Merthyr Science Festival

29/08/2026

On this day in 1831 Michael Faraday discovered electromagnetic induction.

What is electromagnetic induction and why is it important? Electromagnetic induction, simply put, looks at how electricity and magnets can work together, and is the process of using a moving or changing magnetic field to create electricity in a wire.

When you move a magnet inside a coil of wire (or move the wire past the magnet), the invisible magnetic force pushes on the electrons in the wire.

This pushing force (called voltage) makes an electric current flow through the wire.

You get more electricity if you move the magnet faster, use a stronger magnet, or wrap the wire into more loops.

Electromagnets can be found in power stations, wireless chargers, electric motors and even electric guitars.

Why not make use of the last few days of the summer holidays and carry out some of these electromagnetic activities. You can use a screw to pick up paper clips, make a paper speaker or maybe you'd like to use your own body and make human-powered energy.

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/blog/teach-electromagnetism-lessons

Teach K-12 students about electromagnetism with free hands-on STEM lessons and activities!

27/08/2026

Did you know that solar and lunar eclipses often come in pairs. Well after the partial solar eclipse on the 12th August, the early hours of tomorrow morning, Friday 28th August we'll see a partial lunar eclipse, so set your alarms.

The effect of a lunar eclipse is that we see the shadow of our planet passing over the lunar surface.

the lunar eclipse will begin at around 2.23am (depends on which part of the UK you are). This is when the Moon moves into the lighter part of Earth's shadow, the penumbra.

The Moon will travel further into the umbra until the maximum of the eclipse at 5.12am, with roughly 93% of its visible surface in the darkest part of the shadow.

The partial eclipse will end at around 6.51am, but the Moon will have set below the horizon before then.

https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/space-astronomy/partial-lunar-eclipse-on-28-august-2026-how-see-it

24/08/2026

Well what lovely sunny weather we're having again but the rain is coming and we thought we'd give you a wonderful rainbow activity you can carry out.

If you visited the festival back in July then you may have had a go at some chromatography with Ecolab where you separated some dyes into the colours that make them up. Well chromatography uses something called capillary action, and so does this activity. Capillary action is found in nature when a plants roots use capillary action to absorb water and nutrients form the soil, it's also used in marker pens and paper towels which is what is used in this rainbow activity.

What happens if you make a bigger rainbow?
Does it make any difference if you use warm or cold water?
Do some colours move faster than others?

We would love to see what you make so please share any photos.

15/08/2026

It's so sad to see the wild fires that are going on across the country. Did you know that something as simple as leaving a glass bottle on the ground can start a fire? Well we'll give you an activity you can do with a glass bottle with a lid, so make sure that if you're out with friends and family, you pick up your rubbish and bring glass bottles home, clean them and make a fun lava lamp. Just be careful when you handle the glass.

- Fill the bottle about 1/4 full of water
- Add a couple of drops of food colouring
- Carefully fill the rest of the bottle with oil (sunflower oil or vegetable oil will be fine)
- Break an antacid tablet in half and drop them in
- Screw the lid on and watch your at home lava lamp
- You can always add more tablets if you want to start your lava lamp again.

What happens if you change how much water & oil you put in?

Can you use more than one colour of food colouring?

https://www.sciencefix.co.uk/2019/10/make-a-lava-lamp-in-a-bottle/?srsltid=AfmBOopTtiijewyC3JEhUU36LDzK_6F49nEOoCtcb7wo3tmSVea9HP0s

We hope you have fun making the lava lamps, we'd love to see some photos.



Lastly we'd love to give a huge shout out to the fire service who

are doing a phenomenal job at keeping us safe tackling the wild fires

South Wales Fire And Rescue North Wales Fire and Rescue Service / Gwasanaeth Tân ac Achub Gogledd Cymru

Here's a fun little experiment you can do to make safe lava lamp in a bottle using oil, water and and antacid tablet. Mix and watch!

15/08/2026

We hope you enjoyed watching the eclipse safely, whether that was with the solar glasses, a pinhole projector or using a colander. Some of us here (Hayley puts her hand up!!!) at Merthyr Science Festival HQ tried to take some photos, but clearly needs to work on her photography skills 🤭

We bet some of you managed to get some amazing photos, we'd love to see them.

10/08/2026

‼️ SOLAR ECLIPSE GLASSES: MISINFORMATION ‼️

We’ve been notified of several Facebook group messages and AI search results saying that we’re giving away free solar eclipse glasses to the general public at Techniquest. We’re so sorry, but this isn’t the case.

We have a very limited amount of solar eclipse viewing glasses, specifically for ticket holders of our After Hours: Eclipsed solar eclipse afterparty on Wednesday 12 August. Proof of your After Hours ticket(s) is required on collection, and they’re strictly available on a first-come first-served basis, subject to availability, to After Hours ticket holders only.

The glasses were kindly donated to us by The Fin Whale Eclipse Project for the After Hours event, and we only have a limited amount.

08/08/2026

Did you know that you can still keep up the coding interest through the holidays, even if you don't have access to a computer? Why not make a binary code keychain or bracelet.

What is binary code? Simply put, binary code is the language computer use. Where the English language uses 26 letters, and Welsh language uses 29, computers only use the numbers 1 and 0 and these are called bits. Bits are actually really small pieces of information, and so they are put into groups and these groups are called "bytes"

Use the link below to make a keychain from your initials or you can use all the letters in your name to make a bracelet or necklace. Why not use the binary code to create your own secret message to share with friends. We would love to see what you make, so please share photos and make sure to tag us.

Combine STEM and art to make STEAM with our new Code a Keychain project! For this activity, you will learn how to use the binary coding system while creating a keychains. Kids can “code” their own initials using black and white … Read More

02/08/2026

The National Eisteddfod (Eisteddfod Genedlaethol) is currently running in Llantwd in Pembrokeshire. The National Eisteddfod is Europe's largest touring cultural festival, celebrating the Welsh language, music, and poetry, with The Science and Technology Village (Pentref Gwyddoniaeth a Thechnoleg) at the National Eisteddfod has been part of the festival's activities for over 50 years.

If you attended Merthyr Science Festival and enjoyed the activities delivered by members of the Institute of Biomedical Science in the Lab in a Lorry or by Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) then good news......they will be at the Eisteddfod so go and say hi

If you manage to get to Pembrokeshire at visit the Science and Technology Village at the Eisteddfod then please share your photos, we'd love to see what you got up to and all the exciting activities you took part in.

25/07/2026

We hope you are all enjoying the start of the summer holidays.

Did you know that the UK will see a partial eclipse on Wednesday 12th August, it starts at around (depending on where you are) 6:16pm, peaks at 7:12pm, and ends at 8:06pm. Don't have any solar eclipse glasses to view it safely...don't worry we have a fabulous project that you can work on over the holidays and have it ready for the eclipse.

How to make a cereal box projector.

https://science.nasa.gov/resource/how-to-make-a-box-pinhole-projector-video/

We're definitely going to have a go at making one of these and we'll share our photos. We'd love to see how you get on so please tag us in any posts.

Want to view a solar eclipse but don’t have eclipse glasses? No problem! An easy way to safely view a solar eclipse is with a box pinhole projector. With a

18/07/2026