Science Mom's Guide to Water, Part 3 - Capillary Action

Siphons are often explained incorrectly as being driven primarily by air pressure. The main force driving them is GRAVITY. But don't let that trick you into thinking that water always flows downhill, because it can flow uphill too with CAPILLARY ACTION. In this video we explore how water moves--both through capillary action and siphons.

You can download the foldable book that accompanies this guide at www.science.mom/science-mom-s-guide-to-water-part-3.

The team over at "Periodic Videos" put together an excellent video where they showed a siphon working in a vacuum--with no air (or air pressure) whatsoever. Check it out here:

   • Siphon in a Vacuum - Periodic Table o...  

Here's a link to a good (and brief) explanation of how siphons work for those who would like a slightly more in-depth explanation:

   • The Siphon  

The Curiosity Show has a fun little clip about self-starting siphons-which we didn't have time to explore in this guide, but I hope to get to in the future:

   • Self-starting siphon  

And with most of my science activities, I've done them for so many years and seen the activities so many other places that I can't remember when or where I first learned them. But I do remember the first place I saw the "Fountain in a Bottle." It was from this video:

   • Fountain In Bottle - Easy Science Pro...  

So if you would like some more detailed instructions about how to make your own fountain in a bottle, check out the clip above.

And last, here's a link to the Amazon author page for Nathan Hale, author of fantastic graphic novels that take informative and entertaining tours through various episodes of U.S. history: https://www.amazon.com/Nathan-Hale/e/...

I recommend starting with "ONE DEAD SPY," as it's the first in the series, but the other 4 members of my family picked different books as their favorites (The Alamo, The Underground Abductor(2 votes), and Big Bad Ironclad.) Each volume can stand on it's own.

This video was made using iMovie and all the music is from the iMovie library: Broadcast News Medium, Curtain Call Long, Off Broadway, and Progressive House.

And special thanks to my kiddos who provided some voice overs in the video.