Sunday, November 5, 2017

Penny project


It’s a shame the penny project ended. It has amused me for two or three weeks, and kept Laura nimble as a goat. Twenty odd plastic cups holding solution and a penny to be cleaned needed to be set up and tended for a week. In our house, the kitchen or Laura’s desk were available, except…



The kitchen counters are for cooking. Leaving cups of solution invited spillage, toast crumbs, coffee inadvertently added by grandma, or bits of spinach and olive oil from Laura’s stir fry. Laura’s desk is a joke; there is more room on mine.

I suggested clearing an appropriate space in the front of the shed and be sure she got there in daylight to take pictures. So she did, even stepping over the lab apparatus, lawnmower held high, to deal with the grass last weekend.



The project required twenty household chemicals, plus a plein air control. Of the chemicals, exactly twenty five percent will never cross my/our threshold. Ketchup, hot sauce, cola, Pledge, bleach. Laura canvassed the neighborhood. “Can I have a bit of ketchup?...hot sauce?...a dab of furniture polish?”



After the initial set up, the project was rather humdrum, for the observer, at least. I knew it was being tended when Laura grabbed the shed key and sped out the back door at night, flashlight in the other hand.



The analysis and presentation have been fun. I did make a screen shot of her beginning and ending photos; the colors are nice and/or interesting. The entire affair was emptied on the kitchen counter, test data in careful order. Data previously input into google is downloaded. A google engineer would have been appreciated here, but she got on through.



My next computer will print to the printer on demand, without turning the printer off and on and waiting for its self test. It will print from Laura’s computer with or without getting up and finding the I/O. We closing in on new equipment, real fast.



Little more to say. Next the slicing and dicing, the pasting and gluing (Gorilla glue; the pennies will survive the bus ride to school!), and the obligatory display by the author.

Early credit bonus is 11/6. Done and done and done.


26 comments:

  1. Just windering where we would find room for anything similar...Leo fills one table and then moves on to the next...I pile my books and papers on mine....
    The only place I can think of is in the storeshed, but as it is Bunter's favourite lounging place when the sun is out we would need to practice high stepping...

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  2. Hari OM
    Oh I remember doing this at school - it was great fun and definitely begs the question why we put certain substances into our body! Not sure mine was ever as well presented though... that one gets my 98% (gotta save some for later, right? &*>) YAM xx

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  3. I can say now that I am no longer in school that it was interesting. I hated those assignments that lasted over a period of time. Laura was much more committed than I would have been.

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  4. I'm impressed, she did a great job.

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  5. Well done Laura.
    Smiling at the things which don't cross your threshold. Coke would be added to that list here.

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  6. Oh the days of science projects. Starting with trying to find the tri folded board that they've run out of. I guess they do get something out of it, especially the parents that do it for them. ;) (And that's not me.)

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  7. I am impressed. Good for you and for Laura for seeing this through and taking such interesting pictures. I hope she gets the top grade.

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  8. I recall my kids doing those projects as well. The hardest part for them was usually choosing a topic. And I echo Delores: which product did the best job?

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    Replies
    1. Distilled vinegar and ketchup. Are tomatoes actually that acidic?

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    2. Yes, they are pretty acidic. I have to avoid them the same as I do citrus fruits, vinegars and spicy food. Wah.

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    3. Well done. I've heard vinegar is a great cleaner. I've only used it on windows but I saw the other day that it's also good for cleaning your washing machine. I might try it. I've never cleaned with ketchup, though. If ketchup is such a great cleaner than why can't it clean itself?

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    4. haha great question, Chicken :)

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  9. Laura is resourceful. I give her an A+.

    Love,
    Janie

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  10. I always learned something from helping my kids on projects. I love how eager Laura was in doing and finishing this assignment.

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  11. Wow. What a wonderful job Laura did! Surely she will get an "A"! Good grades in school, and a hiker to boot. Be proud.

    Re tomatoes. I read online that ketchup will clean copper. It works. Ever so often I turn my one copper pot upside down and cover it with ketchup. Works great.

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  12. Looks like a well done job by Laura!! Seemed fun in the process too.

    betty

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  13. We swear by Coca Cola for both cleaning pennies and taking the enamel off your teeth here.

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  14. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  15. you didn't mention which cup produced the cleanest penny.

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  16. Quite a project. We had a project here last week too. It consisted of pink cake, white cake, a failed green cake, and frosting. Then it was formed into a layer of skin: epidermis, dermis, and subcutaneous tissue. Warts formed from chocolate chips, eczema from sprinkles and band aids made from fruit roll-ups. Then they ate it!!

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  17. a fascinating study...hope she got good marks

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  18. Faithfully researched and beautifully presented . Well done !
    I don't blame you for avoiding Coke since occasionally pouring a canful down the toilet to remove lime scale is an old Spanish household tip .

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