Mad Science!

I feel like a little kid when I say James' last Scout activity was SO COOL. But it totally was! His Wolf Den leader is in grad school at Cornell studying crop genetics. He brought along a professor from Cornell and they did the most amazing experiments for the kids, explaining how things work along the way.

All the kids had to put on their safety goggles. The boys were both thrilled that they actually got to KEEP the goggles.
Brother Cobb running away from the exploding bottle of Coke (with the addition of a Mento!). Some of the other experiments: making a solution which included hydrochloric acid and then watching it turn orange, then purple, then orange, then purple . . .; Lots of fun with liquid Nitrogen including freezing various things and shattering them on the table; seeing how plants can grow in a clear gel medium (no soil).
The "mad" scientists showing James how they put an eyedropper inside a bottle filled with water, and when you squeeze the bottle, the eyedropper will float to the top. The kids got to take home one of these bottles and a bunch of other stuff, including some Petri dishes with which James proceeded to grow a boatload of bacteria from swabbing inside his mouth.
I'm sorry I didn't get a picture of the Grand Finale which was torching a balloon filled with acetyline gas. Nothing like a good explosion with a little fire and a lot of smoke.
So Cool.