DIY starry blizzard at home

How can you make the evening more fun for the whole family? Make a starry blizzard!

Safe­ty pre­cau­tions

Warn­ing: only un­der adult su­per­vi­sion.

Equip­ment

  • trans­par­ent bot­tle (0.5 L or 16.5 fl oz) with cap;
  • star con­fet­ti;
  • wa­ter;
  • glyc­erol (0.25 L or 8.25 fl oz).

Step-by-step in­struc­tions

Fill a bot­tle with wa­ter, pour some star con­fet­ti into it, cap it, and shake – the sparkles swirl up but rapid­ly set­tle to the bot­tom. Care­ful­ly pour out about half of the wa­ter and top the bot­tle up with glyc­erin. Close the bot­tle and shake it again – this time the con­fet­ti set­tles much more slow­ly, cre­at­ing a real bliz­zard!

Process de­scrip­tion

The high­er the vis­cos­i­ty of the liq­uid, the more the fric­tion force slows down the move­ment of the con­fet­ti in it. Wa­ter has rel­a­tive­ly low vis­cos­i­ty, so the con­fet­ti quick­ly set­tles to the bot­tom. How­ev­er, you can sig­nif­i­cant­ly in­crease the fric­tion force by adding a much more vis­cous liq­uid that mix­es well with wa­ter – glyc­erol. Now the con­fet­ti set­tles much more slow­ly, and you can trace how each tiny star moves in this star­ry [bliz­zard]!

You can choose amaz­ing sci­ence kits and get them on a month­ly ba­sis for your kids.

Try it