught him at home and let him create a chemistry lab in the basement. As a young teenager, Edison got a job working on a train. He was kicked off the train after one of his science experiments set a train car on fire. The...

Let’s say you wanted to tell a friend how large your dog was. You had never heard of inches or feet. How could you explain it? Thousands of years ago, people used common objects to describe and compare measurements. You...

Chances are, you use Styrofoam almost daily. Those fold-and-seal take out boxes are made from Styrofoam. So are the thick white cups used to keep your hot cocoa warm. How about those wedges of plastic you find in packing boxes? Styrofoam keeps computers, electronics, and other fragile items safe...