All in the name of science.....

So here we are, right now, in rainy rainy Maine.  And here I am, trying to catch up on blogging since we did quite a bit of exploring in the rain yesterday.  We're off to the Whale Museum in a bit, but first I wanted to pop in and say hi and put up a quick post about a little potential disaster we just experienced.

For some reason the ocean is bringing about the desire to conduct all kinds of experiments with water.  From trying to see how much salt is in the ocean water to taking some water from the Atlantic and then mixing it, later down the road, with the Pacific and seeing what happens.  The general discussions among the kids regarding what they can do with the water seem to be endless......Awesome! Terrific!  Independently sought after science, what could be better?!

Today it was all about geysers though.  Yes, they're still on their minds.  Apparently.

This time, Whirlwind took a plastic water bottle, filled it, placed some straws in it, and put it DIRECTLY in front of our electric ceramic heater....What does directly mean?  Well, an inch away, or less.

How did I find out about it?  From the loud cry that came about when the bottle got knocked over and the water spilled all over the living room floor.....and the rug.....I grabbed the bottle and tossed it, shocked at how hot and 'soft' it actually was....

Why did I toss it?  Well, first of all, it was hot.  Second, I had no idea what the purpose of said bottle was and third, I had warned the kids that large water spills are more of a problem in the RV than at home.  Here, if the rug gets wet, especially in the climate we're in now, it will have a hard time drying and could get moldy.  Not a good thing obviously.  So, bottom line is we need to be extra careful.

Anyway, louder shrieks followed after I tossed it since unbeknownst to me, this was a science experiment in the making......oops! Not that I would have let it continue anyway had I known of course.

Here was Whirlwind's hypothesis:  Fill the bottle - that's your pool of water underground, place the straws in - those are your narrow constrictions, place the bottle next to heater - obviously your heat source.  And finally, wait for an eruption.

Well, this plan is all well and good, and certainly well thought out (!), but there were some safety issues here, not to mention the potential mess :-).

After I finally figured out what the reason was behind all the screaming, I could sit down and explain to this 5 year old why what he done was not such a good idea.....and most importantly, how we might be able to conduct this experiment without causing a fire or other serious injuries from say, oh, hot water spewing (or spilling) all over us.....

Yiesh!!!  I'm afraid to leave the room now, fearing what he'll come up with next.........