WEBELOS

Scientist

Heart of America Council

A scientist studies things to learn how they behave and why. Scientists try to find out the laws of nature about the things they study, People can use these rules or laws in making things.  While working on this activity badge, you will learn a few of the main ideas in physics.  Physics is a science with several branches. One of these branches will be weather.  You r-an learn a little about weather in these activity badge requirements. Another branch of physics is called optics. You will have a chance to learn something about sight and find out how your eyes work.  Scientists learn a lot by experimenting or trying things out. Try things for yourself. Scientists take nothing for granted. They may be sure an idea is true, but they always test it, if possible, to make certain they are right.

Speakers: lab technician, nurse, zoologist, nuclear physicist, weather forecaster, X-ray

technician, science teacher, zoo docent, researcher.

Field Trips

-Visit an eye specialist and learn how the eyes work.

-Visit the control tower of the KCI or visit Municipal Airport. Learn about the principles of fight. --

-Tour an airplane and look at all the control dials.

Pack Meeting

-Honor your pack leaders by making up some “Scientific Awards.” Cut them out of poster board.

-Gravity is a heavy subject. (Shape of the Earth)

.Stars are night lights that don’t run up bills. (Stars)

.Astronomers are far-sighted. (Glasses with big eyealls)

-Chemists really, stir things up! (Beaker with bubbing mix.)

• Science Fair: Set up and and hold a science fair during your pack meeting. Show some of the

simple experinents you have been doing in your den meetings. Display items that you have made.

Den Activities

-Find out what the various eye tests measure.

-Invite a local weatherman to your den meeting to talk about the climate during the year. How is

weather different in the Southern Hemisphere?

Right-Eyed?

Everyone knows whether they are left-handed or right-handed ... but do you know whether you are left eyed or right-eyed? Try this test to fmd out. Point a finger towards a distant object keeping both eyes open. Then close your right eye. If your finger appears to jump, this means you are right-eyed. If it does not jump, you are left-eyed.

Crystal Clear

Materials Needed:

salt

sugar

Epsom salts

laundry detergent flakes

4 glass jars

4 spoons

magnifying glass

thread or thin string

very hot water

pencils

paper clips

food coloring

1. Fill ajar half full of very hot water. Stir in a cup or more of salt, a little at a time, until no more will dissolve.

2. Rub some salt onto apiece of string. Tie it around a pencil, tie a paper clip to the other end, and drop into the water. Lay the pencil across the jar.

3. Put the glass in a cool place where it wont be disturbed. Do not touch the jar or the pencil.

Watch for a few days.

4. Repeat the process with Epsom salts, sugar, and laundry detergent flakes. Try adding a little food coloring to one of the solutions.

What is happening: The salt dissolves in the hot water.  But cold water cant hold as much salt in a dissolved form.  So as the water cools, the salt forms again on the string.

Optical Illusion

Materials: A sheet of paper about 11 inches long.

What to do: Roll the paper into a tube one inch in diameter. Hold the tube to your right eye an place the side of your left hand against the middle of the tube, with your left palm directly toward your left eye.  Keep both eyes open as you look through the tube and you will “see through” your left hand.

Food Science

Invite a dietitian to your den meeting to talk about how and why foods cook.  Why do you add yeast, salt or soda to recipes? What happens if you forget one of the ingredients? How does a microwave oven cook foods? What other ways are there to prepare food?  Do some cooking in your kitchen and then sample the foods. (Microwave cupcakes, hot-air popped popcorn, cookies baked in the oven, grated cheese broiled on bread, steamed pudding ... Yummy!)

Nobel Prize

Look up information about the Nobel Prize. How many categories are there? Who was awarded a prize last year? What did they do or discover?

National Capitol Area Council

A scientist studies things to learn how they behave and why.  Scientists try to find out the laws of nature about the things they study.  People can use these rules or laws in making things.  While working on this activity badge, you will learn a few of the main ideas in physics.  Physics is a science with several branches.  One of these branches will be weather.  You can learn a little about weather in these activity badge requirements.  Another branch of physics is called optics.  You will have a chance to learn something about sight and find out how your eyes work.  Scientists learn a lot by experimenting or trying things out.  Try things for yourself.  Scientists take nothing for granted.  They may be sure an idea is true, but they always test it, if possible, to make certain they are right.

Den Activities:

Talk about the various branches of science and how they differ.

Do the atmospheric pressure tests or balance tests in the Webelos Book.

Make Fog.

Make Crystals.

Do the inertia experiments in the Webelos Book.

Visit an eye specialist and learn how the eyes converge and find out what the various eye tests measure

Invite a local weatherman to your den meeting to talk about the climate during the year.  How is weather different in the Southern Hemisphere?

Have a slow-motion bicycle riding contest to illustrate balancing skills.

Plan a scientific experiment to be demonstrated at the pack meeting.

Speakers:   Lab technician, nurse, zoologist, nuclear physicist, weather forecaster, X-ray technician, science teacher,  researcher.

Field Trips:

Visit an eye specialist and learn how the eyes work.

