Worms

We had more science fun today! We learned about polymers! Sounds fun, huh? :) It really was. We made our very own Atomic Worms. We poured sodium alginate, a polysaccharide isolated from seaweed (aka: Worm Goo) into a mixture of water and calcium to link a polymer chain together creating INSTANT awesome slimy worms - some several feet long! Now for the coolest part! They glow, looking almost toxic, under a black light! The kids had a great time making their own Atomic Worms. It sounds complex, but basically they squirted a liquid into another liquid and ta da... worms! Then one experiment led to another and we realized that the black light is an ultraviolet light... which reminded us of our UV beads from the other day. We took the black light and shined it on our beads and they changed color! Don't forget to click the pic to zoom in and you can get a better look. They are fat and juicy and filled with liquid... like real worms.