Fun with Science: Arctic & Antarctic Expedition

It gets pretty cold in Syracuse, NY in January. But it's even colder in the arctic and antarctic! So how do those animals that live there survive in such extreme conditions? On January 18, 2020, we transformed the local Paine Branch Library into a winter wonderland and tried to understand how various animals can survive here.

1. Blubber

First, we learned about how some animals, like penguins, polar bears, whales, sea lions, and walruses, insulate themselves from cold temperatures with their blubber. We also learned that blubber helps marine animals stay buoyant. We learned that some Arctic/Antarctic animals have the thickest blubber (greater than 1 foot thick)! Our experiment involved the children covering one hand in crisco and the other hand without. Both hands were dunked in ice water and the difference in temperature was significant! Crisco represented how our wintery animals’ blubber protects them from the cold.

2. Insulating fabrics

Next, we learned about what type of clothing humans who do scientific research in Antarctica wear to stay warm. We did this by first insulating our thermometer in various fabrics: wool, cotton, plastic, polyester. We then covered our thermometer with a baggy and dunked it into the ice-cold water. The children practiced reading temperatures on thermometer and learned that wool was a clear winner!

3. Penguin waterproofing

Next, we learned about how penguins keep themselves dry despite spending much of their time in the water. We learned that they have little oil sacks near their tails. The penguins rub their beaks in the oil and spread it on their feathers to make them waterproof! To model this, we had penguin print-outs that the children colored completely with crayon (even the white spaces). Then we had the kids mist their penguin with a spray bottle that had water with blue food coloring. The children saw how the water was not absorbed by the paper and instead stayed as small droplets that easily slid off the penguin.

4. Auroras

Finally, we had an art project to tie it all together! We did water marbling of paper with our suminogashi kit to represent the Northern and Southern lights. We learned that the "auroras" are due to particles from the hot sun that collide with Earth's atmospheric particles (oxygen and nitrogen) to create light!