My Sci-Toys Lab Journal
Science Toys Lab
Power an LED clock with a lemon. Make a volcano erupt in your palm.
Recycle bottles to make a tornado on your table-top. Have fun learning
the science behind forces, pressure, electricity and more!
FOR AGES OVER 8
WARNING:
CHOKING HAZARD Small parts.
Safety Messages:
1. Please read through this instructions
before you start.
2. This kit is intended for age 8 and up.
3. Adults assistance and supervision are
required. Not for children under 3 years old.
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Not for Children under 3 years.
Children under 8 years, can choke or
suffocate on uninflated or broken
balloons. Adult supervision
required. Keep uninflated balloons
from children. Discard broken
balloons at once. Balloon is made of
natural rubber latex.
©2014 4M Industrial Development Limited. All rights reserved.
Learn while you’re having fun!
Sci-Toy 2: Diving Submarine
Science is fun! There are 8 hands-on activities in this kit that will help
you learn the science behind each interesting project. The topics include
density, pressure, simple chemical reactions, chemical electricity, action
and reaction forces, as well as some simple mathematical myths. Let’s
get started!
See how the submarine dives and resurfaces with
the help of baking powder. It is amazing!
What you need from your kit: submarine
What you need from home: baking powder, a tank of water.
Sci-Toy 1: Pocket Volcano
Perform your own ‘volcanic eruptions’ on a tabletop, in the
bath or even inside a glass. It’s an awesome science gadget!
What you need from your kit: pocket volcano
What you need from home: vinegar, baking soda, baking
powder, bath fizzer
Caution: do not perform the eruption in a fish tank. Clean
the volcano with water after used.
Instructions:
1. Table-top Volcano: add vinegar and baking soda
to the volcano chamber and watch it erupt.
2. Underwater Volcano: add baking powder to the
volcano chamber and place it in a glass of water.
It looks like an underwater volcano smoking in the
deep ocean. Your volcano may float; if this occurs,
hold it underwater with your hand until the chamber
fills with water. When it is completely full, your volcano should sit at the bottom of the glass or bathtub.
3. Bathtub Volcano: crush a bath fizzer into small
pieces and put them into the volcano chamber.
Watch your volcano erupt and then enjoy a “volcanic” bath!
How does it work?
Baking soda is a base while the vinegar is an acid.
When mixed, they react to form water and carbon
dioxide, which creates all that fizzing as it escapes
the solution.
Want to know more?
•Volcanoes are openings in the Earth’s surface.
•Volcanoes are usually located where tectonic
plates meet. Hot liquid rock under the Earth’s surface is known as magma, but once it comes out of a
volcano, it is called lava.
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VINEG
Instructions:
1. Open the top cover of the submarine and add
baking powder to the chamber. Gently tap the submarine on a hard surface to level the powder and
make sure the chamber is half-full.
2. Close the cover and wipe away any excess baking powder.
3. Immerse the submarine in water and shake it a
few times.
4. Let go of the submarine and watch it dive and
resurface again and again. Refill the chamber for
unlimited fun. If your submarine does not dive, clear
the chamber and half-fill it again with more baking
powder. If it does not resurface but continues to
move up and down at the bottom of the container,
the chamber is probably too full of baking powder.
Remove some powder and try again.
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How does it work?
The submarine sinks naturally because it is heavier
than water. However, when the water comes into
contact with the baking powder, carbon dioxide is
released and it causes the submarine to surface.
When all of the carbon dioxide from one reaction
has been released (you will see bubbles coming out
of the submarine), the sub then ‘dives’ once again.
This process will be repeated until there is not enough
baking powder left to produce enough carbon dioxide to make the submarine rise again.
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Want to know more?
•Real submarines are usually large, have a lot of
crew members, and some can remain submerged for
months at a time.
•Submarines are used by the military and in other
areas such as marine research, undersea exploration and salvage missions.
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Sci-Toy 3: Micro Rocket
Sci-Toy 4: Tornado Maker
It’s time to be a rocket scientist. Just add vinegar and baking
soda and watch it go. 3. . . 2 . . .1 . . . Blast off!
