Einstein’s Birthday

Party Pack!

2005 is Einstein Year, part of World Year of Physics, an international celebration of

physics marking the centenary of the publication of Albert Einstein’s most famous
theories. Einstein’s work changed the way we view the world for ever and Einstein Year
is a unique opportunity to explore how physics affects us all.

What better way to celebrate Albert’s birthday on March 14th, along with National
Science Week, than by doing some weird and wonderful physics experiments? Below
you’ll find a selection of physics experiments that could be performed at a birthday
party for Albert Einstein.
1) Wobbly Water 4) Bubbletastic
A balloon (sausage shaped balloons work A large bowl
best) 2 cups of warm water
A plastic ruler 1/2 cup of washing-up liquid
A tap or hosepipe 5 tsp glycerin (if available)
Paper and marker Coat hangers

Adjust the tap or hosepipe until you get a Fill the bowl (the bowl must be large enough
thin stream of running water. Rub the for a coat hanger to fit inside) with the warm
balloon on your hair, or woolly jumper. Bring water. Now add the detergent and glycerin. If
the balloon close to, but not touching, the you need more mixture, continue adding the
stream of water. What happens to the ingredients in the same proportions.
stream? Can you explain this? Mark how far
the water has moved on a piece of paper Take a coat hanger and stretch it so that it
attached to the wall behind the tap and find makes a circular shape (~12cm diameter
whose balloon can move the stream of water works well). This is your bubble wand. Dip it
the furthest. Try using a plastic ruler instead in the bubble mixture and pull it out slowly
of the balloon and see if this works better or so that a film of mixture fills the circle. Now
worse! drag the wand through the air to form a
bubble. Who can make the biggest bubbles?
2) Slime Time What is it about soapy water that allows it to
form bubbles? What do you think the glycerin
Cornflour
is for? Why are bubbles rainbow coloured?
Water
Why do they eventually pop?
Food colouring (optional)

Liquid or solid? This is one confused mixture! 5) Bubble Tennis

Put two cups of cornflour in a bowl, add two
teaspoons of food colouring (this is optional) Bubble mixture and large bowl as above
and 1 cup of water. Mix it all up with your 2 coat hangers
hands until all the powder is wet and then Tube from a ballpoint pen (without the
continue adding a few drops of water at a ink cartridge)
time until you have a thick, smooth mixture.
Now play with it, hit it, squeeze it, push it Shape the coat hangers until they are in the
slowly and smack it hard! Do you notice shape of a circle (~12cm diameter) with a
anything strange about this material? handle. Dip each hanger in the soap solution
and pull them out so that a film of soap fills
up the whole circle. You’re going to use the
3) A Fizzics Experiment hangers as racquets. Dip one end of the pen
tube into the bubble mixture for a few
A balloon
seconds. You can make tennis balls by
Some fizzy drink
blowing through the other end. Now you can
play bubble tennis. This may take a little
A self-inflating balloon? Well, almost! Take a practice and works better if you are able to
balloon and blow it up before letting all the
add glycerin to the bubble mixture. Make
air out (this is just to stretch it so that it is
sure your actions are gentle or the bubble
easier to inflate from now on). Now put some
and racquet will burst!
fizzy drink in the balloon, tie the end, and
shake the balloon. The balloon should start to
inflate. What’s happening? Who can get a
balloon to inflate the most?
6) Test your sucking power 8) Blowing hot and cold
Lots of drinking straws (approximately 50) A balloon (pre-blown is best)
Sticky tape A plastic bottle
Some drink A bucket or any other large container
Hot water from the tap (don’t use boiling
How many straws can you stick together water)
before you stop being able to suck up any Ice in cold water from the tap
drink? Start with one straw and increase the
number to find the biggest sucker – the Stretch the neck of the balloon over the
person who can still get the drink with the mouth of the bottle before placing the bottle
most number of straws stuck together into into a bucket of hot water. Wait for a while.
one long super-straw. Why does it get harder What do you observe?
to suck the drink with more straws? Can you
explain what’s going on? Now place the bottle in a bucket of ice and
water. What happens now?
Can you explain what’s going on?
7) The Magic Straw
2 drinking straws 9) The Magic Balloon
A pair of scissors
Sticky tape A balloon (pre-blown is best)
2 saucers full of water Plastic transparent bottle
2 paper targets

Cut the drinking straw into two pieces, one

longer than the other. Using sticky tape, join
them back together, end to end, at an angle
of 90 degrees. There will be an opening
where the two straws form the right angle.
Stand the smaller piece of straw in the saucer
and blow through the longer piece aiming at
a target a set distance away. The team to
knock over their target first wins.

