Last term we discussed many serious scientific topics, the dangers associated with
conducting experiments and their impact
on the society. I would like to ask you to share your own experiences. Have you
ever tried to do your own (more or less ;) ) scientific experiments just for
fun? I mean the ones which are not very serious and probably are never going to
change the world, because scientists have been aware of their results for many
years, but you want to try it yourself anyway. If you did, what was it exactly?
If you didn’t, have you ever wanted to do something like that?
As a child
I used to do a lot of such silly experiments, probably the first one was
growing various crystals. I remember especially the copper sulphur crystals
(see growing crystals). Don’t you think they remind the
colour of some energy drinks? I do – and this is probably why I am afraid to
drink them :) . When I was a little bit older I was fascinated by the idea of making
ferrofluid at home. Ferrofluid is a magnetic liquid used in some loudspeakers
and in the so called “magnetic sculptures”. There are numerous recipes
describing how to prepare it (for instance
this one)
. I wanted to use a home-made ferrofluid for my presentation at school. I did
it and...well, I have to say that it was an interesting experience, but I am
never going to cook a “soup” based on the household ammonia again (especially
during the winter, when you can’t open all the windows). Additionally I think
that my physics teacher is going to think twice before he asks his students to
prepare presentations in future, due to a tiny accident involving two very
strong magnets taken out of some machine engine, a small container made of
glass and his fingers...he was really brave, but seriously - it must have been
painful… My latest hobby are home-made plant tissue cultures and carnivorous plants. I did not have
time to experiment yet, but sooner or later I am going to find it somehow. Here
is one of the links to a more detailed description. To give a glimpse of the results
let me present some photos (unfortunately from the Polish website, so I can’t
paste the link here :) )
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| Before and after |
Unfortunately
there is one major difficulty in doing such experiments at home – very often it
takes a lot of creativity to gather all the necessary ingredients and equipment
(especially at a reasonable price). In Poland we do not have much (if any) institutions,
that make it easier for people who are not scientists, while in some countries
there is a possibility to enter specially prepared labs the same way you go to
a gym or a swimming pool, and perform really advanced experiments involving for
example bioluminescence, genetics etc. in a controlled environment. Here is a
short fragment of a BBC programme about one of such places. To watch it, you
have to:
- Visit: http://www.svtplay.se/vetenskapens-varld
- Choose the video “Del 5” (the one with the spider)
- Fast forward to ~44:13
