Deformation Hide and seek

The Mystery of Nanocarbon

Summer is the season of lotus. Have you ever observed the raindrops on the lotus leaves? Why don’t the lotus leaves on which the raindrops are falling get wet and why instead does each raindrop become round and bounce around? The fact is that a nanocarbon structure exists on the surface of the lotus leaves. Let’s try the following experiment together and explore the amazing phenomena of the nano world.

We will need:

  • Paper cup
  • Beaker
  • Dropper
  • Candle
  • PET bottle cap
  • Metal spoon

Step-by-step instructions:

  1. Fill the paper cup with water up to 1 cm in height or half cup.
  2. Place the paper cup on the candle flame to be broiled. Since the paper cup is filled with water, its bottom will not get burned. However, its protruding part from the edge may catch fire. Therefore, do not let the flame reach the edge of the paper cup.
  3. While broiling the paper cup, move it around to uniformly cover its bottom with tiny black carbon particles. In general, the process only takes 1~2 minutes to complete. However, please note that the bottom of the paper cup must be placed in the candle flame, not above the flame. By doing so, tiny carbon particles of incomplete combustion will easily attach to the bottom of the paper cup.
  4. Place the paper cup on the desk in an upside-down position.
  5. Use the dropper and take a small amount of water. Put a drop of water on the bottom of the paper cup. Shake the cup gently and observe the movement of the droplet. You will discover that the water droplet will not adhere to the paper cup. Instead, the droplet is in a round shape and is rolling around freely.
  6. Next, put a few more drops of water on the bottom of the paper cup. Again, the water droplets will roll around freely.

How it works:

The natural nanoscale ciliary structure on the surface of a lotus leaf has hydrophobic ability that prevents water drops from sticking, which lets them easily roll and bounce. At the same time, the water droplets will carry away the dust on the leaves. Scientists call this phenomenon the “Lotus Effect”. The paper cup in the experiment absorbs a layer of tiny black carbon particles (their size can be measured ona nanoscale) after being broiled on the candle flame, granting it the hydrophobicity seen in the lotus effect. As a result, the water droplets naturally cannot adhere to the paper cup!

A spoon with carbon particles of nanoscale structure attached to it is hydrophobic. When such a spoon is inserted into water, light from the surroundings will be absorbed by the black carbons particles while also shining on the spoon. However, when light beams have larger incident angles “total reflection” occurs, which means that there is no refraction. The light beams reflect to the water surface and then enter the air by refraction. Therefore, light can be seen above the water surface and the spoon appears to be shining!

Something extra:

  1. Fill the beaker with half a cup of water.
  2. Use a metal spoon and burn the back of the metal spoon with a candle flame until it turns black.
  3. Wait for a few minutes until the metal spoon cools down. Insert the metal spoon into the water and observe the spoon right above the water surface.
  4. You will discover that the black metal spoon looks as though it is shining, as if it had been changed back to the original one!

*Resource come from: NTCU Science Game Lab.

Care of Magical Creatures – Create your own pet

  • Care of Magical Creatures Create your own pet

    Magical molecular cuisine

    A crystal-clear pearl (tapioca) ball is one of the best treats to accompany drinks or ice on a hot summer’s day.

  • Care of Magical Creatures Create your own pet

    Magic Slime Experiment with borax

    Mix glue, borax and colorful pigments together and you can create an extendable and easily shapeable jelly-like magical slug!

  • Care of Magical Creatures Create your own pet

    Magic Slime Experiment with contact lens solution

    Mix glue, baking soda, contact lens solution, and colorful pigments, then you can create an extendable and easily shapeable jelly-like magical slug!

Magic Pharmacy – Formulate potion with magical power

  • Magic Pharmacy Formulate potion with magical power

    Bouncing bubbles

    Everyone must have the experience of blowing bubbles. Although bubbles that are formed from soapy water fly into the air easily, they burst following only a light touch, and it is impossible to make it them bounce onto our hands. Now, though, we are going to teach you the secret to making the bubbles magically bounce onto your hands!

  • Magic Pharmacy Formulate potion with magical power

    Magical lava lamp

    If you add some mysterious powders to a transparent bottle, you will be able to see vibrant colors bouncing up and down, like the rolling lava of a volcano!

  • Magic Pharmacy Formulate potion with magical power

    Baking Soda Rocket

    After When you finish drinking water from a plastic bottle, don’t be too quick to throw it away! You can make your own baking soda rocket in just a few seconds, and all you need is some baking soda and some citric acid. Let’s countdown and see how to launch it into the air!

  • Magic Pharmacy Formulate potion with magical power

    The Magic 3D Drawing

    A whiteboard marker is an everyday pen. But did you know that common whiteboard markers can also be used in for fun experiments? All you need to do is add a couple of drops of water, then the drawing will come to life and start to move across the surface of a piece of glass! Let’s try it this together!

  • Magic Pharmacy Formulate potion with magical power

    Fun of stacking layers of color liquids

    Let's create our own rainbow.

  • Magic Pharmacy Formulate potion with magical power

    Rainbow Fountain

    Lots of bubbles keep coming out of the cup like a fountain! Baking soda and white vinegar are common household cleaning helpers in our daily life.

Deformation – Hide and seek

  • Deformation Hide and seek

    Dance of a disk images

    Do you know that before the birth of the optical disk, people listened to music from vinyl LP records and cassette tapes?

  • Deformation Hide and seek

    Magical invisible ink

    When you smear the magic liquid on the blank paper, handwriting slowly emerges. Could this be a legendary Treasure Map?

  • Deformation Hide and seek

    The blossoming of paper flowers

    Make a flower out of newspaper, fold it up, and gently place it on the water. You will then see the paper petals slowly open, like a blossoming flower!

  • Deformation Hide and seek

    Magical color changing glasses

    With some scotch tape and glasses for 3D films, you can make a simple kaleidoscope!

  • Deformation Hide and seek

    The Magic Fountain

    Normally, water is affected by gravity and flows downwards. But let’s see how we can use our own hands and a long tube to make water flow upwards in order to create a magical fountain!

  • Deformation Hide and seek

    The Cheerios Effect

    Let’s conduct a fun experiment where a chopstick piece and a thumb tack chase each other across the surface of water!

  • Deformation Hide and seek

    Colorful dancing milk

    Wow! Add a drop of magical liquid and some colorful paints to milk and you’ll see the milk become colorful and begin turning over on the plate, just like the dancing water!

Entre em contacto connosco!

Qual é o assunto sobre o qual nos está a contactar hoje?

Como o podemos contactar?

Qual é o assunto do seu pedido

A sua mensagem para nós

*Campos obrigatórios

As informações sobre o tratamento de dados podem ser consultadas na nossa política de privacidade.

Compare