With a pen or pencil, make a small hole

(about 2mm diameter) in the bottom of the
bottle. Push the balloon inside the bottle and
stretch the end of the balloon over the
mouth. Now blow into the bottle to inflate
the balloon. While you are blowing, check
that air is coming out of the hole you made.
Just before you finish blowing, cover the little
hole with your finger. What happens to the
balloon with the open end when you stop
blowing? Uncover the hole and see what
happens now!
Do the trick again. With the balloon filled,
place your palm over the bottle’s mouth and
uncover the little hole. What happens to the
balloon?

10) The Unbreakable Balloon

A balloon
A pin
Sticky tape

The idea is to blow up a balloon and pierce it

with the pin without making it go “pop”!
Teams can try different ways of piercing the
balloon; the successful team is the one with a
balloon with a hole that is still inflated. Can
you pierce the balloon without using the
sticky tape and still avoid bursting it? Why
does a burst balloon look like it has been
shredded? Why does a burst balloon go
“bang”?
Background Notes
1) Wobbly Water 3) A Fizzics Experiment

Rubbing the balloon on your hair or woolly Fizzy drink has carbon dioxide dissolved in it.
jumper causes movement of charged This is what gives it its bubbles. Gases take
particles from one surface to the other and up a larger volume than liquids, therefore,
you end up with a negatively charged when you shake the drink, causing large
balloon. Water molecules are polar, which amounts of carbon dioxide to be released, the
means they are positive at one end, and volume of the balloon increases. Can you
negative at the other. When you bring the explain why it’s a bad idea to shake a bottle
charged balloon close to the stream of water, of fizzy drink and then open it?
the positively charged hydrogen end of the
water molecules are attracted to the balloon, 4) Bubbletastic
and bend towards it as a result.
A bubble is formed because of a fine balance
2) Slime Time between the surface tension of the water and
the pressure of the air inside the bubble.
You'll notice when you start mixing the water Normally the surface tension, caused by
with the corn flour that the powder forces between water molecules, is too high,
immediately turns to a thick, almost solid, so the bubble’s skin contracts and breaks.
paste. As you add more water and stir, it will When detergent is added to water, it reduces
clump together like a solid but when you the forces between water molecules, so there
leave it alone it will look runny. is less surface tension and you are able to
make bubbles.
When you slowly push your finger into the
mixture it should resemble a thick paint. Light waves, like water waves, can interfere
When you try to pick up a piece of the with each other. A bubble film is made up of
material you find it’s one big solid lump. two layers of soap molecules, with a layer of
When you push your finger onto the surface water molecules in-between. Light waves
of the 'liquid' quickly, and with a lot of force, reflecting from one layer of soap molecules
it appears solid. The harder you hit it, the meet up with light waves reflecting from the
more solid it appears. second layer and the two sets of waves
interfere. Some waves add together, making
The mixture is an example of a dilatant certain frequencies or colours of light
colloid suspension. These substances get brighter. Other waves cancel each other,
more viscous (even solid) when you hit them removing a frequency or colour from the
hard. When a small sideways force is applied, mixture. The colours that you see are the
by shaking the bowl, or pushing a finger into ones that are left behind after the light
it slowly, the weak bonds between the waves interfere.
particles break, and the substance flows just
like a liquid. If you look at the bottom of a bubble you
should see water dripping out of the bottom.
The layer of water will eventually get too thin
to support the air inside, and the bubble
pops.

The addition of glycerin makes the bubbles

last longer as it slows down the rate of
evaporation and dripping of the water.
5) Bubble Tennis 9) The Magic Balloon

