St. Peter's Primary Bray Blog

Thanks to Intel Ireland for sending on these photos from Friday – you can read the full post on the Mini-Scientist here.  

We’re very excited to share the highlights of this year’s Mini-Scientist showcase in St Peter’s! Last year was our first year to take part in the Intel Mini-Scientist programme and we really enjoyed it. You can find all of our blog posts related to the Mini-Scientist competition here. This year, we approached it slightly differently. In September, we formed a Mini Digital Youth Council (you can learn more about the senior version here) and we decided that as part of their work, they could take part in the Mini-Scientist programme and they were encouraged to include a focus on... 

Our project asked the question ‘which slime is the strongest?’ We made two types of slime – one was with borax, PVA glue and water. The second was made from cornflour and water. The cornflour slime didn’t work because it just stayed as a liquid but the borax stretched well. We found the instructions online but if we were making the cornflour slime again, we’d use less water and more cornflour. We made slime in 2nd class and it was really strong. We think if we made more of the borax slime, it would work better. We also could have added food colouring to make it look... 

The question was ‘can we make a lightbulb light up without using any wires?’ We were able to make it work using tinfoil as a conductor. When we were researching our project, we found out that it’s not just wires that can conduct electricity. We found that tinfoil was the handiest one to use instead of a wire because you can twist it and it’s flexible. We didn’t think it would really work, so we were surprised when it did. Our favourite part of the project was when it actually worked. We liked talking to the judges and we enjoyed making our display. You can try it... 

Our project was called ‘Does one hand react quicker than the other?’ We tested our question using two tests – one was by putting your hand into a bowl of ice and seeing how long you could leave it there in seconds. The other test was the ruler test, where you let the ruler go and see how quickly you can catch it again. We found that with the ice, your dominant hand can last much longer in the ice than your non-dominant hand. There wasn’t as much of a difference in the ruler test, which surprised us because we thought it would have a much greater difference. When we were... 

My project was called ‘Electrical Edibles’ and my question was ‘can you conduct electricity using fruit and vegetables?’ I found that I wasn’t able to power a lightbulb using fruit and vegetables during the actual project, but when I used a clock kit, I was able to. I found a picture of a Christmas tree powered by Brussels Sprouts. If my mum asked me why I wasn’t eating my Brussels Sprouts, I could say that I was saving them for something important. Photo credit  

Our title was ‘Rollercoaster on a poster’ and our question was ‘what effect does the surface have on how far a KNEX car travels?’ We found out that tinfoil was the smoothest surface so it helped the car to travel faster. We timed it by using a stopwatch. There was very little friction between the tinfoil and the KNEX wheel, so there was nothing to slow it down. Our favourite part was Ameesh’s victory dance. We liked building our KNEX structure with Mr Kinsella. It was easy to explain our project to the judge and she gave us a good comment. Thanks for reading... 

Our project was called ‘Cool Crystals’ and our question was ‘which produces the best result when growing crystals – sugar or salt?’ We found out that salt produces the best crystals. Adam’s granddad told us all about crystals. We learned that you have to use boiling water because the crystals won’t form with cold water. You need to use string so that the crystals don’t stick to the side of the glass container. We learned that saturation is when you mix in so much sugar or salt into the water that it won’t dissolve any more. It took more sugar... 

Our project was called ‘Fizz Kids’ and our question was ‘which combination of carbonated drinks and Mentos produces the best reaction?’ We found out that Diet Coke and Coke produced the best reaction because it exploded the highest. The fizzy water made bubbles the longest but it didn’t explode so we concluded that sugar had some effect on the reaction. You can see more about our research in this video. Mini-Scientist – Fizz Kids from St Peter’s, Bray on Vimeo. In our research, we found out that the ingredients in the Mentos react with the Diet Coke.... 

My project was called ‘Bubbles in a bottle’ and my question was ‘what quantity of food colouring will make the best lava lamp?’ You can see me explain my project in this video. I found out that 20 drops of food colouring makes the best lava lamp because it gives a better effect when the water is darker. Mini-Scientist – lava lamp from St Peter’s, Bray on Vimeo. In my research, I learned that oil is less dense than water so it floats on top of the water. I learned that the Alka-Seltzer mixes with the water to produce bubbles of carbon dioxide, which pushes...