How many times have you told your girls not to touch the sides of their tents? By doing the Surface Tension experiment, it will help them understand why they should not let anything touch the sides and provide them with fact rather than just what the leaders tell them!!

Experiment:
You will need:
- a piece of material (anything with a tight weave),
- a cup,
- an elastic band,
- some water.

Pour the water into the cup and place the material on the top and put an elastic band around to keep it closed. Turn cup over carefully (straight up and down.) Let the girls predict what will happen. Then touch the material underneath and watch the water begin to leak through. This is occurring because the water acts like a skin on the top of the material and it maintains a certain tension, but when you touch the material, that skin or tension is changed and the water will begin to drip through. This is also the case for pond skaters, insects which "walk" on water.

Plan a Science and Tech meeting or sleepover - call Science and Innovators in the Classroom for more information 1-800-363-1611.

If you have any questions or you need some Science and Technology ideas, contact us and we'll be glad to help!

See the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) Resources page for more ideas on how you can bring science into your meetings.