Visit the control tower of the Metropolitan Airport or visit a Municipal Airport.  Learn about the principles of fight.

Tour an airplane and look at all the control dials.

Pack Meeting:

Honor your pack leaders by making up some "Scientific Awards."  Cut them out of poster board.

Gravity is a heavy subject. (Shape of the Earth)

Stars are night lights that don't run up bills. (Stars)

Astronomers are far-sighted. (Glasses with big eyeballs)

Chemists really, stir things up! (Beaker with bubbling mix.)

Science Fair: Set up and hold a science fair during your pack meeting.  Show some of the simple experiments you have been doing in your den meetings.  Display items that you have made.

Pascal's Law -- "The pressure of a liquid or a gas like air is the same in every direction if the liquid is in a closed container.  If you put more pressure on the top of the liquid’ or gas. the increased pressure will spread all over the container."

A good experiment to demonstrate air pressure is to take two plumber's force cups (plumber's friend) and force them firmly against each other so that some of the air is forced out from between them.  Then have the boys try to pull them apart.

When you drink something with a straw, do you suck up the liquid?  No! What happens is that the air pressure inside the straw is reduced, so that the air outside the straw forces the liquid up the straw.  To prove this fill a pop bottle with water, put a straw into the bottle, then seal the top of the bottle with clay, taking care that the straw is not bent or crimped.  Then let one of the boys try to suck the water out of the bottle.  They can't do it!  Remove the clay and have the boy put two straws into his mouth.  Put one of the straws into the bottle of water and the other on the outside.  Again he'll have no luck in sucking water out of the bottle.  The second straw equalizes the air pressure inside your mouth.

Place about 1/4 cup baking soda in a coke bottle.  Pour about 1/4 cup vinegar into a balloon.  Fit the top of the balloon over the top of the bottle, and flip the balloon so that the vinegar goes into the bottle.  The gas formed from the mixture will blow the balloon, up so that it will stand upright on the bottle and begin to expand.  The baking soda and vinegar produce C02, which pushes equally in all directions.  The balloon which can expand in all directions with pressure, will do so as the gas is pressured into it.

For this next experiment you will need: A medicine dropper, a tall jar, well filled with water; a sheet of rubber which can be cut from a balloon; and a rubber band.

Dip the medicine dropper in the water and fill it partly.  Test the dropper in the jar - if it starts to sink, squeeze out a few drops until it finally floats with the top of the bulb almost submerged.  Now, cap the jar with the sheet of rubber and fix the rubber band around the edges until the jar is airtight.  Push the rubber down with your finger and the upright dropper will sink.  Now relax your finger and the dropper will rise.  You have prepared a device known as a 'Cartesian Diver'.  The downward pressure on the rubber forces the water up into the bottom of the diver, compressing the air above it, producing the effects of sinking, suspension and floating, according to the degree of pressure applied.

Inertia -- "Inertia is the tendency of a thing at rest to remain at rest and a thing in motion to continue the same straight line".

Get a small stick about 10 inches in length and the diameter of a pencil.  Fold a newspaper and place it near the edge of a table.  Place the stick under the newspaper on the table and let about half he stick extend over the edge of the table.  Strike the stick sharply with another stick.  Inertia should cause the stick on the table to break into two parts.

Get a fresh egg and a hard-boiled egg.  Give each of them a spinning motion in a soup dish.  Observe that the hard-boiled egg spins longer.  The inertia of the fluid contents of the fresh egg brings it to rest sooner.

Air Pressure

The Upside-Down Glass That Won't Spill – Fill a drinking glass to the very top with water.  The water should spill over the top a bit.  Carefully lay the cardboard square to completely cover the top the glass.  Holding the cardboard on top, turn the glass over until it is straight upside down.  Stop holding the cardboard on.   It will stay on by itself.

The Undrinkable Drinks -- Using a can opener make a small hole in a can of juice.  Try to drink the juice.  What happens when you punch another hole in the can?  Open a bottle of juice.  Add enough water to fill the bottle to the very top.  Put in a straw.  Use clay to completely block the opening of the bottle around the straw.  Try to drink the juice.

What is happening: There is no air in the glass of water to punch down on the cardboard.  The air pressure pushing up on the cardboard is greater that the weight of the water.  And the juice won't come out of the hole unless air can get in to push down on it; you need a second hole to let air in.  Juice won't go tip the straw because no air is getting in to push down on the juice.

Air-Cannon Hockey -- This game will demonstrate air pressure.  Use round cardboard oatmeal boxes.  Cut a hole the size of a penny in the tops.  Fasten the lid back to the box tightly.  Use a table for a field, with a goal at either end.  Have a boy sit at each end of the 'field' with a cannon (box) and put a ping-pong ball in the middle of the table.  By tapping the back of the box and aiming it at the ball, try to score by putting the ball through your opponent's goal.  The Webelos leader can demonstrate the effectiveness of his oatmeal box cannon by using it to put out a candle.  Fill cannon with smoke, then aim at candle, tap back of box, and flame will be put out.  These cannons are effective up to about six feet.

