“Affirmative,” the Quail finally said. “NOV8 will allow Maywood Glen to be your interim base of operations.”
The girls let out a few excited yelps. Adri, Cam, and Bry all hugged M, and for the first time she hugged them back. She smushed them so hard no one could breathe.
“This is how you do it, right?” M asked. She was always so awkward with hugs, like she didn’t quite know how to be as mushy as they wanted her to be.
“Ouch, in a good way,” Cam laughed.
“Maybe loosen up on the stranglehold?” Bry asked.
McKeyla laughed along with them, feeling for the first time like she actually belonged somewhere. She didn’t have to pack her luggage the next day and leave for another mission. She could stay right here, in this house, hanging out with Adri, Bry, and Cam every day after school.
She glanced around, looking at the walls where she’d hung some of the papers and evidence from the mission. What would it be like for this to be a real home like Bry’s, with family photos everywhere, and friends coming over to hang out and scarf down everything in the fridge?
Amazing, she thought. It would be amazing.
* SMART IS THE NEW COOL
Epilogue
Bry leaned toward her friends. “I.S.C.B.T.P.S.U. A.M.F.O.S.”
Cam just shrugged. “Yeah, I Still Can’t Believe The Prince Sent Us A Message From Outer Space, either.”
M couldn’t believe Cam had figured that one out. Had the girls hidden some secret decoder somewhere? Had they rehearsed these beforehand? They were either psychic or out of their minds—either way, they had to teach her how to do it, too.
“Come on,” M begged. “You guys have to teach me how you do those crazy long ones!”
“As long as you keep teaching us secret-agenting…” Bry smiled.
M glanced behind them, making sure no one had heard. “NOV8 lesson number three,” she said. “You might not want to keep shouting out that you’re a secret agent.”
“Got it,” Bry said, her voice barely a whisper.
“When do you think we’ll get our next assignment?” Cam asked. It hadn’t even been two days since the space launch and she was already itching for a new mission, and a chance to use more of her crazy inventions (even if they didn’t have very good names).
Just then, A.D.I.S.N.’s voice sounded from M’s notebook. “Girls, it’s time for your next mission.”
“That was quick,” Adri chirped.
“This is awesome,” Cam breathed.
“I’msoexcitedIcan’tstandit!” Bry said, her words blending together.
“Let do this,” Adri added.
McKeyla turned toward her new friends. She opened the notebook, to A.D.I.S.N.’s screen, and they leaned in until the glow was illuminating their faces. They had their arms around each other, ready to tackle whatever came next. From now on, they were in this together—a team. “What do you say?” McKeyla asked. “Are you in?”
Then they peered down at the notebook, smiling as they read the details of their next mission.
MOLECULAR SPAGHETTI EXPERIMENT
LAB SUPPLIES:
• 1 teaspoon (5 grams) sodium alginate powder (available online or at specialty chef stores)
• Water
• 2L plastic soda bottle
• Squeeze bottle
• Food coloring
• Sugar
• Powdered drink mix (like Kool-Aid®)
• Large bowl
• 1 tablespoon (15 grams) calcium lactate powder (available online or at specialty chef stores)
INSTRUCTIONS:
Create an alginate solution by mixing 1 teaspoon sodium alginate powder and 1 cup of water. Use the tips below for best results.
Tips for dissolving sodium alginate
Sodium alginate can take a while to dissolve. Follow these steps for best results:
1. Pour 1 cup (8 oz.) of water into a soda bottle. Then quickly add in 1 teaspoon of sodium alginate.
2. Cap the soda bottle, and shake it as hard as you can. It’s workout time! Shake for three to five minutes.
3. Let the soda bottle sit for 1 hour so tiny bubbles come out. The liquid should thicken.
Pour the alginate solution into the squeeze bottle. Put a drop of food coloring into the bottle if you want your molecular spaghetti to have some color. Add a bit of sugar or powdered drink mix for sweetness and flavor. Mix together. (Adri made strawberry and blueberry—yum!)
In a large bowl, dissolve 1 tablespoon of calcium lactate into 1 cup of water. Now squirt the alginate solution into the bowl, wait 30 seconds, and ¡Ya está! you have molecular spaghetti!
* * *
PICKING UP S.T.E.A.M.
with Science, Technology, Engineering, Art & Math:
Pretty much everything around us is made of molecules. Some molecules are special because they can link together into chains. When they are floating around on their own, we call them “monomers,” and when they are linked, we call them “polymers.” Mixing the two liquids causes some of the molecules to link together, making molecular spaghetti!
* * *
MAKE YOUR OWN “WATERFALL”
LAB SUPPLIES:
• Two flasks, or similar short and clear containers
• A couple of books
• Water
• Paper towel
• Food coloring (optional)
INSTRUCTIONS:
On a table, put one flask on top of a couple of books. Fill three-fourths of the flask with water. Put one end of a paper towel into the flask until it reaches the bottom. Put the second flask directly onto the surface of the table near the first flask. Put the other end of the paper towel into this empty flask so that it touches the bottom, too. Check back every fifteen minutes until the water has “fallen” from one flask to the other. Try putting food coloring in the water at the beginning of the experiment and see what happens.
