Mixtures 3: Magic Sand

We are super excited to release our first podcast in our new series, Show Me Some Science! These short podcasts are designed to be used in the classroom or incorporated into your lessons. In this episode we look at wave interference. When two waves meet they can interact before they pass through each other. They can add up or cancel out and this is know as constructive and destructive interference.

In this last segment of the mixtures episode, Brian shows how fun and delicious it is to mix Carbon Dioxide and water!

The Colorado Rockies, 9News and Colorado State University are teaming up to launch the Fifth Annual Weather and Science Day at Coors Field on April 23, 2014. Here’s a video of the Little Shop of Physics Team getting ready for the big event!

Rivers can be a great example of mixtures, when the water carries rocks, sand and clay and deposits them in different places. Join geologist (and EverDay Science Producer!) Herb Saperston as he explores mixtures along the Podure River. Also, we look one last time at mixing and unmixing. This time the secret ingredient is salt!

You may have never thought about this, but milk is a mixture of different substances including proteins, sugars, and water. Learn how to "unmix" milk to make curds and whey!

Last time we saw that it is possible to unmix a mixture, or separate it into it's constituent parts. This week we will learn how to unmix different types of plastic so they can be recycled. And we'll learn how to unmix sand from Dominica.

Empedocles was an ancient Greek Philosopher and the first Western thinker to propose that everything in the world was a mixture of basic substances. He believed the four elements were Earth, Air, Fire and Water. In this podcast we also look at physically un-mixing, or separating out mixtures into their basic substances.

Cocoa does not like to mix with cold water. Brian and the team use emulsifiers, heating and good old fashioned stirring to get the cocoa to mix in for a delicious beverage!

We've already seen that oil and water don't mix. In this episode, we see how we can use this to propel little paper "boats" on the surface of water.

Magic Sand is specially treated sand that does not get wet! Another way of thinking of it is that it does not mix with water. At all. We play around with magic sand and then find a way to get it wet!