Projects:

A Homemade Barometer

Materials:  milk bottle, a soda straw, a piece of a penny balloon, and a length of string. 

Directions:  Cover the mouth of the milk bottle with the piece of balloon, tying it in place with the string.  Glue one end of the soda straw to the middle of the balloon.  Make a scale on a piece of cardboard, by making 1/2 inch marks about 1/8 inch apart.  Superimpose the free end of the straw across the scale, but don't let it touch the scale.  Mark the scale from 1 to whatever number of lines on the scale.  Ask one of the boys to be in charge of the barometer for a month.  Have him mark the number on the scale that the barometer points to each day at a certain time.  This way there can be a check between your barometer and the actual air pressure as given in the newspaper each day.  Remember that as the air pressure increases, the straw will point higher on the scale.

A Fog-Making Machine

Use a plain glass gallon jug, a stopper to fit it and a bicycle pump.  Put a small amount of water or alcohol (which works even better) in the jug.  Bore a hole through the stopper in the mouth of the jug.  After a few strokes of the pump, remove the stopper quickly.  There will be a loud pop and you will see that a cloud will form in the jug.  To get 'fair weather', all you need to do is replace the parts as they were, and pump air back into the jug.  The reason the cloud was formed is that in pumping air into the jug, the temperature was raised, making it possible for the air to hold more moisture.  When the top was removed, the air expanded and cooled.  This cool air could not hold as much moisture, thereby forming a cloud.

Crystal Clear

You will need:  salt, sugar, Epsom salts, laundry detergent flakes, 4 glass jars, 4 spoons, magnifying glass, thread or thin string, very hot water, pencils, paper clips, food coloring

Directions:

Fill a jar half full of very hot water.  Stir in a cup or more of salt, a little at a time, until no more will dissolve.

2.  Rub some salt onto a piece of string.  Tie it around a pencil, tie a paper clip to the other end, and drop into the water.  Lay the pencil across the jar.

3.  Put the glass in a cool place where it won't be disturbed.  Do not touch the jar or the pencil.  Watch for a few days.

4.  Repeat the process with Epsom salts, sugar, and laundry detergent flakes.  Try adding a little food coloring to one of the solutions.

What is happening:  The salt dissolves in the hot water.  But cold water can't hold as much salt in a dissolved form.  So as the water cools, the salt forms again on the string.

Do It Yourself Flashlight -- This flashlight can be assembled easily and provide a fun project for the boys.  And better yet, it actually works! 

You will need: a flashlight battery, a bulb, a plastic pill bottle with a flexible lid and some insulated wire.  (The pill bottle should be large enough for the batter and bulb base to fit inside it. The wire should be the kind that can be bent easily). 

Directions:  Scrape the insulation from one end of your wire and form it into a flat coil.  Attach the coil to the bottom of the battery with adhesive tape.  Cut an opening in the center of the pill bottle lid. so that the base of the bulb will fit.  Push base of bulb through hole in lid.  Scrape the other end of the wire and wind it around the base of the bulb.  Secure in place with tape.  Crumble small piece of paper.  Place enough of this in bottom of bottle so that when battery is inserted and the lid is tightly in place, the bottom of the bulb will just make contact with the raised center top of the battery.  Hinge one side of the lid to the bottle with tape.  When lid is closed. the bulb will light.  To shut off your flashlight, flip up the lid.  This light creates a dim glow.  If you want a larger light, use two batteries in a larger container.

Eyes Right or Left

Ask the Webelos Scouts if they are right-eyed or left-eyed as they are right-handed and left-handed.  They can check by extending a finger towards a distant object and keeping both eyes open.  Then tell them to close their right eye.  If their finger appears to jump, this means they are right-eyed, if it does not, they are left-eyed, since the left eye is dominant.

Games:

Bottle Target: Webelos take turns seeing how many toothpicks they can land in a milk bottle which is placed on the floor an arm's length away, Players drop the toothpicks one at a time.  They may lean forward, but can't move their feet.

Scientists Quiz (True or False?)  (Make copies of this quiz for all the Webelos to try.)

Electric current was discovered in Italy in 1781. (True, by Luigi Galvani.)

Vulcanized rubber was an accidental discovery by Charles Goodyear. (True, in 1839.)

Madame Curie was the second woman to win the Nobel Prize. (False, she was the first woman.  It was in Chemistry, for the discovery of radium,)

Mark Twain was the first author to submit a typewritten manuscript to a publisher. (True, Life on. the Mississippi in about 1875.)

5. "Disks for the Eyes" was the original name for contact lenses. (False, the name for eyeglasses that were made in Italy in 1280.)

A Real Attention Getter:  Inflate a balloon and affix 3 - 4 squares of plastic tape to it.  Have a boy stick a pin through the center of each piece of tape.  To everyone's amazement, the balloon will not burst.  When the pins are removed the balloon still will not burst.  What is happening: The adhesive substance on the tape acts like a self-sealing automobile tire, adhering to the pin as it is pressed inward.  When the pin is removed, the adhesive is forced outward by the air pressure from within the balloon, automatically sealing the tiny pinholes.