How do I explain some science concepts to little kids?

Question

I volunteered to help out at a science festival thing at an elementary school, but the topics are all physics-related, so I have no idea what they are:
1. standing waves (demo:slinky)
2. resonance (demo:tuning fork, Chinese spouting bowl)
3. energy conversion (demo:metal balls you strike on paper to burn a little hole, name?)
4. temperature (demo:polarized light crystal sheet)

Give me a little background (easily understood, I don't really want to know too many physics terms) on each, and how to explain it to little kids... Thanks! :)

But I dont KNOW why...

Thanks, icez, more explanations please...

Answer 1

1-Most waves will move along - imagine, perhaps, an ocean. You'll see the peaks of the waves travelling towards the beach. Sometimes though, the wave will actually remain still - the peaks will still bob up and down but in the same place. There is a nice animation at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standing_wave

2- Everything has a "natural frequency". If you put a oscillate (jiggle) something at its natural frequency, the harmony of the two will allow the jiggling to become much stronger. A tuning fork will hum at its own natural (resonant) frequency for example.
As you approach the natural frequency the waves will get bigger and bigger until they reach their maximum at resonance.
Incidentally

3-The kinetic energy of the balls are instantly converted into heat energy. This is a demonstration of the fact that energy is not created or destroyed but rather converted into other forms. The BANG you hear is also some of the kinetic (moving) energy transformed into sound energy.


4-Temperpature is tricky. In laymans terms its the amount that all the particles in a substance are jiggling about. The higher the temp, the more the jiggling.

Answer 2

2. Resonance is vibration of an object, which then creates "sound." Human voice for example vibrates air to create sound, but the sound waves aren't perfect. A tuning fork, however, creates a nice smooth sound wave. With the spouting bowl, it's the same thing, your hands rubbing the handles create vibrations, and those vibrations are transfered to the bowl, which makes the bowl vibrate and water jumps everywhere.

Sorry I don't know about the 3 others :/

Good luck though!

Answer 3

1. slinky demo sounds good to me

2. A good way my physics teacher explained resonance to me was through the use of a swing set. Unless you push the person at the right frequency, they are not going to continue to gain energy (go farther).

3. maybe something with friction since it generate heat, like slide something and say that it stops because energy has been converted to heat. (would be hard to demonstrate because just sliding something wouldn't make it that much warmer, so the kids wouldn't really be able to actually feel the heat difference.) but maybe you could think of something else with friction.

4. can't think of anything

Answer 4

Dont use these words
Youll loose them in a flash
Go with demos, let them ask why

Try Color change, Fizz (Bicarb and Vinegar) aka the Volcano
Silly Putty give a ways
Marbles in a jar

Answer 5

Maybe you should tell them that you're not able to explain simple science concepts to elementary school pupils and they should get someone else who can.