How Attractive is YOUR Cereal?!!!

You should have seen the skeptics in my classroom today when I announced that we'd be extracting iron from breakfast cereal.  Not a single student believed it was possible, despite my reassurance that it could be done.  And I don't blame them really.  I mean.....I think it took me 12 attempts with various techniques and cereal brands before getting the job done.  Just ask my husband.  I was a crazy-lady-on-a-serious-mission this past weekend, trying every trick in the book to pull off a successful Steven Spangler.  Even some colleagues disagreed it was doable.  But I swore by every YouTube video, Scientific American article, and Bill Nye clip that it was gonna happen. 

Well, several bowls of cereal later................IT WORKED!  And I felt like a little kid on Christmas.  (Or a 27 year old.  Yep, probably more like a 27 year old on Christmas).  I carried my experiment with me around the halls of our school and showed it off to anyone that would listen.  In fact, I even forced it upon those who could care less.  Because it was AWESOME.  And science RULES.  And people should appreciate the fact that I persisted through our cereal cupboard - faced adversity - and finished STRONG! 

Here's what we did to make it work (a.k.a. here's how you TOO can turn into your Christmas-Day-self): 

Grind up some "Total" cereal flakes into a fine powder.

In the end it should look something like this.

Pour the cereal powder into a Ziploc bag.

Fill the bag half full with water.  Reseal it, making sure to leave some air inside the bag.

Let the contents of the bag sit for 10 minutes.  Or longer.  Longer is better...

Run a magnet along the outside of the bag where the settled cereal powder meets the water.  Drag the magnet towards the surface of the water and then move the magnet away to watch the iron pieces fall to the bottom.  You can make your own little "iron puppet show"!

 

 

 

Watching the "WOWEE-KAZOWEE!!!" looks on my students' faces made every single, frustrating, pre-lab minute worth the hassle.  These are the moments where my job really is the best thing ever.  I suggest even the Mommy's out there try this one at home.  I can think of a few nieces who would LOVE IT!