SCIENCE RENDEZVOUS

Bottle Rocket: participants (groups of 4+) will design, build, and launch small rockets made with recycled plastic bottles while learning about engineering and aerodynamics:

1. Short explanation how different forces, like gravity and air pressure, influence flight, different types of propulsion, and the recovery process for a rocket.
2. Participants will build and decorate their own rocket using plastic bottles, cardboard, cardstock, tape, and glue, with support from UTAT volunteers.
3. Finally, the rockets will be launched using a bike pump, allowing participants to see how their design choices directly impact flight.

Participants will explore key STEAM concepts such as design and testing in a fun and exciting way.

DNA will be extracted from a strawberry using household items. Concepts in genetics and DNA extraction will be explained in a kid-friendly manner. Strawberries will be mashed up in a resealable baggie; a mixture of dish detergent, soap and water will be added; strawberries will be mashed again; mixture will be filtered through a coffee filter; rubbing alcohol will be added; DNA will be the stringy substance that remains.

Interactive, hands-on activities that introduce students and families to core concepts at the intersection of biology, medicine, and engineering.

1. Participants will design and build a simple prosthetic hand model using cardboard tubes, string, and elastic bands to explore how tendons and joints work together to create movement.
2. Using Snap Circuits kits to construct basic electrical circuits that power lights, motors, and sound components, demonstrating how biomedical devices rely on electrical engineering principles.
3. pH indicator activity, guests will use color-changing indicators to reveal hidden images while learning how chemical sensing is used in diagnostics.
4. Showcase wearable sensing technology with a real-time pulse monitor, explaining how biomedical engineers design devices that measure heart rate and other vital signs to improve patient care.

Use block-based programming to code a robotic car to follow a line and avoid obstacles.
After testing their code, they will race their cars against other participants in a friendly competition.

Cut out and decorate a cardboard robot and explore the concept of center of gravity.
Quest: to balance their robot on the tip of their finger or even their nose while learning how weight distribution affects stability. Visitors can take their cardboard robot home.

Brief magic show showing 8-10 experiments and telling a story about the University of Toronto Chemistry Department.

Long pieces of wood will be soaked in solutions of metal salts in water, then burned (at a safe distance from the audience) to observe the Full activity description: Long, skinny pieces of wood will be soaked in solutions of metal salts in water, dried, then burned using a propane torch (at a safe distance from the audience) to observe the colours emitted by various metals when heated (such as sodium, copper, potassium, strontium, and calcium). Wood could be replaced with metal wire loops which are dipped in solutions, but the flame would be harder to see.

Explore cutting-edge reduced-gravity research set to fly aboard the National Research Council’s Falcon 20 aircraft in summer 2026. Our exhibit features real microgravity flight videos showcasing the unique physics that emerge when gravity is reduced.

Visitors can view a static display of the experimental apparatus and meet members of the design team, who will share insights into the challenges and innovations involved in building experiments for microgravity environments. This exhibit offers a behind-the-scenes look at how science and engineering come together to enable aerospace research.

Illustration of how light is used in everyday technology.

1. Observing diffraction patterns on Canadian dollar bills,
2. Transmitting sound signals using laser light to demonstrate optical communication,
3. Using a prism to separate white light into its component colors, a principle fundamental to many laser innovations, demonstrating how light of different colors refracts through various materials.

Demonstrations of how to make clouds in a jar and how to use spectroscopes to study gases using light.

Home-made thermometers and Cartesian divers that our visitors can do hands-on experimenting with.

Share stories and photos from our work at the Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory (PEARL) that is at 80N (about 1000 km from the North Pole)!

2 themed tables:

1. Exothermic reactions, including explosions, heat, and flames, and the other focused on cold-based experiments using dry ice and liquid nitrogen.
   The exothermic table will include demonstrations such as gummy bear combustions and colourful balloon fireworks, with higher-risk demonstrations performed behind blast shields.
   An interactive component in which audience members can light small hydrogen bubbles.
2. The cold-themed table will showcase a variety of dry ice and liquid nitrogen demonstrations. All non-interactive experiments will be conducted by trained personnel.

Multiple interactive demos such as:

1. slime making by mixing borax glue and water,
2. using red cabbage juice as a pH indicator where colour change will be seen when mixed with common household mixtures such as baking soda,
3. creating sparks from colliding an iron and aluminium ball.

Demonstrate size controlled diffusion of dyes in hydrogels.

Hydrogels with different pore sizes will be loaded with dyes and the diffusion can be seen visually.
We will also have interactive polymer synthesis (either hydrogel synthesis or nylon synthesis)

3 main stations:

1. Volcanoes: magma pressure ignites eruptions
   Illustrate both effusive and explosive volcanic activity.
   Explain how volcanoes produce lava flows using a baking soda and vinegar reaction, with red food coloring added to simulate lava.
   Explosive activity will be demonstrated by combining Coke and Mentos.
   • Illustrate volcanic ballistic projectiles using an air-based popcorn machine to simulate rocks being ejected during an eruption.
     
2. Earthquakes: stress ignites fault movement
   Illustrates how earthquakes occur and how scientists record them.
   • Build a simple seismograph using cardboard boxes, markers, and LEGO pieces so participants can shake the setup while the seismograph records the motion.
   • Use jelly as the ground surface, and participants will construct different types of buildings using marshmallows and toothpicks to explore how structures respond to ground shaking.
     
3. Mountains: plate collisions ignite mountain building
   Using layered candies to represent layers of the Earth’s crust.
   Once the layers are stacked, participants will push them together to simulate plate collision and observe how the layers fold and uplift to form mountains

We will have a superconducting levitating train, cooled with liquid nitrogen.

We will also have resources to build the “World’s Simplest Electric Motor” which members of the public may take with them.

Activities

For the “Question Sparks” and “Career Sparks” activities, kids answer questions on post-it-notes and stick their answers on foam boards. There will be two lively illustrated foam posterboards (36″H x 48″W) on (adjustable-sized) easels.

A live, interactive science demonstration focused on carbon dioxide (CO₂) and the fascinating way it can change states. The goal is to create a visually exciting, hands-on experience for families while introducing basic scientific concepts such as phase change, sublimation, and real-world industrial applications.

Interactive display of projects for interactoin.

Having kids assemble molecular models (made of styrofoam and toothpicks) of common/important organic molecules.

Building and testing a bicycle that can travel at speeds over 100km/h (composite materials and structures through material samples and physics, torque and mechanical advantage through getting to know the drivetrain used in our bikes, aerodynamics)

Opportunity to hop inside (the bike will be stationary on a stand and all sharp edges will be covered), and explain the aerodynamics behind the bike’s shape.

Live robot demonstrations (FRC robots from this year/ a year ago), some tactile activities such as screw boards and button making, interactive game pieces

Melting, adding flavouring and cooling sugar to make candy.

This activity teaches about the composition and structure of sugars and how the crystal structure changes through melting and cooling. Plus the kids can take home candy.

Attendees will extract DNA from strawberries using common household items.
DNA will be extracted from the cells using mild detergents and isolated in isopropanol layer, allowing its visualization.
pH sensitive agar plate will be made with common kitchen ingredients.

Attendees will be able to draw on it with solutions of various pH and observe colour changes.

Live display of reptiles with meet & greets all throughout the day.

Demonstration of different types of sensory receptors humans use to locate their limbs.