Detergent contains molecules called As the balloon is blown up, it pushes air out
hydrocarbons. Each molecule has a ‘head’ of the hole you’ve made. The pressure inside
and a ‘tail’. If the head of the molecule loves the balloon is much higher than the pressure
water, the tail hates it. This means that all on the outside. If you didn’t cover the hole
the tails arrange themselves so they are on with your finger after you’ve finished
the outside of the film, as far away from the blowing, air would rush back into the bottle
water as possible. to equalise the pressure, pushing the air out
of the open end of the balloon. When your
When two soap films come into contact they finger is over the hole, it stops this from
repel each other because the tails on the happening so the balloon stays in place.
surface of one want to avoid the water in the
other film. This is why the soap ball and In the second part of the experiment, you
racquet don’t stick to each other. kept your hand over the mouth of the bottle,
and let go of the hole. Now air is allowed back
6) Test your sucking power into the bottle, so it flows into the bottle,
raising the pressure on the outside of the
When you suck through a normal length balloon. The balloon shrinks until the
straw, you’re creating a vacuum at the top of pressure inside the balloon is equal to the
the straw with your lungs. The pressure of pressure on the outside.
the air (the weight of the atmosphere)
around the drink in the glass then causes the 10) The Unbreakable Balloon
drink to be pushed up through the straw.
There is a limit on the height, and weight, of When a balloon is blown up, the rubber
liquid that atmospheric pressure can support. stretches and becomes thinner. When the
This means that, even if you created a perfect thin rubber is pierced it tears and cracks
vacuum with your lungs, you couldn’t get the spread out easily across the stretched layer -
drink to rise above a certain height in the the result is that the balloon bursts. The
straw. balloon is full of air at high pressure. With the
balloon gone, the high-pressure air is
7) The Magic Straw released as a wave. Sound is a wave of high-
pressure air. When this air hits your ears it
When air moves, its pressure falls. So when makes a bang!
you blow through the horizontal straw, the
pressure at the top of the vertical straw The spread of the cracks makes it appear like
drops. Because the air pressure over the the balloon has been shredded. However, if
saucer remains the same, the water is the rubber is reinforced with, say, a piece of
pushed up the straw from the normal sticky tape, then the rubber is not only thicker
pressure to the low pressure and squirts your but the tears and cracks are held together so
target! they are not able to spread across the surface
of the balloon. To pierce the balloon without
8) Blowing Hot and Cold the use of sticky tape, it is easiest to insert
the pin through the thickest bits of rubber at
The hot water heats up the air inside the the base of the balloon, where the rubber
bottle. This causes the volume of the gas to hasn’t been stretched by inflation. The thick,
increase and the balloon to expand. When slack rubber area is only broken very close to
the bottle is placed in the cold water the gas the point of the pin and the cracks do not
reduces in volume and the balloon deflates. spread so the rest of the balloon is left
undamaged.
Problem-Solving Activities
Rocket Science
You will need:

A balloon
The inside of a toilet roll
A length of string
Sticky tape
Two walls
Decorations e.g. pens, glitter, coloured paper etc

You’re each going to build a rocket and race them to see who can get theirs to go the fastest.

The propulsion system is a balloon, so begin by taping one side of the balloon to the toilet roll,
either tape loosely over the balloon neck (so you can still blow the balloon up) or use double sided
tape to attach the balloon to the toilet roll. Make sure that you have enough of the balloon neck
over the end of the toilet roll to blow the balloon up. Then decorate your balloon using felt pens,
glitter, card, and anything else that comes to hand. This is your rocket! Now use the sticky tape to
fasten two lengths of string to the walls so that they run parallel to each other, in a straight line
from one wall to another. Before you attach the strings, thread a rocket onto each string. Each
team will have to blow their balloon up, and let them go at the same time. Who wins the race?
How can you get your rocket to go faster? What makes the rocket move in the first place?

Balloon Bursting Machine

You will need a selection of any of the following materials:

Balloons
Assorted pins
Elastic bands
Glue stick
Cotton/string
Syringes
Dominoes
Plasticine
Scissors
Paper/card
Plastic tubing
Assorted plastic bottles
Marbles
Sticky tape/masking tape
Pencil
Plus…assortment of items of the judge’s choosing.
Objective: to construct a ‘Balloon Bursting Machine’ with as many moving parts as possible.

Rules: 1/ Items other than those supplied may be used only if prior permission is obtained
from the judge.

2/ The machine may be manually started after which it should run by itself.

3/ The judge’s decision in all matters is final!

Judging: If the machine works the team is awarded 50 points.

Each team receives a bonus of 10 points for each moving part (a set of dominoes
counts as one moving part).

Party Time
You will need:

1 sheet of A4 paper (for the final cup)

A few sheets of A4 paper to practice with
Party pop of your choice!

Objective: To make yourself a party cup from a sheet of A4 paper (to drink your party ‘pop’ in!).

Or, if you want to make this competitive…

You will need for a team of three people:

5 sheets of A4 paper per team

A bucket of water
An empty bucket to transfer water into

Objective: To transport as much water as possible across a room using only a container (or
containers) constructed from the paper supplied. Time allowed: 15 minutes

Rules: 1/ Only one cup of water at a time can be transferred.

