Have you ever wondered if that feather or leaf will burn? This activity will show you what burns, and for how long. The aim of burn, burn, burn is to try to estimate how long it takes different materials to burn. This allows children to better understand the structure of different types of materials.
Resources
- Fire Kit/Gloves/Water
- Different items to burn (E.g. biscuit, grass, feather)
- Stopwatch
- Pencil/Ruler/Paper
Explanation
Find different items that your group wish to burn. Make a prediction on the item that will burn the fastest and also which will burn the longest. Why? Then place the items in order of what the group think is the most flammable. Make your fire and proceed with burning the items. Using a stopwatch, record your findings and plot them on a graph. Using the graph get your team to tell you which item burnt the longest and why, and which material is the most flammable. Was your prediction correct?
Safety Tips
When having a fire, use correct practise and if your burning items that have plastic in it, make sure pupils do not stay in the smoked area.