Mad scientist on the loose!

Oh man, the science experiment today was great! My last post didn't have any pictures, so this time I'm making up for it with a photoessay. Here's what we did:

Make some Earl Grey tea and mix in some sodium alginate (which is a seaweed derivative).

Drop this mixture into a bath of calcium chloride (a simple salt). We made some big blobs using a teaspoon:

and zillions of small drops using a multi-dropper gadget that came in the kit:

(I would like to note that I refused to read the directions for this setup and I injected the tea into the droppers instead of sucking it up through the tips, which later perusal of the instructions revealed was specifically noted as something you should not do; this reckless experimental streak is why research scientists say that a week in the lab can save you an hour in the library.)

Once the drops are in the calcium chloride solution, you wait 30 seconds, then scoop out the blobs:

I need some practice before we go prime-time, but this is cool.

It's incredible! The alginate and calcium react to form a thin "skin" on the outside of the blobs, which makes it possible to pick up a blob of tea. When you put it in your mouth (or pop it with a fork) it bursts, so it's like you took a bite of something and it turned into a sip! It's a very strange sensation--all of us stood around for an hour just playing with the blobs and eating them. The most fun part was watching each person's face as the blob turned the liquid in his mouth--it was a shock even when it was our second or third time trying it! We pulled some people in from the cafe and made them try it too, just to watch more people's reactions.

What are we going to do with this? I don't know, but it's fun!