Olympic Flowers
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Biology , Demonstration , Explanation , Primary
Using food dye to tint a flower different colours.
Director's Notes:
We thought this was going to be easier than it really was. We had a lot of difficulty in finding a blue solution to colour the petals. Blue food dye was too light and the blue ink we first used didn’t work because it wasn’t water soluble. Finding single stem flowers was also a problem. Multiple blooms on a stem didn’t work so eventually we ended up buying a bouquet just to remove one single flower! We learned a lot through trial and error which made the whole experience engaging and very scientific for us.
[Effects, graphics, and music from Digital Blue software]
SciCast Notes:
Hey, I remember doing this in school, too! It didn’t work terribly well for me, either — so credit to the team for sticking with it. It’s frustrating when things don’t go to plan, and must be even more annoying if you’re trying to make a film at the same time. So full marks for perseverance.
I particularly like the still photo close-ups. Video cameras often don’t focus very well on close objects, so using a stills camera to show detail much more clearly was a terrific idea.
Anyone else try this with any better results?
— Jonathan