Thursday, September 13, 2007

Science Experiment – Water of Life

You can find this Experiment in Science and the Bible

Theme: Water is a awesome gift and Salvation is an even greater gift

Bible Verse: Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life (Rev 22:17b)

Materials Used: Two inflated balloons, one with water inside; Candle and lighter or matches.

Lesson: Water is the natural resource most often mention in the Bible. People living in the dry hills of Palestine in Bible times understood how important water was. In the Bible, water is a symbol of the Holy Spirit and the new birth. Here are some ways that water and salvation are similar:
-Both are priceless, but free
-Both are available to all
-Both essential for life (water for physical life and salvation for eternal life)

Although the gift of salvation goes far beyond the temporary, refreshing benefit of water, water gives us a constant reminder of the life that Christ has provided for us. Water is a gift that is valuable in many ways beyond quenching thirst. In the same way, salvation is a gift we can’t completely understand, but we should appreciate and accept it.

Illustration: This demonstration illustrated the large heat capacity of water. Liquid water can absorb and give off huge quantities of heat and so moderates the temperature of the whole earth. We first talked about (and demonstrated) what happens when an empty balloon is placed over a flame (it pops!). Next we took a balloon that is about ¼ filled with water and inflated. When we held that balloon over the candle flame and even it it, the balloon does not pop. The heat moves into the water so quickly that the rubber balloon does not break.

Each time I do this experiment, the children hold their hands over their ears and this year even asked if they could hide under the table. They were sure that the balloon with water in it would pop just as the empty balloon had and they did not want to get wet. I always like to eventually pop the water balloon too. We usually go outside (after demonstrating that it doesn't pop) and hold the balloon sideways over the candle so that an air-filled portion is touching the flame. It makes a mess of water - but it's fun to see!

Here's a picture of our sparks hearing from Candi the directions to the game Coons and Hounds.

3 comments:

Hewy Nosleep said...

I love the Bible experiments! I'm going to have to find that book!

Miriam said...

It's a great book! In fact there are three books in the series. I've enjoyed using them in AWANA's for the past couple years.

Miriam said...

Oh, I also wanted to note that the book has a much more detailed explaination of the science behind each experiment. What I wrote was an overview of the experiment which I'm including in the children's handout so they can do the experiment again at home.