2/ A second water run can only be commenced when the first team member returns
to the water bucket.
3/ Only the materials supplied may be used.
4/ The judge’s decision in all matters is final!

Judging: The winning team will be the one that transfers the greatest volume of water across
the room in the time available.
Background Notes
Rocket Science

Your rocket is a demonstration of Newton’s third law: every force has an equal and opposite force.
As the air is being forced out of the balloon by the air pressure inside, it exerts an equal and
opposite force on the balloon, which is what makes your rocket move.

The rocket also demonstrates the principle of conservation of momentum. Momentum is the
velocity of an object multiplied by its mass. In this case, the momentum of the rocket is zero
before it is released, and remains zero once it has stopped moving. The momentum of the balloon
is equal and opposite to that of the air coming out, so they cancel each other out.

Balloon Bursting Machine

Bursting the balloon in this activity isn’t quite as easy as it sounds. The balloon needs to be held
firmly in place so that the pin can pierce it.

Ideas for moving parts might include the following

• Clothes peg releases a string weighted with Plasticine that swings and hits…

• Elastic band stretched taught is released and…

• Two syringes joined together with a piece of tubing, start the machine by pushing in the
plunger of one syringe and the plunger on the other moves out and causes…

• A row of dominoes, knock one and they knock each other in sequence, and then finish by
knocking…

• A marble runs down a ramp and knocks…

• A plastic bottle filled with water, rolls down a ramp and causes…

• A simple seesaw, weight lands on one side, causes the seesaw to tip and...

A junk box can be used at your discretion. It contains extra things that the teams can use. There
could even be a bonus score for including one particular nominated item in the machine.

Party Time

This activity is effectively a relay race with water – but the water carrying devices have to be
designed and made out of paper. You can either use the diagram below to make a cup or you can
use your imagination and invent one of your own. Do you want to make 5 cups from your paper or
do you want to make fewer, stronger cups?

It is generally best to set up your course outside with a full bucket of water at one end and an
empty bucket at the other. Be careful not to slip over on any of the spilt water!
 Instructions on how to make a paper cup

a
1. Fold a piece of A4 paper
and cut to make it square
fold

c b
& &

2. Fold corner b to point e on ac (so

that ce equals cf)

c c

e f
fold b
a a

3. Turn paper over and fold corner a to point

f
c

f e

4. Open out - fold back pointed corners(c)and

tuck in
Educational links
All activities in this pack contribute towards Key Stage 1 Investigation and Skills in science, Skills in
designing and making and Skills in social subjects in the 5-14 Guidelines. We recommend that you
consult the National Curriculum on the website (www.nc.uk.net), and the 5-14 Guidelines
(www.ltscotland.org.uk/5to14).

Do you want more?

If you have enjoyed the activities in this pack and would like to do more, then why not start one of
the BA’s award schemes:
• First Investigators (5-8 year olds)
• Young Investigators (8-13 year olds)
• BA CREST awards (11-19 year olds)

To find out how to complete your Bronze Young Investigators award, or how to turn these
activities into a Silver or Gold Young Investigators award, or even a BA CREST award, then contact
the BA young people’s team on 020 7019 4943.

Acknowledgments
'Party Time' and 'Balloon Bursting machine' are taken from the ‘The Instant Egg Race File', a
collection of tried and tested practical problem-solving activities written by Elizabeth Robertson.
To obtain a copy of this publication send £7.50 (which includes postage and packing) to Science
Designs, 6G Salmon Lane, Stonehaven AB39 2NZ.
Thank you for using Einstein’s Birthday Party Pack!
We hope you enjoyed the activities. To help us to continue to provide new challenge packs we’d
like to ask you to tell us a little about what you did for National Science Week.

Please take a few minutes to fill in this form and return it to the National Science Week office.

Name: ______________________________________________________________________________

Organisation: ________________________________________________________________________

Address: ____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Town: ________________________________Postcode:______________________________________

Tel: ___________________________________Fax:__________________________________________

Email: ______________________________________________________________________________

Which dates did you do National Science Week activities on? (please circle as appropriate).
Fri 11 Sat 12 Sun 13 Mon 14 Tue 15 Wed 16 Thu 17 Fri 18 Sat 19 Sun 20
March March March March March March March March March March

or other:_____________________________________________________________________________

What did you do?

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Please make any comments about this Challenge Pack and/or National Science Week.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________
Please return to:
Fax: 0870 770 7102

Post: National Science Week

FREEPOST LON 20848
London
SW7 5BR