WATER, ALCOHOL AND OIL
You will need three clear drinking glasses, cooking oil, several bottles of rubbing alcohol, and a large eye dropper. It may help to have a long, thin tool available.
Mix the water and alcohol in three glasses. Use two parts alcohol to one part water in the first glass, half and half water and alcohol in the second glass, and two parts water and one part alcohol in the third glass. Carefully put a large drop of oil into the center of the liquid in each glass. In one of the glasses, you should get a ball of oil suspended in the liquid. You can carefully add water and/or oil to get the 'ball' centered in each glass. If the oil breaks up, use a thin tool to 'grab' the oil pieces and guide the pieces back into a ball.
My child took this experiment to 'show and tell'. At recess, someone open the glass jar to get out the 'ball'.
This experiment is thanks to the San Jose Mercury News.
VACUUM CLEANER BALL
If you have a shop vac type vacuum, which also blows air, then you can suspend a large, light weight ball in the vacuum cleaner air flow. The air needs to be blowing outward, and the hose to the vacuum has to be almost upright. A little experimentation and your ball will twirl in mid air.
The ball we used was about basketball size, but was much lighter weight. The inexpensive balls at ToysRUs or the grocery store work well. (The kind that they keep in the tall wire baskets.)
This experiment is thanks to the San Francisco Exploratorium. If you are in the area, the Exploratorium is a must for people who love playing with science.
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