This document may be distributed in any form, as long as there is no charge
and my name and e-mail address are included. Please forward it to a friend.

This Week's Experiment - States of Matter

First, a quick favor. Once again, it is my mother's birthday. If you have a
moment, please drop her an e-mail at: Mrs Krampf@aol.com to wish her a
happy birthday. I would appreciate it!

This has been a good week. We got to watch the shuttle launch. From the
beach at our home, you can see it well enough to watch the booster rockets
fall away with binoculars. I have also been working on my new energy show and
playing with the idea of writing some science study units for use by
homeschoolers and other educators. While looking through Florida's state
curriculum, I was amazed to see that they still teach the three states of
matter. I thought that this we would look at the FOUR states of matter.

For this experiment, you will need:

an ice cube
a round glass
water
an ice cube tray
a neon indicator lamp (Ne-2 bulb from Radio Shack) About 69 cents.
a balloon

Most people are familiar with three states of matter: solid, liquid and gas.
Things like rocks, wood and ice are solid. They stay the same size and shape,
not matter what container we put them in. Place an ice cube into a round
glass. It stays the same size and shape. It is solid..

Things such as alcohol, oil, and water are liquids. They stay the same size,
but they change their shape to fit their container. Fill one of the holes in
an ice cube tray with water. You now have a cube of water. Pour this into
the round glass. The water stays the same size, but changes its shape to fit
the glass. Water is liquid.

The most common gas, the air, is actually a mixture of several gases. Gases
change their shape to fit their container, just as liquids do. They also
change their size to fill their container. Can you imagine a container with a
puddle of air in the bottom and the rest of it a vacuum? No, the air would
expand to fill the container, at a lower pressure. Air is gas.

The fourth state of matter is called plasma. Do not confuse this plasma with
the plasma in blood. That is something completely different. Plasma as a
state of matter is similar to a gas. It changes it's size and shape to fit a
container. The difference is that in a plasma, each of the atoms has lost one
or more electrons. These free electrons are moving around between the atoms.
For this reason, plasmas are good conductors of electricity. Plasma also
gives off light, which make it easy to see.

To see some plasma, we will repeat a past experiment. The neon indicator bulb
looks like a small light bulb until you look closely. There is not a filament
or wire that lights up. Instead, the bulb is filled with neon gas at low
pressure. All that we need to change this gas into plasma is some static
electricity, which we can produce with a balloon. First, you will need a dark
room. The darker it is, the easier it will be to see the plasma. Hold one of
the wire from the neon bulb. Rub the balloon on your hair or a piece of
cloth. This will build up a static charge on the balloon. Bring the balloon
near the other wire of the neon bulb and you will see an orange flash in the
bulb. This is neon plasma.

Some common examples of plasma are neon lights, fluorescent lights, lightning
and other sparks. Plasma is found in flames. It is also what stars are made
up of. When you consider that, you realize that most of the matter in the
universe is made up of plasma. In spite of the fact that most science books
ignore plasma until you get to the college level, it is the fourth state of
matter and by far the most common state in the universe.

****************************************
Upcoming On-the-road schedule

June 11 - Green Cove Springs Library, Florida
June 15 - Kickoff show for MOSH summer camps, Museum of Science and History, Jacksonville, FL
June 16 - Florida Power and Light's Energy Encounter - staff training and Family Day
June 18 - American Museum of Science and Energy, Oak Ridge, TN
June 18 - 4-H Electricity Camp, Oak Ridge, TN
June 22-26 - Electricity Camp, The Center at Ponte Vedra, FL
June 29-July 3 - Science Wizards Camp, The Center at Ponte Vedra, FL
July 6 - 10 - Crime Busters Camp, The Center at Ponte Vedra, FL
July 13-17 - Dinosaurs Camp, The Center at Ponte Vedra, FL
July 18 - Space Day, Museum of Science and History, Jacksonville, FL
July 24-27 - Grout Museum, Waterloo, Iowa
August 3-7 - Nature Nuts camp, The Center at Ponte Vedra, FL
August 10-12 - Museum of Discovery, Little Rock, AR
************************

Each week I will e-mail you a new experiment that you can try yourself. I
look for experiments that are unusual, safe, dramatic, cheap, and fun. Since
this list includes teachers, parents, science buffs, and students, I will try
to give you a wide variety of things to try.

Please forward this e-mail to anyone that you think might enjoy it. If you
received this e-mail from someone else and would like to be on the list, just
send me an e-mail at krampf@aol.com, asking to be added to the Experiment of
the Week List. If you ever want off the list, just send me an e-mail
requesting to be removed.

Check out our web site at:
http://members.aol.com/krampf/home.html

for information on:

Watt is Electricity, the million volt electric show
The Nuts and Bolts of Lightning
Burning Questions, the science of fire safety
Educational consulting
Educator workshops

From Robert Krampf's Science Education Company
4850 A1A South
St. Augustine, FL 32084
(904) 471-4578