Sunday, May 16, 2010

Space Dust for Science Sunday




We're in the middle of painting, and rearranging the children's rooms this weekend, so we kept our experiment for Science Sunday pretty simple.

I read on a couple of different sites, that you can find tiny bits of meteorites in your own backyard, using only a piece of paper, and a magnet.

Before bed last night, we sat out two pieces of white paper, in different spots in the yard. This works best on a clear, windless night, and you need to weight the paper down, so it won't blow away.

This morning, we brought our papers in, being careful not to lose any of the bits of dirt, and dust, that had accumulated on them during the night. When we passed a magnet over them (our magnet is pretty strong), the little pieces of meteorite (which contain iron), jumped up to the magnet.


I brushed them off into a pile, and let the children examine the space dust closer.


I really wasn't expecting it to work. It just sounded too easy. So, I was as surprised as the children, to see the little space bits, jumping up to the magnet. Of course, it's just frosting on the cake, that we had They Might Be Giants' "What is A Shooting Star", on hand to listen to (if you're curious, click here).

For more fun with science, check out this week's Science Sunday link-up, at Adventures in Mommydom.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

7 comments:

Debbie said...

What a cool idea! Isn't it fun when we learn with out kids!

Phyllis said...

Wow! This is SO cool! I am going to have to try it! Thank you for sharing this with us.
-Phyllis

Kylie said...

I've seen this one around a bit too and always wondered, thanks for sharing. :)

Unknown said...

Simple AND educational- EXCELLENT!!!

Unknown said...

A great idea! We will have to try this one night.
Blessings
Diane

Ticia said...

Oh man that does sound fun! I bet your kids were jumping out of their chairs with excitement.

Natalie PlanetSmarty said...

I am thinking in our case it could be a dust from our construction rather than space dust. I have never heard of this and now compelled to investigate further :)