If you place a whole bunch of glass straws, each with a slightly narrower bore in water, you discover that the narrower the bore, the higher the water level inside creeps up. Mercury is very poisonous though, so you should never, ever play with it! Mercury is slightly less attracted to glass than it is to itself so it does the opposite and bulges upwards in a glass creating a positive meniscus. This upward creeping makes the water surface curve downwards slightly from the edges of a glass container or straw and this shape is called a negative meniscus (meniscus means ‘crescent shapes’). This is all because water is slightly more attracted to glass and plastic than it is to itself. The water surface also curves up the sides of your drinking glass a tiny bit. Now you might have noticed that the water level inside a straw is slightly higher than the water level outside. Straws with very narrow bores are absolutely useless for drinking milk shakes but superb for studying capillary action. But 'capillary' can also mean a tiny tube, like a straw with a teeny-weeny tiny bore. The capillaries in your body are the minute blood vessels between the end of your arteries and the beginning of your veins. When paper gets wet, it swells which causes the folded petals of your Magic Flower to open up.Īs the name suggests, capillary action happens inside capillaries and it takes a little explaining. Thanks to capillary action, paper absorbs water very rapidly. Your Magic Flower is powered by a groovy scientific phenomenon called 'capillary action'. And if that doesn’t get you a smile, nothing will. The flower will completely open in around thirty seconds (it varies depending on the paper you used).
Soon, the petals untangle and reveal the smiley face (or the lovey-dovey message you wrote) inside.Ĩ. Pop the Magic Flower into the water in your saucer and the petals immediately begin to open up. Pour a teaspoon of water into a saucer.Ħ. Your Magic Flower should now look like this (lame!).ĥ. Fold the petals over one by one (the flower will open up differently depending on the order you fold the petals.Ĥ. Carefully cut the flower out (the neater the better).ģ. You can even write a lovey-dovey secret admirer message instead of the smiley face.Ģ.
Magic flowers download#
You can download and print these flowers or design your own. Draw a flower on plain white paper and colour it in with coloured pencils or crayons (felt pens will run). They’re great for get well or birthday cards too!ġ. Pop this magic little science trick in your Valentine’s Day cards and your special someone is guaranteed to smile.
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