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Welcome to my class. We are going to learn some amazing science. We are also going to use some of the wonderful laboratory equipment - including bunsen burners! Before you can use this dangerous stuff I MUST be sure you are safe in the lab. You will learn how to handle equipment safely, how to make your self safe (goggles and hair tied back, etc) and demonstrate to me that you are mature enough to be 'let loose'. Once we have done that, we are off into super science where we will discover and amaze each other. 

The text books we will use are 'Spotlight Science 7' and the book is split up into 12 separate units. At the end of each unit there will be a test. Click on the unit  which you are currently studying for some help and examples of students work.

I will update this site as we go along, your work will be shown here, you will produce a science web page that I will link to my site, and I will add details of the work we need to cover in Year 7. I will also link sites that I think are interesting or can help to this page.

Please feel free to email me with anything you want included.

Here are some fun experiments that you can do at home.

EXPERIMENT 1

A fun way to demonstrate the fact that liquids are nearly incompressible while gases are quite easy to compress.

Equipment:
a)Glass bottle with a wide mouth, or a glass jar, as tall as possible

b) *RUBBER* party balloon (not the plasic one !!!)

c) a small glass vial (the only requirement is that it fits through the opening of the jar or bottle.

d) tap water.

How to do the experiment:
Fill the jar or widemouth bottle with water almost to the top, but leaving 2-3 cm of air above water level. Put the small vial in the bottle

or jar in such a manner that the mouth points down, and carefully flood the vial with water almost but not completely to the top so that 

the vial *barely* floats. Cut the party balloon open and close the mouth of the jar or bottle with a piece of rubber, securely attach the 

rubber by tying the rubber around the neck of the jar or bottle with a string (tightly !) so that the mouth is completely covered with a 

rubber diaphragm.

Now, press on the rubber with a finger and observe. If everything has been done properly, the little vial will gently sink to the bottom on

 the bottle as you press on the rubber and will immediately float up as you release the pressure. Experiment is repeateable ad infinitum 

or, at least, while the rubber holds.

Here is a scheme to illustrate how the finished set should look, if you didn't get it from the above explanation :

              ========  <---- rubber membrane
              |      |
              |      |
              |      | 
          -----      -----
         |      ___       |
         |#####!   !######| <---- water level and the floating vial
         |#####!###!######|
         |#####!###!######| 
         |#####!###!######|
         |################|
         |################| <- the bottle with water.
         |################|
         |################|
          ----------------
Explanation:
The vial is filled with water with just enough air so it barely floats. When you press on 

the membrane, the air pressure rises under the membrane, the pressure gets transmitted 

through water, and the bubble in the small vial gets smaller, allowing more water in the 

vial, and the vial sinks. When you release the pressure, the bubble in the vial expands 

again, and the vial rises.

EXPERIMENT 2

Electricity

electricity to do its thing, it must travel through a circuit. You can think of a circuit as a pathway through which electricity can travel. 

Circuits can be as simple as the one that lights your night-light, or as complex as the latest computer chip — but they all work in the 

same general way.

In order for a circuit to function properly, the electricity must leave one end of the power source and return to the opposite end in an 

unbroken loop, or "circle." In the case of a battery, the electricity leaves the negative (-) end and returns to the positive (+) end. In a 

wall outlet, there is also a positive end and a negative end ? the two holes into which the two prongs of a plug fit. In the early days of 

electricity, when Thomas Edison was busy working on his lightbulb, all circuits were simple and generally followed a straight-line 

path. These types of circuits are known as series circuits, and are the same systems used by most holiday tree lights. Many circuits 

can get really complicated. There are parallel, switched, integrated, and fused circuits. But no matter how you stack it, circuits are 

still a circle of electricity!

Create a battery from common foodstuffs, sufficient to light a small lightbulb or LED display. I have taken the battery out of a digital 

watch I got free at Hardy's and run it by this method!

Equipment:

1. One large potato or lemon.
2. Zinc electrode - a 3cm x 0.5cm piece of zinc metal will suffice. You can inquire at a local hardware store. Or magnesium will do!
3. Copper electrode - Similarly sized piece of copper metal.
4. Copper wire - Sufficient length of wire to create a circuit from the zinc electrode to a lightbulb (or other device) and copper electrode.
5. Small lightbulb - flashlight or penlight bulbs work best. You can experiment with other devices such as LED displays, or time pieces.

Safety:
If no copper electrode is used, hydrogen gas is given off as a byproduct of the reactions taking place. Be wary of performing the experiment

 near heat sources or an open flame. Though the voltages and amperages given off are low, care should be taken in handling the wire and 

other parts of the circuit.

How to do the experiment:

1. Stick your zinc electrode all the way into the potato or lemon.
2. Place the copper electrode on the opposite side.
3. Connect the small lightbulb (or watch or whatever) to the two electrodes with copper wire.
4. Observe what happens!