by Mark Hendry

West College Scotland cast a spell over Linnvale Primary pupils when they took part in a Harry Potter-themed science afternoon.

Primary 6/7 spent their time doing experiments and creating potions and had a blast. Students Alex Neville, Leah Bain and Boyd Carson explained, in their own words, their day to the Post.

The write: “When we arrived we had to go into the lab and put on our lab coats, plastic aprons and safety glasses to protect our clothes, eyes and skin.

“The first experiment we did was called ‘Bat’s Breath’. Into a test tube we put witches’ brew (vinegar), bone dust (bicarbonate of soda) and vampire’s blood (red food colouring). When all three ingredients were put together it created a foam which bubbled over the top. It was really messy.

“After that, we made wands out of chop sticks, a lithium watch battery, an LED coloured light and electrical tape. We put the light on the battery but we had to put it on a certain way to make sure it would light up.

“We then taped them together and attached them to the squared part of the chopstick using the electrical tape. We pretended we were wizards with our new wands.

“Then we were each given a box of rice and a ball bearing. We had to drop the ball bearing into the rice. We cast a spell on the box and shook it side to side. The ball bearing disappeared into the rice and an eye ball came to the top! This was how we learned about displacement.

“After that, we were all given a UV light torch. We had to go around the lab and check everywhere for invisible ink. There were four parts of spells hidden around the room. We had to find these, put them in order and the winner was awarded with a bag of sweets.”

They continued: “Next, Roz put bicarbonate of soda and sugar on top of a pile of sand. She surrounded the sand with pure alcohol. We said the spell, "open the chamber, what lies inside, the serpent of Slytherin, there’s nowhere to hide, charm the basilisk, make her sleep, and back to the chamber she will creep", and Roz lit the alcohol on fire and a black soda snake came out of the sand. It looked like a burnt marshmallow and felt like cotton candy.

“We were given an outline of a snake on card with tissue paper underneath. We cut it out and unattached the tissue paper snake from the paper snake. We got a ruler and a duster. We had to rub the ruler with the duster about 20 times and put it on top of the snake’s head. The snake would rise up towards the ruler because of friction.

“The final experiment we did was called the ‘whoosh bottle’. Roz had an empty water cooler bottle. She poured in pure alcohol and shook it about until the inside of the bottle was fully covered. She emptied out the left over alcohol and got a long wooden stick with a lit match on the end.

“Before she put this in we said a different spell with our wands. She put the wooden stick inside the bottle and a massive flame came up through the bottle opening and then went back in. Inside the bottle we could see blue swirling and sparks.

“We wish we could’ve stayed the whole day with Roz learning about physics and chemistry. Primary 6/7D and 6/7G are going in the following weeks. We are jealous as we would love to go again.”