How Do You Do Experiments With Packing Peanuts?
At one point or another we have all come in contact with Styrofoam packing peanuts. They fill bags and boxes in our attics and basements, or are thrown out with the weekly trash. Many people don’t realize that they can also be used for entertaining experiments to demonstrate scientific concepts to kids. Here you will find two simple experiments that can be done at school or even at home. Pour a small amount of acetone into your glass jar or beaker. Have the kids place the packing peanuts in the jar and watch as they disappear. Have the kids repeat this process, seeing if they can fill the beaker up before running out of peanuts. Because Styrofoam is made primarily of air, a large amount can be dissolved in a relatively small amount of acetone. Allow the remaining acetone to evaporate, revealing the residue from the dissolved Styrofoam. This reveals to the kids that the packing peanuts don’t simply disappear, they just change their physical properties. Place some Styrofoam packing peanu
