Ok…I mentioned on another board that I just started teaching 8th grade physical science. Today a student asked “What makes smoke?”. I’m trying to encourage them to look for answers on their own and do some research but I’d really appreciate some ideas on where to send them on the internet or in “real life books” for some reputable answers. If I have to buy some extra books, so be it. This question seems rather difficult to find. Does anyone have any suggestions or a good way to explain this to a 13/14 year old?
I’ve seen some good “How Things Work”-type books in the science section of Borders and Barnes and Noble. Lots of everyday questions like this one, with good scientific answers. Sadly, I don’t have any specific titles, but the books do exist.
Teaching them to look for answers is good. Teaching them how to think is better.
The answer to “What makes smoke?” is 'What is smoke?" Thinking about the different things we see (and don’t see) in the air and how they are both similar and different can take you all kinds of places.
If you go to www.howstuffworks.com & type smoke in the search box, you get a lot of links - including to how smoke detectors work & also one titled “Why does smoke come from a fire?” (http://www.howstuffworks.com/question43.htm) which should be perfect for you. It also has some other links from that article for further study. It’s a site well worth book marking for future questions too - it covers a wide range of things.
i always enjoyed “1001 Things Everyone Should Know About Science”, since renamed “Sharks Have No Bones”. great book, and gives you just the right amount of detail- enough that you know what basics to follow up on, but not so much that you get confused.
Thank you. Once again, the SD members come through! I have visited the “how stuff works” site before but had not tried looking for “smoke”.
I appreciate all of the help. I’m amazed at how much prodding some of my students need to look for anything that isn’t placed right in front of them. I really want to motivate them to start asking “why?” and “how?” and then actually LOOK on their own.
Just some excess interesting stuff.
One day I way bored and I was staring intensely into a candle. Anyway I had been playing with a syringe (a clean syringe, I don’t even know why we had it) and had left it by the candle. So eager to do something I grab the syringe and started sucking up smoke. Sure it was fun for a while but it got boring. So I brainstormed and put the needle into the flame. I pulled back the plunger and guess what was in it?
Really dense white smoke.
Just thought I’d share…