What you need from your kit: rocket launcher, rocket
What you need from home: baking soda, vinegar, a spoon
Learn how to create a water tornado (vortex) and see
the effect of gravitational pull on water
inside a bottle.
Safety Messages:
Find an outdoor open area with a level concrete surface, such as a backyard.
The launch could get messy, so cover the area with
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old newspaper. Warning! Do not point the rocket at
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people or pets. Do not aim at your eyes or face. Never
watch the rocket launch from above.
2ml
Instructions:
1. Prepare two bottles: one half-filled with water, the
other empty.
2. Screw the tornado maker onto the half-filled bottle and put the empty one on the top.
3. Turn the connected bottles so that the filled bottle is on top. Move the top bottle in a small circular motion to make the water start swirling around,
then stand it on a flat surface. You will see a funnel-shaped hole forming in the centre as the water
swirls down into the bottom bottle. It’s like a water
tornado! Repeat the experiment by turning the bottles over.
GAR
What you need from your kit: tornado maker
What you need from home: two bottles, water
NE
6ml
4ml
12ml
10ml
Instructions:
1. Put 2ml of vinegar into the launch pad, and place
it on the ground.
2. Put a 1/4 teaspoonfuls of baking soda into the hole
at the bottom of the rocket, just enough to fill the cavity. Wipe away any excess baking soda.
3. Insert the rocket into the launch pad. Hold the
launch pad and rocket as shown in Diagram 3, and
shake gently 3 times.
4. Quickly place the rocket and the launch pad on the
floor, with the rocket pointing skywards, and move
away.
5. Keep your distance. Wait, and watch your rocket
shoot up! 3, 2, 1 … Blast off!
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4ml
2ml
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BAKING
SODA
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10ml
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Troubleshooting:
If your rocket does not blast off, the connection between the rocket and the launch pad may be too
loose and allowing air to leak out, or too tight so
friction prevents the rocket from shooting up. Check
by holding the rocket and the launch pad so that the
rocket points away from you and other people, and
carefully removing the rocket from the launch pad.
A loud pop means the rocket was probably too tight
and the air was trapped; a quiet pop means the connection was too loose and the air leaked out. Repeat
the launch steps, this time adjusting the force used to
insert the rocket.
8ml
How does it work?
Swirling the water inside the top bottle as it pours
into the lower bottle causes the formation of a vortex, which looks like a water tornado and has a hole
in the centre. As the water flows down, air from the
bottom bottle flows up to replace it. If you don’t swirl
the water, then the air and water will take turns passing through the hole in the cap, making a glug-glug
noise.
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12ml
10ml
8ml
6ml
4ml
2ml
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Want to know more?
A chemical reaction takes place when the
acidic vinegar is mixed with the alkaline
baking soda, producing carbon dioxide. There is no place for the carbon
dioxide to escape inside the launch pad.
The pressure builds up and eventually gets
so great that the launch pad propels the
rocket high up into the sky.
Want to know more?
•A tornado is a vortex of air. Tornadoes start when strong currents of air are created inside giant thunderstorms.
•You can see water vortexes when you let water out of the bath
and it spins down the drain.
•Strong currents in rivers and at sea sometimes create whirlpools, where water swirls downwards in a vortex.
•The winds of a tornado move in a counter-clockwise direction
in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere.
•The most powerful tornadoes occur in the United States.
•A tornado usually only lasts for a few minutes.
•Tornadoes can occur at any time, but most often happen between 3 p.m. and 9 p.m.
10ml
8ml
6ml
4ml
2ml
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Sci-Toy 5: Cosmic Jet Racer
Sci-Toy 6: Diving Octopus
See how the Cosmic Jet Racer zooms across the floor powered only by
air. Learn about Isaac Newton’s famous laws of motion as you play!
Place the diving octopus inside a water-filled bottle
to learn how changes in pressure cause the octopus
to dive up and down!
