? Science with Sarah: Expanding Universe & Moon Phases ??

? Watch the video of Sarah’s school science experiment here!

Hello parents, teachers and students! If you’re looking for fun way to help your students get to know the universe a little better, these experiments are for you!

Be sure to check out GMSA@9 on Wednesdays when Meteorologist Sarah Spivey does the demonstrations and explains the science behind it.

Science with Sarah: Invite KSAT to your school for live science experiments. (KSAT)

HERE’S WHAT YOU’LL NEED

Expanding Universe Experiment

Sharpies

A balloon

A ruler

Moon Phases Experiment

A 3 inch diameter styrofoam ball

A sharp pencil

A lamp without the lamp shade

DO THE EXPERIMENT(S)

Expanding Universe Experiment

STEP 1: On the deflated balloon draw a few dots close together. Measure how close the dots are together. You can also add other space-y drawings to the balloon, too!

STEP 2: Blow up the balloon, tying it closed. Measure how the space between the dots and the drawings have changed.

Moon Phases Experiment

STEP 1: Place the lamp in the center of a dark room and turn it on

STEP 2: Push the sharp pencil into the styrofoam ball, and hold it upright. It should look like this ?

“moon” on pencil image. (KSAT)

STEP 3: Holding the pencil and styrofoam ball out in front of you, rotate in place. You should see how the light on the styrofoam ball mimics the phases of the moon as you turn around

HOW IT WORKS

Expanding Universe Experiment

When you first drew the dots on the deflated balloon, they were close together. But once inflated, the dots were much farther apart — this demonstrates our expanding universe.

At one point in history, the universe only took up a small amount of space. But since the beginning of time, the universe has been expanding and is still expanding today. This is why there are such vast distances between objects in space.

Moon Phase Experiment

In this experiment, the styrofoam ball represents the moon and your head represents the earth. When you rotate in place, you’re seeing the light on the “moon” from the perspective of Earth!