Easy Experiments

1. In a tall glass or jar, add food coloring to a couple inches of water. Now take a stalk of celery with a fresh cut on the bottom and stick it in the jar. With time you can watch the colored water move up into the celery stalk. Capillary action and transpiration of water from the leaves is actually pulling the water up through the xylem (veins).

2. You may have already stuck toothpicks in the side of a potato or the pit of an avocado, placed it in a jar of water so it is half submerged, then watched it grow. (Keep in mind that Avocados take over fifteen years to bear fruit). Did you also know that you can cut off an inch of the top of a turnip or a carrot and place it in a shallow dish of water? Then the tops will start to push out new leaves.

3. Make a magnifying glass in minutes. Carefully cut the bottom off a paper cup. Cover this base loosely with clear saran wrap and put a rubber band around it. With the cup upside down, pour a little water onto the saran wrap and watch whatever is underneath it grow.