Have you ever wondered how amazing the human body is? There’s so much to learn from our own body that we don’t need any other element, instrument or prop to experiment and learn about science. For all the teachers and parents out there, who would want to learn and help their children learn science using their own bodies, here’s something special for you. In this article, we will look at 7 DIY Science Experiments for which you won’t need anything other than an open mind to learn science concepts. Let’s get started.
1. Pinch It Up
Experiment:
Today, let’s use pinching to understand Pressure. Ask the child to pinch the skin on his/her arm as described here. When pinching themselves using their thumb and forefinger, first they must do it with their fingers held further apart, so that they are catching more skin between their fingers, and ask them to note how much it hurts. Make them repeat the experiment, but with a lesser amount of skin between their fingers.
Pressure is nothing but the amount of force in a unit area. Simply put, if the force is acting on a larger area, the pressure is less and when the same force acts on a smaller area, the pressure is more. With this experiment, you can feel the pressure is greater when the force is being applied on less area.
Observation:
They will notice that it hurts more when their fingers are closer and the area of skin they are applying the “pinching” force is less.
2. Raise Your Arm
Experiment:
Ask the child or student to lift their arms, without bending the elbow. They can move their arm up, down, left or right, but without bending the elbow.
The context being used here is rotational distance. Just as in a door, the part near the hinge of the door travels less distance compared to the part of the door that is away from the hinges when a door is opened or closed, the same is seen in the movement of the arm.
The rotational arc covered by the shoulder, or the upper arm is smaller than the arc covered by the hand in the same movement of the arm.
Observation:
The students will observe that a larger amount of distance is covered by the hand in any movement than compared to the distance covered by the shoulder.
3. Clap Clap Clap Your Hands
Experiment:
The experiment is as it says in the title. Ask the child to clap their hands.
This is because sound travels from the hands to the ears. Hands during clapping compress the air between them, which causes the air molecules to collide with each other, which leads to these newly disturbed molecules colliding with their neighbouring molecules, and so on and on until that disturbance reaches the ear. The ear interprets this disturbance as the sound that is heard. Mind you this whole process takes place in a fraction of a second. There is no lag between the time of the clap and the time the sound of the clap is heard.
Observation:
The child will notice that the sound of the clap is being generated by their hands, but they are able to hear it in their ears.
4. Jump up!
Experiment:
This experiment requires the child to get out of their seat, get on their feet and jump. Ask them to jump as high as they can and as fast as they can.
This is because of the gravitational force of the earth. Every object that has mass also has its own gravitational force. That means you are currently also exerting gravitational force. But it is very weak. The object must be very massive to have sufficiently strong gravity to attract other objects. Our earth is so massive that its gravity pulls us towards the ground. When we jump, the earth’s gravity pulls us and we fall back to the ground.
Observation:
They will notice that each jump ends with them back on the ground.
5. Friction in your hands
Experiment:
For this experiment, the child needs to rub the palms of his/her hands together.
This warmth is generated due to friction. The cells of the palm would run faster due to the force of friction acting on the palms of their hands. And the kinetic energy turns into heat. If they just put their hands together, there’s no resistance, so there’s no friction produced. Rub them together and there’s friction.
Observation:
The child will notice the palms becoming warmer.
6. Hand Fan
Experiment:
Ask the child to hold his/her hand with their fingers together, and rapidly move it near their face in a to and fro motion, like a fan.
The movement of the hand displaces the air near your face, and the air from neighbouring regions rushes in this area. The movement of air gives a cooling effect. This effect can be increased with the help of a hand held fan, that is why you may sometimes see people fanning themselves with hand held fans or folded newspapers in the summer.
Observation:
The student will observe that he/she feels cool air flowing near the area of the face where they are moving their hand in to and fro manner like a fan.
7. One Leg Stand
Experiment:
For this, the child will have to try standing on one leg.
When you are standing on two legs, the weight of the body is distributed between both legs. When standing on one leg, the weight of the body is concentrated on one leg, and hence it is difficult for one leg to maintain balance, making it difficult to stand on one leg.
Observation:
The child will find it difficult to stand on one leg.