Science Sunday ~ The Decomposition of Sugar

Dawson has been learning about the basic patterns of all life. One that we studied this week is: Life Runs on Sugar.

From The Way Life Works by Mahlon Hoagland, "Sugars are simple, energy-packed chains of three to seven carbon atoms festooned with hydrogens and oxygens." Sugar is carbon and water fused together. When sugar is heated, it breaks down into it's original carbon and water elements.

So, to demonstrate the decomposition of sugar, we did the following experiment:

Dawson poured 1/2 cup of sugar into a small pan and heated it until the hydrogen and oxygen were revealed in their natural combined form: water.

As it was broken down into the carbon element, it turn into a blackish color.

Once the sugar was caramelized into a liquid form, he slowly added 1/2 cup of water. It sizzled and popped, so he poured slowly and stayed back.

Part of it crystalized immediately and it tasted like rock candy.

The sugar was decomposed and made into a completely different substance. Had we wanted, we could have continued to heat and stir it until it was pure caramel, and used it as sauce over ice cream or another dessert.

This is what you DON'T want to do: Turn on the burner, and take someone's word for it that it takes about 5-10 minutes for the sugar to turn into liquid form. It only takes a couple of minutes, at least with an electric stove top.

I was busy making the beds. Apparently Dawson didn't see the smoke. Hmmmm ... That sure didn't look like something we wanted to serve on a dessert.

Linking this up at Adventures of Mommydom's Science Sunday.

ABCya

Eli's reading resource teacher shared a website with me yesterday that I would like to pass along. It's called ABCya . There are separate educational sections with fantastic games for ages kindergarten through 5th grade. I browsed the 2nd grade level, and it includes age-appropriate games about Letters, Numbers, Shapes, Geometry, Patterns, Mouse Manipulation, Art and Holiday games. There are lots and lots of fun and creative games for children to play. They are fun, but oh, so educational. Eli's favorite, in his short time playing it, was Create a Car . A lot of the games also have Apps available for purchase (99 cents for most of them) for the iPad and iPhone. I have been looking for another free website for games similar to Starfall , for some time. I think I have found it. I can feel confident having Eli and Brynne play these games.

Cells ~ It's What's for Dinner

Dawson made edible cells on Friday. He made an animal cell pizza ... and a plant cell chocolate chip cookie ... He reviewed what he's learned about cells the past two weeks, and I had dinner made by someone else. Win, win!! I am linking up at Science Sunday at Adventures in Mommydom.

Last Child in the Woods ~ Chapters 1-4

Welcome to our book study of Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv. To be honest, I have no idea what this "study" is going to look like. I imagine that when we get together I will post about all of the things that caught my eye. And I would ask that you leave a comment, or a link to your own blog post in the comment, about what caught yours. This isn't anything formal, ladies, just a place to talk about what we have read. I have now read the first four chapters of Last Child in the Woods two times. It is just so good. Several things have specifically hit me deep, but in general I just realized that "times, they are a changin'." Things aren't the way they were when we were kids. Chapter 1. Gifts of Nature ~ "When I see birches bend to left and right ... I like to think some boy's been swinging them." ~ Robert Frost What is your definition of nature? What feelings, visions, senses does it conjure up? For me, it's not a

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