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Bess Ruff, MA
Environmental Scientist
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Co-authored Articles (66)
How to
Make Elephant Toothpaste
Making elephant toothpaste is an easy and fun science experiment that you can do with your kids at home or with students in the lab. It is the result of a chemical reaction that creates a large amount of oozing foam. The...
The Complete DIY Guide to Making Activated Charcoal
Plus, convenient uses for activated charcoalActivated charcoal can purify contaminated water or polluted air, and even remove toxins from your body. We’ll show you how to make homemade charcoal by burning wood or plant...
Four Ways to Make Salt Water Drinkable
Desalination methods for science projects or wilderness survivalDesalination is the process of removing salt from saltwater, which might be necessary due to a lack of clean drinking water in your area. You might also nee...
How to
Read Wind Barbs
Wind barbs can help you figure out which way the wind is blowing and at what speed. Meteorologists use these simple diagrams to interpret the current weather, to predict future conditions, and to communicate changing tre...
How You Can Calibrate & Set Your Barometer to Predict Local Weather
A barometer measures air pressure and can forecast the weather within a 12 to 24 hour period. Air pressure can be measured in inches of mercury, millimeters of mercury, or hectopascals, depending on where you live and th...
Thermite Formula: Ingredients, Tips, and Everything You Need to Know
A step-by-step guide to making thermite at home, complete with safety information Of all the do-it-yourself chemistry experiments found online, there’s almost nothing cooler—or maybe hotter—than a thermite reaction...
How Do You Neutralize Bleach? 5 Simple Neutralizers & How to Use Them
Learn which neutralizers to use on fabrics, carpets, or hard surfacesBleach is a cheap and effective disinfectant, but it can cause serious damage if used improperly. Fortunately, we're providing instructions for neutral...
How to
Anodize Aluminum
Anodizing uses acid to create a corrosion- and wear-resistant layer on top of a metal. The process of anodizing also changes the crystal structure near the surface of substances, like aluminum alloy, which allows you to ...
How to Make an Explosion
Have a blast with these fun and safe ways to create an explosion at home To call it an experiment would be incorrect (you are doing a demonstration!) but no matter what you call it, an explosion is a great way to have fu...
How to
Soften Rubber
If you’ve ever found a rubber band snapped free from its place around a pack of baseball cards, pulled out an old pair of favorite sneakers and found them stiff as a board, or had your vacuum cleaner break down because...
How to
Electroplate Household Metals
Electroplating is a process used to coat one metal with that of a separate metal. There are many objects in our everyday lives that have been plated with other metals: gold-plated jewelry, nickel and copper plated coins,...
How to
Neutralize Ammonia
Ammonia is a base compound that can be hazardous and toxic in high quantities. Ammonia is produced with the breakdown of animal and vegetable matter, including the breakdown of protein in urine. Pets and cleaning product...
How to
Make a Clinometer
A clinometer, also called a declinometer or an inclinometer, is an instrument that measures vertical slope, usually the angle between the ground or the observer and a tall object. A simple, or ''fixed angle'', clinometer...
How Do You Make Dry Ice?
Make and use dry ice quickly and safely at homeDry ice is the solid form of the chemical carbon dioxide (CO2), just like normal ice is the solid form of water (H2O). Dry ice is extremely cold (-109.3°F or -78.5°C), so ...
How to
Make an Animal Cell for a Science Project
Cells are one of the important building blocks of living organisms. If you're learning biology in school, your teacher might ask you to create your own model of an animal cell to help you understand how cells work. You m...
How to
Make a Microscope
Microscopes vary in type and power, but the most common type uses a combination of lenses to magnify an image. This allows you to see things that you wouldn’t be able to view with your naked eye. If you want to build y...
How to
Identify a Redwood Tree
Redwoods are magnificent trees only found in a few areas of the world. Two species are located in the Western region of the United States, while a third is found in parts of Asia. To identify a redwood tree, the size of ...
How to
Read a Weather Map
Knowing how to read a weather map can help you understand the weather and know what to expect. For example, high pressure (H) areas will have clear skies, while low pressure (L) areas can be stormy. Blue "cold front" lin...
How to
Make a Dichotomous Key
A dichotomous key is a way of identifying specimens based on contrasting statements, usually about physical characteristics. By drawing a series of contrasts, you are able to narrow down the specimen until you can correc...
How to
Dissolve Salt in Water
Salts are neutral compounds that consist of some set ratio of positive ions (cations) to negative ions (anions). Salts are formed when an acid and a base come in contact and neutralize each other. Common salts are sodium...
