Junk Drawer Biology: 50 Awesome Experiments That Don't Cost a Thing

by Bobby Mercer

Overview

There’s no need for expensive, high-tech lab equipment to perform biology experiments—you probably have all you need in your home junk drawer. Use balloons, drinking straws, and empty plastic bottles to construct working models of hearts and lungs. Investigate plant transpiration and photosynthesis with leaves and resealable bags. Build a candy DNA model using gumdrops, toothpicks, and licorice rope. Study capillary action in plant xylem using colored water and paper towels. Extract DNA from a banana using a simple chemical process. Or learn how to turn a smartphone into a photographic microscope. 

Here are more than 50 great hands-on experiments that can be performed for just pennies . . . or less. Each project has a materials list, detailed step-by-step instructions with illustrations, and a brief explanation of the scientific principle being demonstrated—seed germination, osmosis, human senses and systems, chromosomes, mitosis and meiosis, and more.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781641602891
Publisher:	Chicago Review Press, Incorporated
Publication date:	06/02/2020
Series:	Junk Drawer Science , #6
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	1,088,233
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	860L (what's this?)
Age Range:	9 - 12 Years

About the Author

Bobby Mercer has been sharing the fun of science for more than two decades as a high school physics teacher. He is the author of Junk Drawer Physics, Junk Drawer Chemistry, and Junk Drawer Geometry.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

Introduction ix

1 The Human Body 1

Dominant Eye 1

Blind Spot 3

Hole in Your Hand 6

Little Baby Carrot Finger 8

Upside Down Eyeball 9

Movie Time 11

Blink and You Might Miss It 15

Shine a Light 16

What Big Ears You Have 19

Inflation to Breathe 23

Pump Up the Volume 29

The Hardest Working Muscle 32

Hardworking Heart 35

Rubber Bones 39

Flexible Spine 41

Rubber Muscles 44

That Tastes Great 50

Thumbs Up 53

Cool Me Off 55

2 Plants and Animals 59

Bird Beaks 59

Recycled Insect Model 63

Tasty Insect Models 69

The Itsy-Bitsy Tasty Spider 73

Junk Drawer Plant 76

Little Sprout 79

Walking Water 82

Bean Seed Dissection 87

Breathing Leaf 90

Colorful Leaves 93

Sweating Plants 99

Double Up 102

Tap into This 105

3 Cells and Genetics 111

Junk Drawer Cell Model 111

Gummy Bear Osmosis 115

Smelly Diffusion 117

The Incredible Growing Glow-in-the-Dark Egg 120

The Incredible Shrinking Glow-in-the-Dark Egg 124

Play-Doh Mitosis 130

Play-Doh Meiosis 134

Pipe Cleaner Nerves 141

Candy DNA 145

DNA Extraction 150

Cereal Proteins 156

Paper Clip Punnett Square 159

4 Biology Tools 167

Classification Cards 167

Dichotomous School Supplies 170

Pedigree Charts 174

Homemade Stethoscope 177

Silica Gel, the Magnifier 184

Smartphone Microscope 187

Glossary 193