We had a great day out at the Museum of Science and Industry on Thursday.

It started well with some pretty enthusiastic singing on the coach!

We explored the textiles area and using a trail booklet.

After that, we went to the explosions workshop, which was great fun.

We learnt about what was produced by an  explosion: sound, heat and rapid expansion.

We also learnt that fire needed fuel, oxygen and heat and about reversible and irreversible changes.

We attempted to make an explosion by using a lighter to ignite powdered metals. They produced flames of different colours but there was no explosion.

Next we set fire to some cornflour using a blowtorch. The cornflour did burn but it didn’t produce an explosion. We decided that it needed more oxygen so the cornflour was put into a funnel attached to a pump. The air was pumped through tubing into the bottom of the funnel and a blowtorch was used to set fire to it. This caused a large explosion as there was now more oxygen.

The last explosion was created by attaching a balloon to the end of a steamer. This meant that there was heat, oxygen and fuel. The balloon burst with a loud bang.

 

After that we had a talk about Stephenson’s Rocket which was at the museum for the first time in 180 years.

Time for lunch!

After lunch we had lots of time to explore the interactive part of the museum.

We had a great time and finished the day off with an even more enthusiastic singalong on the way back!

You are amazing Year 5. Thank you for lovely memories of a wonderful day out!

🙂