Atomic Tom

15th July 2016

Year 4 had a fantastic day today with Atomic Tom and his science roadshow. He spent most of the day with us teaching us about chemistry physics and even some maths.

We began with learning how everything around us is made of atoms and tried to get a slight idea of the numbers by learning how to write the number 3 octillion - the rough number of atoms making up the tip on one finger we were told. Out on the field, the children practiced behaving like atoms, rushing close together when they were acting the part of a solid, spreading out more and more as liquid and then gas. They did very well guessing how they needed to behave when playing the character of helium, carbon dioxide, orange juice and wood, Sand proved a little trickier to pin down - a solid that pours like a liquid, not fair!

The static electricity experiments were literally hair raising, first with lots of rubbing of balloons and sticking them to hands and the wall and later with the Vandergraph Generator causing lots of hilarity. With fingers touching in a long line it was possible to  shock around 15 children at a time (gently of course)!

Slime making was lots of fun with the children making a mixture of watered down PVA glue, a splash of paint and a dash of disodium tetraborate. Hopefully they have having lots of fun with the pots of sticky stuff they brought home! The children also made simple electrical circuits.

It was great, great fun, highly educational, entertaining and interactive. I'm sure the children will remember what they learnt during the day for a very long time, particularly about how electricity moves after seeing it - and feeling it - so clearly.