Episode 12

S3 E12: POTASSIUM NITRATE: He holds up a jar of white powder and asks her to identify the elements listed on the label: carbon, oxygen and hydrogen. He identifies the powder as table sugar and places a teaspoon of it onto the lid of a jar. He lights a match at the end of a long stick Komo is holding. She holds the match near to the sugar. WOOD INTO PAPER: You’ve written on sheets of paper like this without paying much attention to it even though you know it comes from something like this. How do you get this out of that? SNOW MELT: Scott measures 18 centimeters of loosely-packed snow in a glass and guesses that when melted, there will be 9 centimeters of water. TELESCOPES: Mr. Wizard shows Nicola a telescope made from cardboard tubes, tracing paper, and one lens from magnifying reading glasses. Nicola looks through it to see the upside-down-image of a book cover. SURFACE TENSION TRICKS: Darren examines a small piece of cardboard shaped like a boat with a slit in the back which holds a tiny piece of soap. When placed on the surface of a pan of water, the boat moves. Darren adds other cardboard boats and wonders what makes them move. HOSPITAL FOR STATUES: Stroll through a park and you could see a statue like this. Since this is the way most statues look, you may think it is the way it’s supposed to look. Actually, it should have a gleaming finish like this. That’s how a bronze statue looks when it’s first put into place. Mr. Wizard talks about what changes the appearance of the statue.