Science experiments to do at home during shutdown | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Get the Paper
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Friday
July 25, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Get the Paper
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
FRIDAY, JULY 25, 2025
Science experiments to do at home during shutdown

Splash

Maria Mohsin
01 May, 2020, 09:30 am
Last modified: 01 May, 2020, 09:37 am

Related News

  • Breaking Barriers: Rural girls explore science through AUW-Chevron programme
  • Inside Earth’s miniature twin: How Biosphere 2 redefined view of the blue orb
  • Science Communicators Competition 2025: Nurturing future Bangladeshi scientists
  • 9th-graders at Chattogram Collegiate School allegedly forced to enroll in science group
  • Cambridge scientists detect possible biosignatures on Exoplanet K2-18b

Science experiments to do at home during shutdown

There are plenty of experiments you can do at home

Maria Mohsin
01 May, 2020, 09:30 am
Last modified: 01 May, 2020, 09:37 am

Has the impending quarantine gotten you bored beyond imagination? Try science! Although science can be a little intimidating at times, spending your time doing experiments can be a fun pass time activity. But you will not have to go through eight years of science school or work in a high-tech lab to do some basic science experiments. 

There are plenty of experiments you can do at home. You might even have a few of the materials just lying around the house.

Here are a few easy experiments to see science in action.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

Microwave Ivory soap

This funny physics display requires nothing more than a bar of Ivory-brand soap and a microwave oven. The high air content of Ivory soap causes it to expand into a big fluffy cloud of sorts when put into the microwave for a couple of minutes. Once microwaved, you can let the kids play with it - although this may result in a crumbly mess - or use it to make laundry detergent.

Lava lamp

Get a wide bottle, food coloring, vegetable oil, water, an Alka-Seltzer tablet, and then get groovy. Fill the bottle with oil, then water - leaving two to three inches at the top, then add 10 or so drops of color, and finally, drop in the tablet. The resulting DIY lava lamp-like visual is both pretty and a lesson about the density of water, oil and carbon dioxide gas bubbles.

Water xylophone

Here is a way to make music without investing in a pricey instrument. Fill as many mason jars as you would like with varying levels of water and food coloring to create a liquid rainbow. And then, have fun making sounds by tapping them with wooden sticks. Bamboo skewers work well. Keep one jar empty as a constant.

Tornado in a bottle

You can create your own tornado in a bottle. All you need are two bottles, a tube to connect the bottles, and some water.

When you whirl the liquid inside the top bottle, it creates a vortex as it drains into the bottom bottle. That is because as the water flows down, air must flow up, creating a spiraling tornado.
You can even add glitter, food dye, or lamp oil to the bottle to make the tornado even cooler.

Rainbow in a glass

This experiment takes advantage of density to create a rainbow in a glass. When you add sugar to a liquid, it causes the solution to become denser. The more sugar you add, the denser the solution is.

If you have four different solutions that are all different colors and densities, the colors will layer on top of each other - the denser, more sugary solutions will sit on the bottom and the lightest will sit on the top.

Gooey slime

When you mix glue, water, and a little bit of food coloring, then add some borax, a gooey slime forms. That's because the glue has something called polyvinyl acetate in it, which is a liquid polymer. The borax links the polyvinyl acetate molecules to each other, creating one large, flexible polymer: slime.

Pasta rocket

Believe it or not, you can create a very simple hybrid rocket engine using nothing but some yeast, hydrogen peroxide, a jar, fire and a piece of uncooked pasta.

When you mix the yeast and hydrogen peroxide together, they react and create pure oxygen gas. When this gas is funneled through a piece of pasta, all you need is a little bit of fire and you've got yourself a pasta rocket.

Homemade lava lamp

Alka-seltzer is great if you are suffering from heartburn or an upset stomach. But you probably did not know that it is also great if you are looking to create your own homemade lava lamp.

Because oil and water have different densities and polarities, when you mix them together, the water sinks to the bottom. When you add food coloring, which is water based, it will sink to the bottom as well.

If you crumble in an Alka-Seltzer tablet, it reacts with the water, causing colored droplets of water to rise to the top where they then pop, release air, and sink back to the bottom.

This creates a similar show to what you would see in a lava lamp.

Instant ice

In order for water to become ice, it needs a nucleus in order for solid crystals to form. Usually, water is loaded with particles and impurities that enable ice to form. But purified water is not. Because of this, purified water can reach an even colder temperature before becoming solid.