PICKING UP S.T.E.A.M.
with Science, Technology, Engineering, Art & Math:
How can water move from one flask into another through a paper towel? Sounds like a magic trick, but it’s science. Paper towels absorb water because water molecules like interacting with the paper towel molecules (cellulose). Water can flow through the paper towel, so it acts as a straw in this experiment. The flow from one flask to the other is powered by gravity. Water flows from the higher flask to the lower one.
MCKEYLA MCALISTER
MAKE YOUR OWN GREEN PENNY
LAB SUPPLIES:
• Paper towel
• Petri dish or small shallow, flat-bottomed dish, or the cap from a jar of peanut butter!
• Vinegar
• Penny
• Something flat to cover the dish
INSTRUCTIONS:
Fold a small paper towel a few times so that it fits in the bottom of the petri dish. Pour in a little bit of vinegar so that the paper towel is soaked. Put the penny on the paper towel and cover the petri dish with a lid. Take a look at the penny every few hours and see what happens! Keep the penny in the dish for one day for the best results. Try the experiment using another coin, such as a nickel or a dime. Do you get the same result?
PICKING UP S.T.E.A.M.
with Science, Technology, Engineering, Art & Math:
The surface of a penny is made of copper, a shiny metal. Over time, copper tarnishes and turns green! The Statue of Liberty was originally a shiny copper color, but over time it turned green because its surface slowly reacted with the air. To speed up this process, we used vinegar, which contains acetic acid. In this experiment, the acetic acid reacts with the copper to form a harmless green coating on the penny.
CAMRYN COYLE
GO ICE FISHING
LAB SUPPLIES:
• Jar
• Water
• A few ice cubes
• Table salt
• String
INSTRUCTIONS:
Fill two-thirds of the jar with water and add ice cubes. Sprinkle
some salt on top of the ice cubes and lay the string on top of the salted ice cubes. Wait about a minute. Then lift one end of the string and see how many ice cubes you “caught.” How many ice cubes do you catch if you don’t add any salt? Give it a try!
PICKING UP S.T.E.A.M.
with Science, Technology, Engineering, Art & Math:
Fishing for ice may sound impossible, but you can do it with science. The bait is salt, which melts ice. This is the reason why we sprinkle it onto roads in the winter. In this experiment, adding a bit of salt slightly melts the ice at the surface where you put the string. Because we use so little salt, the cube refreezes and now the string is frozen to the ice cube. It’s hooked!
BRYDEN BANDWETH
MAKE YOUR OWN MORPHING STRAW
LAB SUPPLIES:
• Clear jar
• Cooking oil
• Drinking straw
INSTRUCTIONS:
Fill half the jar with oil. Put the straw into the jar until it reaches the bottom and push it to one side of the jar. Bring the jar up to eye level. Look at the straw as you turn the jar slowly, and see what happens to the straw’s appearance. How does it change? Can you even make part of it disappear? See what happens if you fill the jar with water instead of oil!
PICKING UP S.T.E.A.M.
with Science, Technology, Engineering, Art & Math:
If you have ever looked at yourself in front of a funky-shaped mirror, you may remember a funny, distorted image. This happens because the light reaching your eye has been bent. In this experiment, a jar filled with oil acts like a lens or a distortion mirror and bends the light reflected off the straw when it passes from the oil into the air. Sometimes the light bends completely in a different direction and it will look as if the straw in the oil has disappeared!
ADRIENNE ATTOMS
About the Author
Jade Hemsworth splits her time between Los Angeles and New York. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys taking care of foster puppies and playing in her roller derby league. You can sign up for email updates here.
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Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Acknowledgments
Prologue
Chapter One: I.A.W.A.T.S.T.*
Chapter Two: N.G.O.T.S.*
Chapter Three: Y.C.C.I.R.A.T.*
Chapter Four: I.S.O.O.T.G.G.I.M.G.*
Chapter Five: T.S.P.O.S.A.*
Chapter Six: A.D.W.P.C.*
Chapter Seven: T.N.S.S.H.*
Chapter Eight: A.R.D.A.*
Chapter Nine: M.M.H.S.T.*
Chapter Ten: T.W.T.A.N.B.T.T.*
Chapter Eleven: B.A.E.T.S.T.W.A.W.K.I.*
Chapter Twelve: W.T.T.S.S.*
Chapter Thirteen: S.I.T.N.C.*
Epilogue
Bonus Content
Molecular Spaghetti Experiment
Make your Own “Waterfall”
Make your Own Green Penny
Go Ice Fishing
Make your Own Morphing Straw
About the Author
Copyright
A part of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group
PROJECT MC2. Copyright © 2016 by MGA, LLC. All rights reserved
For information, address Imprint, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
I.Y.C.Y.C.S.B.F.R.D.S.
(If You Care You Can Share But For Real Don’t Steal.)
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ISBN 978-1-250-09890-0 (hardcover) /
ISBN 978-1-250-09892-4 (ebook)
KOOL-AID® is the registered trademark of Kraft Food Group Brands, LLC
Imprint logo designed by Amanda Spielman
First Edition—2016
mackids.com
eISBN 9781250098924
First eBook edition: March 2016
Project Mc2 Page 7