Magic down to a Science
On Thursday and Friday, January 23 & 24, the GEMS club put on their 18th annual science magic show. The 5th graders from the Norman Public School district came to the Nancy O’Brian’s black box to watch as the students explain and perform “magic”.
The dry ice trick was one of the most popular of the day. Made with soap, water, and dry ice the chemical reaction made bubbles that the kids in the audience could pop. Once the bubbles popped the vapor from the dry ice expanded in the kids hands. The audience really enjoyed it as they were involved in the act.
Static electricity is what happens when you rub your feet across the carpet, you can do this then transfer the energy to your friend by touching them which creates a current of electricity and shocks them. This is created by a machine that Mr. Warren has and was demonstrated in the show. The audience could see the electricity coming off of the machine and onto the student demonstrating.
Another big hit was the balloon explosions. The balloons were filled with two different types of gas, Oxygen and Hydrogen . Then with a match they were popped with heat, or in this case fire, causing an explosion. This causes a chemical reaction with the gas and the fire, the Oxygen created a non visible explosion with the fire. And the balloon with Hydrogen created a visible explosion with the fire.
When asked about what he hoped the 5th graders took away from the show, president of GEMS, Trevor Morris, said, “I hope that they learned that science and math can be exciting.”