What you need from your kit: racer with a mouth piece, balloon
Instructions:
1. Uninstall the mouth piece from the Cosmic Jet
Racer. Carefully stretch the balloon over the mouth
piece on the side with the big hole.
2. Reinstall the mouth piece. Guide the balloon
through the hole on top and pull gently. Blow up the
balloon and let it go!
How does it work?
As you blow it up, the elastic in the balloon stretches. When you let go, the elastic forces the air out
through the racer’s nozzle. Newton’s laws of motion
say that for every force (or action), there is an equal
and opposite force (or reaction). As the balloon
pushes air out at the back, the air pushes the racer
forwards with equal force.
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Want to know more?
•Isaac Newton (1642-1727) is one of the greatest scientists of all time. In 1687,
he published three laws of motion. The Cosmic Racer depends on the third law:
for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
•Newton’s first law of motion says that an object stays at rest (or keep moving)
unless it is acted upon by a force. So things stay still (or keep going) unless they
are pushed or pulled!
•Newton’s second law of motion says that how much an object speeds up or
slows down depends on the size of the force pushing or pulling it. So if you push
something harder, it moves faster!
•Newton was inspired to come up with his theory
on gravity when he watched an apple fall from a
tree.
•Jet engines and rocket motors work on the same
principle as the Cosmic Racer. They send out a
stream of gas by burning fuel, which pushes them
the other way.
•As a fire hose pushes water out at high speed,
the water pushes back on the hose. It takes two
strong firefighters to stop a hose from flying
backwards.
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What you need from your kit: diving octopus
What you need from home: a bottle of water
Instructions:
1. Gently squeeze the octopus’s body and dip it into
a glass of water, taking in just enough water to fill
the body two-thirds full. Place the octopus into a bottle filled with water and adjust the amount of water
inside the octopus until it floats just under the water
level. Screw on the bottle cap.
2. Gently squeeze the bottle. The octopus should
sink to the bottom. When you stop squeezing the
bottle, the octopus should resurface. Make your octopus move up and down like it’s alive!
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How does it work?
Unlike the diving submarine, the octopus floats because of air pressure. When you squeeze the bottle,
the pressure inside increases. This compresses the air
inside the octopus, allowing more water to enter so
it becomes heavier and sinks. When you release the
bottle, the pressure drops and the air in the octopus expands, pushing some water out and making it
lighter, so it floats to the surface again.
Want to know more?
• The diving octopus works the same way a real
submarine does. To dive, a submarine’s ballast tanks
are filled with water, which makes the submarine
heavier. To surface, the water is blown out of the
tanks with air.
• In water, the deeper you go, the higher the pressure becomes.
• Many fish have a small gas-filled sac in their bodies that works in a similar fashion. Squeezing the sac
makes the fish sink, while relaxing the sac makes the
fish rise.
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Sci-Toy 7: Ming Reading Cards
Learn how to read minds. Astonish your friends with speed calculations.
What you need from your kit: Magic Mind Reading cards
What you need from home: a pencil, paper
Basice Mind Reading trick:
You need only the 5 number cards to play the following trick.
1. Ask a volunteer to pick a number between 1 and 30 and write the number
down without telling you what it is. For example, let’s say the volunteer chooses
the number ‘3’.
2. Show the volunteer the 5 Magic Mind Reading cards one at a time. Ask him/
her to select the cards that have the chosen number on it. Only the yellow and
the blue cards contain the number ‘3’, so our volunteer would choose those
cards.
3. Remove the cards the volunteer has chosen, and add the numbers in the top
left-hand corners. For our volunteer, take out the yellow and blue cards and add
their numbers, ‘1’ and ‘2’. The sum of these numbers gives us the volunteer’s
chosen number, ‘3’.
4. Pretend to try to read the volunteer’s mind. Say the answer and ask the volunteer to reveal the number he/she has written on the paper to the audience. It’s
magic!
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1+2=3
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Another fun way to perform this trick:
You need the 5 number cards plus the blank answer card, and to do some preparations before the trick.
