Joy Masoff - Oh, Ick!: 114 Science Experiments Guaranteed to Gross You Out!

Joy Masoff

Joy Masoff, mother of two, fell into the world of gross when she became scoutmaster to a den of burping Cub Scouts, and then discovered that her Brownie troop has the same fascination with the feculent. She lives with her family in Waccabac, New York.

Jessica Garrett

Jessica Garrett has taught 5th and 6th grade math and science, ran after-school Science Clubs for Girls, and spent 7 years at MIT creating cutting-edge K-12 STEM curriculum, teacher professional-development workshops, and student programs. She is now a voice over artist, education consultant, and textbook author. She lives with her husband, Ben Ligon, and their son in Massachusetts.

Ben Ligon

Ben Ligon is a middle school science teacher and author of science textbooks. He has also taught math, has a background in environmental economics, and worked for 5 years on air pollution policies. He lives with his wife, Jessica Garrett, and their son in Massachusetts.

SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS GUARANTEED TO GROSS YOU OUT!

Oh, Ick!

JOY MASOFF
with Jessica Garrett and Ben Ligon

ILLUSTRATED BY
David DeGrand

Dont be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

To all the awesome kids who wrote to me after reading Oh, Yuck! and Oh, Yikes! I cant wait to hear what you have to say about THIS book.

Joy Masoff

To Felixmay you always remain curious.

Jessica Garrett and Ben Ligon

T here are so many people who made this book possible! Where to even begin? Well, lets start with my original group of yuck-stersthe varmints of my Boy and Girl Scout troops at Increase Miller School, without whom there would be no Yuck, Yikes, or Ick! Big high fives as always to my kids, Alex and Tish, and dear Obie Kopchak, who was willing to eat bugs to earn my daughters heart!

Hip, hip, hooray to Dylan and Taylor Reed, who werent afraid to get their hands good and dirty. And big smooches to Eli and Addy Townley, who like nothing better than manhandling a few squishy frogs.

And then there are the two people who did a ton of heavy-liftingmy totally fantastic and amazing partners in slime, Jessica Garrett and Ben Ligon. Im pretty sure we all now share one giant brain and can, for a fact, complete one anothers sentences and communicate telepathically.

JM

G lobs of gratitude to Joy, our fearless leader. You are a true ick-spiration, and we are so thankful that you convinced us to get our hands grubby and join you in investigating all things gross in our wild and wonderful world. Our students have squabbled over who got the chance to read Oh, Yuck! for years in our classrooms, so we couldnt believe our luck to get the chance to work on the how-to sequel! Our dinner conversations and email subject lines have never been more disgusting or giggle inducing.

A big burp of gratitude to our expert reader, Tom Savadove, our dear friend who is not only a doctor and geologist but is also obsessed with the disgusting parts of life. His help was invaluable.

Oozing oodles of thanks to our friends and neighbors who tested experiments and got their hands mucky: Maddy Zucca, Jyzelle Rose, Harrison Maxwell Mayer, Kam Unninayar, Amit Bajaj, Anyes Trichard, and Juliette and Lena Arany. A technical tip of the hat to our MIT colleagues and friends for their ideas: Alban Cobi, Amy Fitzgerald, Ed Moriarty, Natalia Guerrero, and Todd Rider. A round of noisy applause goes to Lee Zamir of Bose for patiently explaining sound and giving us a fun analogy. Thanks to Jo Browne, Tania Veldwisch, Dooshima Mngerem, and the Alessandro clan, who reached back into their teen years to be sure we included the full zits experience. To Phyl and Paul Solomon for supporting and feeding us wacky egg creations along the way. To Jasa Porciello and Jon Petruschke for much encouragement and deep friendship during the writing of this book and always. To all our brilliant and dedicated teachers, who inspired us to explore, ask questions, and never stop learning. Only when we became teachers did we realize how much effort and energy it takes! And to all the students weve taught over the years: You stretched our brains and tickled our funny bones.

Infinite gratitude to our parents: Jean Ann, Peter, Barbara, and Ned. We now appreciate why you taught us to wash our hands so long ago. And why snot is not a topic for dinnertime conversation (unless you are writing a book about it). More important, you taught us how to think and ask questions. Thanks especially to Peter for many helpful comments and his special attention to geological and fungal topics.

The biggest hug in the world to our son Felix (age two when we started, age five when we finished). You patiently tolerated slimy experiments being photographed on the kitchen counter, suggested gross topics to add, and bravely helped us test experiments even though sometimes they made you gag.

JG and BL

N one of this would have ever happened without the good folks at Workman Publishing. Cries of bravo to our amazing, ever-patient editor, Margot Herrera, and her dogged assistant (who is definitely part bloodhound), Evan Griffith. A special place in art heaven for Lisa Hollander, who found the most revolting illustrations and wrangled a ton of material into an awesome book. Many warm pats on the back to Bobby Walshphoto researcher extraordinaire. And many thanks to the entire Workman crew, especially Amanda Hong (production editor), Estelle Hallick (publicity maven), and Lauren Southard (social media) for being such great cheerleaders! Finally, this book wouldnt be half as revoltingly awesome without David DeGrands illustrations. YAAAAAAAAY ICK!

JM, JG, and BL

HEY, YOU! YEAH, YOU... THE KID WITH THE GIANT BRAIN!

I ts time to put that brain to use in the name of SCIENCE! Its also time to get your hands a little dirty... okay, maybe a LOT dirty. All kinds of grossness awaits in the pages ahead, from spiders and worms to farts and fungi. But what kind of science will be your domain?

Why not try your hand at chemistry and conjure up all sorts of fizzy, fetid potions? Or, you can become a biologist and probe the mysteries of your (and other animals) insides. No guts, no glory, as we say! Or perhaps youre obsessed with outer space or loop-the-loop roller coasters? Then youll want some playtime with physicsthe study of the way the world works. And what scientist doesnt like a little tinkering and inventing new things? Youll need engineering and math muscles to build the next great gizmo. Whatever your specialty, theres something in this book for you.

Along the way to science stardom, you will go nose to nose with natures nastiest, meet some slightly gruesome scientists, and best of all, create all sorts of stinky, slimy concoctions! Just remember: When youre world famous for your amazing scientific discoveries a few dozen years from now, thank your grown-ups for being so patient with you (and maybe give us a shout out too!).