Who is the biggest Superhero in your life?

For Riley, his favourite Superhero is The HULK, Captain America, Thor and Green Lantern  his daddy! And what do Superheroes do? They fly! and in our case, they dive down and up in water 🙂

To recreate your own Superhero Daddy diver, you will need:

• empty plastic waterbottle
• bendy straw
• blue tack
• colour pencils
• sticky tape
• scissors

Cut off the straight ends of the bendy straw, leaving an equal length on each side of the bendy straw. Approximately 1.5cm in length will do. This are the legs of your Superhero Daddy. Stick an equal amount of blue tack on each ‘foot’ of the straw, this will act as an anchor for your hero to stay upright when submerged in the water.

Draw a simple figure of your Superhero Daddy on white plain paper, using your straw legs as a guide to size. Take note that your Superhero Daddy has to be able to fit through the mouth of the bottle, so it should be approximately 3cm high, 2cm wide.

As you can see from our clip, Riley had a field day with the colouring (Not all 3 year olds can stay within the lines, its normal!!). I helped him to go over the outline with a marker after he was done. Cut out your Superhero Daddy figure and attach it to the straw legs using some sticky tape.

Your Superhero Daddy is now ready for some diving action!

 

Fill your plastic bottle almost to the top (this is important as the science behind this is due to water displacement so the lesser air pockets, the better the effect of the dive). Carefully, push your Superhero Daddy into the bottle, making sure he floats, standing upright or slightly reclined also works. Cap your bottle tightly. Then squeeze the bottom half of the bottle and watch your Superhero Daddy sink. Let go a little to watch him float back up.

Useful Tips:

I tried this with many different plastic bottles, and found that the standard mineral water bottles (I used Evian) worked best. The cheaper, softer bottles did not work as well.

Quite a bit of strength is needed to squeeze the bottle so despite Riley’s multiple attempts, he could not get the Superhero Daddy to move. This experiment might be better for older kids with more strength and bigger hands. For the younger kids (under 5), adult demonstration of the squeezing will be needed. Nonetheless, watching Superhero Daddy go up and down is still fun for the younger toddlers.

The Science behind Superhero Daddy’s Diving finesse

Superhero Daddy’s diving finesse works by air pressure increases and decreases from the squeezing. When the bottle is squeezed, the air bubble inside the straw is forced into a smaller space, making it more dense. The more dense the air becomes, the lower your Superhero Daddy will sink, When you release the bottle, the air expands and Superhero flies up!

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY TO ALL THE AWESOME DADS!

Take a look at the Part 1 of our Father’s Day gifts idea. Share this with family and friends to spread the love!