1. Take out the blank answer card printed 1 - 30. Now design a question to ask
the audience, like ‘What is your favorite animal?’ Now find 30 possible answers
to the question and fill in the blanks, e.g. 1 = Dog, 2= Cat, 3 = Lion … Complete
all the blanks and make sure they do not repeat. See the diagram for reference.
If you can’t think of 30 answers, try some common expressions, such as Not
Sure, None of Them, All of Them, etc. (Handy tip: if you can’t think of a question,
you can simply start with the question in the example and copy all the animals
onto your answer card to perform the trick right away. Photocopy more blank
answer cards for future use.)
2. Start by asking a volunteer the question. Let him/her pick an answer from
the answer cards without telling you what he/she has chosen. Tell him/her to
remember the answer and also the number next to the answer he/she picked.
For example, he/she chooses the answer ‘Lion’ and the corresponding number is
‘3’. Explain to him/her that you can read his/her mind and find out the answer.
3. Show him/her the 5 number cards one at a time. Ask him/her to select the
cards that contain the number of the answer, i.e. the yellow and blue cards contain the number 3.
4. Now retrieve the cards the volunteer has chosen and add up the numbers in
the top left-hand corners, i.e. ‘1’ and ‘2’ in this example, to get the volunteer’s
chosen number. Check it against the answer card and reveal the answer, i.e.
‘Lion’. Ask the volunteer to confirm the answer. It works like magic!
You can design different questions and answer cards around this basic trick.
Follow the steps above and entertain your friends!
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How does it work?
The numbers on the number cards are specially arranged. When a volunteer
finds their special number on the number cards, the numbers at the top lefthand corners of these selected cards will always equal their chosen number.
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Sci-Toy 8: Lemon Clock
Discover the science of batteries. Simply add your own lemon to turn!
What you need from your kit: LCD clock, 2 copper plates, 2 zinc plates,
white wire
What you need from home: a lemon, adhesive tape
adhesive tape
zinc
copper
white wire
black wire
red wire
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How does it work?
The copper plates act like the positive
electrodes of a battery. They are plated
with a metal which is less reactive than
zinc. When the plates are inserted into
the lemon, a chemical reaction takes
place. Electrons (extremely small particles with negative charge) move from
the zinc plates to the copper plates to
form a current, thus activating the LCD
watch. The lemon juice helps conduct
electricity. You can replace the lemon
with a potato, a grapefruit or use soft
drinks and see what effect they have.
Instructions:
1. Connect the red wire on the LCD watch to a copper plate and the black wire
to a zinc plate. Secure the wires in place with adhesive tape. Get another copper
plate and zinc plate and connect them with the connection wire using adhesive
tape.
2. Insert the copper plates and zinc plates into the lemon halves to activate the
LCD watch movement as shown in the diagram. You will see your watch start
blinking.
Setting LCD watch:
1. Press A twice and the display will show the ‘set month’
mode. Press B to adjust to the right month, then press A
to confirm.
B
2. The ‘set day’ mode will be displayed. Press B to adjust,
A
then press A to confirm.
3. The ‘set hour’ mode will be displayed. Press B to adjust, then press A to confirm.
4. The ‘set minute’ mode will be displayed. Press B to adjust, then press A to
confirm. Now the normal time will be displayed. You should see the two dots
flashing between the hours and minutes display.
Viewing the time:
By default, the clock shows the current time. To view the date, press B once.
It will resume showing the current time after 2 seconds. To view the seconds,
press B twice. Press B again to return to the normal time display. To view the
time and date alternately, press A once.
Press A again to return. Press A five times to skip all set clock modes.
press B twice. Press B again to return to the normal time display. To view the
time and date alternately, press A once.
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Questions & Comments
We value you as a customer and your satisfaction with this product is important
to us. If you have comments or questions, or you find any part of this kit missing
or defective, please do not hesitate to contact our distributor in your country.
You will find the address printed on the package. You are also welcome to
contact our Marketing Support Team: Email: [email protected], Fax (852)
25911566, Tel: (852) 28936241, Web site: WWW.4M-IND.COM.
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