Science Sunday - Fire

This past week Josie's been learning all about firemen and fire.

We did a lot of fun crafts and activities.

But our favorite was our science experiment.

For this one, you'll need a couple containers to put the candles in, a few tea lights or birthday candles, and a water bottle.

To start out, I told her about how hot fire is and how dangerous it was.  She was excited to "play" with the fire so I felt like she needed a refresher on fire not being a toy!

After that lecture was over we moved on to what a fire needs to burn.

Oxygen, Heat, and Fuel.

I asked her what she thought would happen if it only had oxygen and fuel?  What about Heat and Fuel?  What about Oxygen and Heat?

She made her guesses and then we started our experiments.

First, we gave it Fuel (the wax) and Heat (the flame) but took away the Oxygen.  To do this we lit the candle then placed a jar over the top.

I told her it would take a little while for the candle to burn through the oxygen trapped under the jar.  We counted to see how long it would take.

Right when we got to 20, it went out.

She was so excited when it went out!  We did this 1,000 times at least!

Then I brought out the water bottle and we tried giving it Oxygen and Fuel (wax), but taking away the heat with cold water.

Of course it went out right away.

She did this one until the wick was just too wet to light at all!

The last one wasn't very exciting since my tea lights apparently burn forever.  

The only way I could think of to take away the fuel was to let it burn until the wax was out.  We lit it and when it didn't go out right away, Josie lost interest.  She did come back after dinner and noted that it wasn't burning anymore but it wasn't nearly as exciting as the other two experiments!

This one was easy and was a hit!  I highly recommend it!