If you throw an unopened bottle of purified water into the freezer for a little less than three hours, the bottle will be chilled well below the temperature at which regular water freezes.

When you pour this super-cooled water onto a piece of ice, it provides the water with nuclei, causing it to freeze instantly.

Ferromagnetic fluid

This experiment makes it easy to see magnetic fields in action. All you need is some iron oxide, some water, and a jar.

When you place an extremely powerful magnet along the outside of the jar, the iron filings are attracted to it, piling up, and following the magnet as you move it around.

Baking soda volcano

In this experiment, a chemical reaction between baking soda and vinegar creates "lava" bursting out of a model volcano.

As the reaction produces carbon dioxide gas, pressure builds up inside a plastic bottle hidden inside the volcano until the gas bubbles and erupts.

Invisible Ink

Simply dab a Q-tip or brush into a bowl of lemon juice and write away. Just make sure you don't use too much. To see the message, simply heat the paper after it dries. Another way to see the message is put salt on the drying ink. Give it a minute and then wipe the salt off. Use a wax crayon to color over the message.

Why it works: Both lemon juice and milk are mildly acidic and acid weakens paper. The acid remains in the paper after the juice or milk has dried. When the paper is held near heat the acidic parts of the paper burn or turn brown before the rest of the paper does.

Top News

science / Experiment / lockdown

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Representational image. File photo: TBS
    Govt okays proposed tariff structure for Chattogram Port, rates to rise by up to 440%
  • Hasina and Taposh in an event in 2020. Photo: Collected
    Al Jazeera investigation: Hasina, in call with Taposh, talks using helicopter to shoot, crush protesters in July uprising
  • The Chinese Ambassador Yao Wen and Sayeda Jasmin Sultana Milky, director general of Global Health Emergence  Response Wing of the foreign ministry, received the team in the airport last night (24 July). Photo: Chinese embassy/Facebook
    Chinese medical team arrives in Dhaka to treat Milestone crash victims

MOST VIEWED

  • Representational image/Reuters
    Dollar gets upward push as BB buys $10m more in auction at even higher rate
  •  ABM Khairul Haque. File Photo: Collected
    Former chief justice Khairul Haque detained
  • File photo of Bangladesh Bank. Photo: TBS
    Governor Mansur orders withdrawal of BB dress code after directive draws criticism
  • Representational image. Photo: Collected
    Tariff talks: Bangladesh, US set for crucial virtual meeting on 29 July
  • Mehreen Ahmed speaking to media on 11 July 2025. Photo: Collected
    Court disposes of Dhaka girl's case against parents seeking 'protection from abuse'
  • Hasina and Taposh in an event in 2020. Photo: Collected
    Al Jazeera investigation: Hasina, in call with Taposh, talks using helicopter to shoot, crush protesters in July uprising

Related News

  • Breaking Barriers: Rural girls explore science through AUW-Chevron programme
  • Inside Earth’s miniature twin: How Biosphere 2 redefined view of the blue orb
  • Science Communicators Competition 2025: Nurturing future Bangladeshi scientists
  • 9th-graders at Chattogram Collegiate School allegedly forced to enroll in science group
  • Cambridge scientists detect possible biosignatures on Exoplanet K2-18b

Features

Illustration: TBS

The future of medicine: How innovations will catalyse quantum leaps in healthcare

4h | The Big Picture
Photo: Collected

24 July: More than 1400 arrested, 3 missing coordinators found

1d | Panorama
Photo: Mehedi Hasan/TBS

Aggrieved nation left with questions as citizens rally to help at burn institute

2d | Panorama
Photo: Mehedi Hasan/TBS

Mourning turns into outrage as Milestone students seek truth and justice

2d | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

There are many more examples of trials of Chief Justices in the world.

There are many more examples of trials of Chief Justices in the world.

2h | TBS Today
Why is there a massive conflict between Thailand and Cambodia?

Why is there a massive conflict between Thailand and Cambodia?

3h | TBS News Updates
Former Chief Justice ABM Khairul Haque in prison

Former Chief Justice ABM Khairul Haque in prison

3h | TBS Today
The Nvidia Chip Deal Trades Away the United States’ AI Advantage

The Nvidia Chip Deal Trades Away the United States’ AI Advantage

3h | Videos
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net