Science and Magic day

Mrs H is visiting Auschwitz today, so I am at home with the Jnrs. 

First it was off to Sheffield to see Doctor Strange in the 4DX screen. It was our first time there, and was an amusing gimmick.  However, the smell they pumped out every time he used magic stunk - it was meant to be all mystical, but was wide of the mark.  The getting wet and seats moving about was fun though, I don't think I was meant to laugh out loud at the car crash bit :-/  Don't think I'll do 4DX again though, the IMAX is a much more enjoyable experience.

It was then home for some 'experiments' that Jnr Jnr has been wanting to do all week, one of those 50 Fun Science Things books.  First up was this 'lava lamp'; but it was a huge disappointment and I think I need to do it again with a different ratio of cooking oil to water.  It started out blue though, so that made up for the lack of lavaness.  

It was then onto cornflour - what an amazing substance!  By adding a little water you can make a colloidal solution....er, slime.  When moved or hit it is quite hard, but you leave it still and it drips out of your hand like a liquid.  She played with that for ages!

Whilst she was, Jnr Snr was mixing flour with butter to make a béchamel sauce rather than enjoying states of matter.  She wanted to cook a lasagne from scratch all by herself, I was on hand for any questions and showing her that you don't need to measure stuff out and you can just use your eye.  (It's in the oven now and looks great).

Jnr Jnr is currently drying out some top secret messages written in lemon juice invisible ink.

Arthur C. Clarke — 'Magic's just science that we don't understand yet.'