Karianna's Science Project

For the last few weeks, Karianna has been putting together an AWESOME science project based on a package of "growing globies"-little balls that grow in water.  These are always fun projects to do, and Karianna was curious about why they grow...thus a science project was born!

We researched the basic "why" (these guys are made from polymers, ie, little sponges that soak up liquid), and then I asked Karianna what kind of experiment we could do now that we know what they are made of.  She suggested seeing if the balls would grow in apple juice and apple sauce!  Great idea, I was going to suggest apple juice and soda!  She rationalized that it would be interesting to see if the apple juice worked because it was more of a solid than a liquid.  I wondered too honestly!  

With that, we set up the experiment as you see it below.  I made up an observation sheet for Karianna to fill out 3 times a day, during which time she would trace 3 of the balls, measure them, and then figure out the average size.  I took pics each step of the way, and was pretty interested to see what happened....

Observation 1:  Look how little!

 Observation 2:  definite growth everywhere!

 Observation 3:  So much growth that more water needed to be added!  You can see the apple sauce balls are definitely bigger.

 Observation 4:  Added more water, and the apple juice balls are nearing the top of the liquid line; the apple sauce was super thick at this point.

 Observation 5:  Maximum growth everywhere!

 By the end of the experiment, it was clear the water balls grew the most, to the degree that I had to add more water!  The apple juice balls grew as expected, but by far not as much as the water balls...interesting, since apple juice is a liquid and we expected it to be the same!  The apple sauce balls were awesome-by observation #5, they were basically the same size as the apple juice balls, and the apple sauce itself had gotten very thick-the liquid in it had basically been sucked up by the balls, leaving only the solid left!

Needless to say, it was an awesome experiment, and we are excited to put all her information on a display board and showcase it at the Science Fair on Thursday!