Chemistry Adventures with Dr. Carlie

Dr. Carlie Saval, Upper School Science Teacher and Experiential School parent, met with Mrs. Rosas’ Junior Kindergarten class for explorations into the world of chemistry.

First Dr. Carlie visited their JK classroom and introduced the students to hand boilers, mysterious devices filled with colorful liquids. She demonstrated how hand boilers work. As she held the large bulb end on the bottom with the palm of her hand, the liquid began to rise. 

"It's spreading out," said Casey. 

"The water doesn't like being at the bottom," shared Christian. 

"It's magic," explained Lodi. (Spoiler alert, it’s not magic, it’s science.)

The children each had the opportunity to hold a hand boiler. The warmth from their hands warmed the liquid and the gas inside. When a hand boiler gets warm inside, the gas expands and takes up more space (volume), and pushes the liquid up into the top. A few minutes after the students put down the hand boilers, the substance cooled down and the liquid moved again. It was a fascinating demonstration of energy transfer and gas expansion!  

When the children learned that Dr. Carlie is a Chemistry Teacher for the "big kids" they were curious about where her classroom is located. They had a field experience across campus in her specialized chemistry classroom. They noticed there were a lot of sinks and much larger desks than their classroom. Dr. Carlie wore a white lab coat and special goggles to stay safe.

With a quick drawing Dr. Carlie introduced the students to basic atomic structure. Then she had a special experiment for the children to observe. By touching different metals to the flame of a Bunsen burner one by one, they witnessed a mesmerizing array of colored flames, each representing a unique element's signature. They were so excited to see the flame change colors! (Metals all have different configurations of electrons, which will produce different wavelengths of light during a flame test. The different wavelengths are seen as different colors.)

Thank you Dr. Carlie for sparking the curiosity of these young minds, igniting a passion for science that will certainly endure!

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