Many of the mishaps in folktales could be remedied if the protagonists knew some scientific principles.
STEM books and activities for fun
by Lois Wickstrom
Before you get in the tub, notice how high the water comes up the edge of the tub. The height of the water is called the water level. Every body of water has a water level. Water in a well, water in a lake, water in the sink, or water in the ocean. The water level is a measure of how full the container is. Water in the tub has to be high enough that you can take a bath, but not too high. If the water is too high in the tub it will over flow the sides of the tub and slosh onto the floor when you get in. In other words, it will splash and make a mess. What is happening? Why does water make a mess so easily? Several things are happening here. 1) the water takes up room in your tub. 2) your body takes up room in your tub. 3) there is only so much room in your tub. If you put in too much stuff, it will be more than the tub can hold. The tub doesn’t care what stays and what goes. It can only hold so much and something has to leave. 4) your body is more dense than the water. It sinks to the bottom and pushes the water up. If the side of the tub is too low to contain both your body and the water, something has to get out of the tub. 5) Your body has a shape of its own. Water doesn’t. Water is a liquid. Liquids take the shape of their containers. Water in a drinking glass takes the shape of the glass. Water in a box takes the shape of the box. Water in a tub, takes the shape of the tub with rounded corners and straight sides. Water on the floor doesn’t have sides to make it hold a shape. Because water can change shape, it is easy for the water to flow over the edge of the tub and onto the floor. 6) Less dense things rise to the top. You’ve seen an ice cube float. Ice cubes are less dense than water. Your body is more dense than water, so it sinks to the bottom of the tub, pushing the water up. If water were more dense than your body, then it would sink, and you would float. You would flow out of the tub. You can do the same thing when you wash dishes. If the water in the sink is too high, and you put dishes in the sink to soak, the water will flow over the edge of the sink and onto the floor. You can fill a glass with water and then drop in pennies. See how many pennies you can add before water flows over the top of the glass. Pennies are more dense than water. Some things are less dense than water. See how much water you can add to a glass of water with an ice cube before the ice cube tumbles out. Pour a thin layer of oil into a glass. Add water. See that the oil floats on top of the water. How much water you can add to the glass before the oil flows over the top? (Do this in a sink to catch the mess.) Children discover the world around them when they play. They discover in nature what they will later learn to call science. Our books at http://www.LookUnderRocks.com feed this joyous approach to life.
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Lois Wickstrom
former head science teacher at Science in the City Summer Camp. Now writing STEM fiction and non-fiction Archives
March 2022
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