By CAITLIN WHERLEY
neighborhoods@ColumbiaMissourian.com
A team of Mad Scientists visited Derby Ridge Elementary School Tuesday, Nov. 9. Kids learned about science while making tornadoes in a bottle and slime and enjoying cotton candy and root beer.
The cotton candy was a hit. Kids couldn’t get close enough to the cotton candy machine to watch sugar being spun into spidery webs. And they kept coming back for more.
“Kinetic” Casey Philips manned the cotton candy machine, explaining to kids how it was made.
The machine melts sugar crystals at about 200 degrees, making a liquid, Philips said. When the liquid cools, it forms candy threads along the inside of the machine.
Kids could also make “pet tornadoes” with “Dangerous” Dan Kelly. He poured water, a few drops of food coloring, glitter and a toy fish into a plastic container. When kids swirl the container, a tornado forms.
The team put on a fire, wind and ice show in the school’s cafeteria. Kelly taught the kids about hypotheses and physical and chemical changes by tearing and burning paper.
After the show, kids and their parents watched as Kelly and Philips made slime and root beer.
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