Comets!

Materials
  • Large steel bowl 
  • Large spatula or whisk to stir with 
  • Plastic cups 
  • Water
  • Glucose Powder (glucon-D)
  • Sand
  • Bleach 
  • Garbage bags 
  • Dry Ice 
  • Safety gloves and safety goggles (extremely important)

Note: This experiment MUST be done with the help of a parent or guardian and with proper safety equipment!
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Activity Directions 
  1. Watch the video on comets linked below. 
  2. Test your understanding of comets by playing a fun Quizizz game!
  3. Perform the Make Your Own Comet activity (Note: The video linked below also walks you through the project.)
    1. Put on you safety gloves and goggles. Layer the flat surface you are going to do the experiment on with a garbage bag. 
    2. Using your garbage bags, layer the steel bowl and tuck the excess under the bowl. 
    3. Pour a full cup of water into the layered steel bowl. 
    4. Take about a 1/4th cup of sand and pour it into the water in the bowl. 
    5. Using your spatula or whisk, mix the mixture of sand and water well until the sand is evenly distributed and there aren’t any lumps present in the bottom of the bowl.
    6. Take the same amount of glucose powder as sand and put that into the well mixed mixture of sand and water. 
    7. Mix again until the glucose powder is well distributed. 
    8. Fill your plastic cup 1/8th of the way with bleach and pour that into the mixture and mix.
    9. Being very careful, take 1 cup full of dry ice and put that into the mixture in the bowl and mix well. 
      1. The mixture will bubble and overflow the steel bowl. 
    10. Taking the ends of the garbage bag you tucked under the bowl. Cover the mixture but make sure to leave a small opening for the carbon dioxide gas can escape a little. (Note: This step is very important; if too much gas builds up, the bag can explode.)
    11. Feel the garbage bag to see if the liquid mixture has hardened. Once you can feel the hardened mixture, pull the garbage bag out and unwrap your comet. 
    12. Congratulations! You’ve made your very own comet! 
      1. The sand represents the dirt and rock that makes up a comet. The ice represents the other half of a comet's composition. ​

Quizizz Link: https://quizizz.com/join/quiz/5f641ccb38bb7a001dc490a3/start?studentShare=true 
Suggested Videos: 
Comets Video: https://youtu.be/yB9HHyPpKds
Comets Project: https://youtu.be/UrYgiPHRvtI

Published 9.19.2020

Author: Rupali Venkatesan