Recently I have begun writing on a large piece of paper in my kitchen the random questions my kids ask, such as how old George Washington was when he died, so I won't forget to research them when I have the time.
My oldest daughter asked this question: If the three main colors are red, yellow and blue and all colors are made from those colors, how do you make "white," And, more specifically, how do you make white paint?
Well, today we began our research and here is where it led us:
White pigment can only be made from plants or chemicals.
Which led to:
What are chemicals?
We ended up reading about titanium dioxide which is the main component in white pigment because it naturally blocks sunlight -- a most useful ingredient for sunscreens which is why sunscreen tends to be WHITE!
Which led to:
What is titanium dioxide?
A mineral
What is a mineral?
Which led to an entire discussion on the periodic table, atoms, and eventually electrons and neutrons. I then realized I don't know very much on the subject and I got really excited about the periodic table and I want to go to the store tomorrow and buy a bunch of styrofoam balls and construct giant atoms. My daughter decided she wants to know more about the atomic bomb and how it works.
We then looked outside and noticed the snow -- it's white. However, since snow is not made from a plant or chemical it has an entirely different reason for being white! Snowflakes are transparent. But because they have an irregular shape, the light reflects, causing snow to look white! I love this stuff!
When we were through, I asked my daughter if she realized we had been learning "science" because, recently, she has been complaining about how she doesn't like science. She looked at me with all this new wonder in her eyes and said, "Oh yeah, I forgot that I don't like science. Hmmm.... Maybe I do like science!"
All that from one little question. No textbooks, just fun exploration. I can't WAIT for the next question and for the new discoveries waiting for me to find them.
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3 comments:
Bravo==well done teach!
Awesome!!! Don't you love TJED?!? Did you know that with hair color when you are turning it white (or light blond- which is almost white) you pull out all the color pigments (most of the pigments in the blonds case). White is the absence of the 3 primary colors. Black is the presence of all 3 primary colors. Have you ever had them paint a color wheel using just the primary colors? It's pretty fun to see how the colors are formed that way.
You are so smart to keep a list of their questions. Have fun researching!
What a great learning day. I loved just reading about it. You are brilliant, Lish, to see things that are right in front of us, in such a unique way.
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