I love Halloween. I even love doing Halloween experiments. Halloween experiments can be extremely fun and I enjoy mixing in a little science with it. All of the experiments contain Dry Ice and are required for the experiment.
Halloween Experiment #1
Erupting bubbles is such a fun activity! It’s extremely simple but you will need a way to catch all of the bubbles.
This experiment is used when you combine a solid (dry ice), a liquid and another liquid (water and Dawn soap). I haven’t used anything besides Dawn soap so I don’t know if other things will work. I start out by using a HUGE graduated cylinder. Then I mix in water and add in some soap. When everyone is ready- I add in a piece of the dry ice.
Instead of the dry ice just bubbling in the water to make a cloud, the soap in the water traps the carbon dioxide and water vapor in the form of a bubble. The bubbles climb out of the cylinder of warm, soapy water and explode with burst of misty fog as they crawl over the edge.
Halloween Experiment #2
Screaming Ice is a pretty simple experiment. You will need metal (like a metal spoon) and a paper plate along with dry ice.
- Use gloves or tongs to place a piece of dry ice on the plate.
- Press a warm spoon (or
other metal object ) firmly against the dry ice. - Listen to the spoon scream!
The spoon will scream loudly as the heat of the spoon causes the dry ice to turn instantly to gas where the two make contact. The pressure of this gas pushes the spoon away from the dry ice and without contact, the dry ice stops sublimating. The spoon falls back into contact again and the cycle will repeat itself. If you are careful, you will feel it vibrate.
Halloween Experiment #3
The crystal ball experiment ism absolute favorite experiment to work with on Halloween.
- Fill the plastic bowl with water about
half way through. - Fill the plastic cup with water and soap. Soak the twill in the cup.
- Using heavy tongs or gloves, place two or three large-size pieces of dry ice into the warm water.
- Remove the string from the soapy solution and hold it flat across the rim on the bowl. Carefully pull the string along the rim of the bowl to create a soap film. This takes patience! Be careful not to get soap in the water or a mountain of bubbles will appear.
- The bubble will fill with dry ice fog and eventually burst. Once you are done, try it again!
A bubble’s worst enemies are dirt, oil, and rough edges. If you accidentally get soap in the bucket, you’ll notice that a lot of soap bubbles filled with fog will start to emerge.
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If you are a wicked awesome science teacher- and you want to read all about science tips- check out my blog posts about The Power of Science!
