Mad Scientists at Mapua

This term we are learning about Changes as part of our Science topic. On Monday the 19th we were given a candle, two cups with water in them and two small nails. First we had to measure to find the half way point on the candle. Mrs H drilled one hole on opposite sides of the halfway point. Then we were given two nails which we put in where Mrs H had drilled the holes. Next we put the cups with water in them beside each other far enough apart to allow the candle to be suspended on the nails, without touching the cups. When we had made sure that both sides were level we were able to light both ends of the candle. If the candle did not balance, we cut some wax off until it was right. We had a piece of paper with questions on it that we had to answer.
Below is a movie of what happened.



What we found out: That you have to level it to keep it straight. That as the wax melts at one end it goes up because it is lighter, the end that is down then melts the wax faster than the other ed and so eventually it gets lighter due to losing the wax and so it swings down, now the other end melts more wax until it becomes lighter and swings bak up. This seesaw motion keeps going as the candle burns. It stops when all the candle has been burnt.
The candle wax changed from solid to liquid to solid again.

(Hope you liked the movie's background music. It was created by some of our boys last year.)