Ellen is Wild About Science! Steve Spangler is teaching Ellen DeGeneres how to have fun with science!

Steve on the Ellen DeGeneres Show April 15

It looks like Steve Spangler has become somewhat of a regular guest on the Ellen DeGeneres Show. Steve continues to make Ellen laugh with his clever science demos. In the past, Steve shocked Ellen with 50,000 volts of electricity, shot giant rings of smoke at audience members and filled her studio with 2,500 boxes of cornstarch for the now famous Cornstarch Water Walk experiment.

His latest appearance on Tuesday, April 15th was more fun with exploding “fire water,” gooey polymers, tricks to play at the restaurant and a studio filled with flying potatoes. This is not the normal science lesson that most kids get in school… and that’s part of Steve Spangler’s appeal to Ellen and her show producers.

Watch Steve's Past Appearances

Steve is used to getting students and teachers excited about science, but what about a talk show host? Steve made his first appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres Show in September of 2007, teaching Ellen how to blow giant smoke rings, and he returned just a month later to demonstrate his exploding pumpkin trick.

About Steve's February 2008 Visit

Steve Spangler packed up his science demonstrations and returned to the Ellen DeGeneres show on February 13, 2008 for his third appearance. Ellen invited Steve to stay for two segments. In the first segment, Steve shared his Human Conductor of Electricity demo, a very cool clock reaction and his exploding hydrogen and oxygen bubble demo. Using a cement mixer, large tank and a whole lot of cornstarch, they ended the second segment with a member of the audience walking on a 250 gallon mixture of cornstarch and water.

Segment Highlights - Let's start with a little electricity... Steve demonstrated how to turn 120 volts of electricity from the wall outlet into 50,000 volts of static electricity. Steve caused the electricity to safely travel across Ellen's body (on her skin) and light a fluorescent light bulb! Steve was honored to share a demonstration popularized by his father many years ago called Edge of Darkness. Ellen mixed two colorless liquids and nothing apparently happened - and then the liquid instantly turned black! The chemical reaction produced a beaker filled with iodine - read about a cool science experiment you can try at home. Steve put a bang into the show by safely igniting bubbles filled with hydrogen and oxygen in her hands.

Using a cement mixer, large tank and a whole lot of cornstarch, they ended the second segment with a member of the audience walking on a 250 gallon mixture of cornstarch and water (Cornstarch Water Walk).

Read about what happened before Steve appeared on Ellen. It all began with a cement mixer...Read more >

About Steve's November 2007 Visit

Ellen hit a science home run during Steve’s second appearance on her show. Steve appeared November 1, 2007. Ellen whipped off the tablecloth, smashed the veggies and popped the pumpkins like a pro. The segment started by teaching Ellen how to use inertia to pull a tablecloth out from under dishes. With Thanksgiving right around the corner, Steve felt that teaching the viewers at home (especially the kids) how to do the famous tablecloth trick was the most responsible thing to do (wink wink). After whipping off the tablecloth, Steve and Ellen moved to flash freezing fruit and vegetables using liquid nitrogen. They made a huge mess with frozen fruit and a rubber hammer. The big finale was a table filled with pre-carved pumpkins that ignited and blew the jack-o-lantern faces right off.

About Steve's September 2007 Visit

It’s not often that someone like Ellen DeGeneres asks Steve to teach her how to make learning fun…and do some cool science experiments at the same time. Steve Spangler appeared for the first time on the Ellen DeGeneres Show on September 21, 2007. He introduced Ellen to a different way of teaching science. Steve amazed Ellen with an incredible eruption of foam that looks like a giant stream of toothpaste... or elephant toothpaste. It is a classic reaction that is a favorite of chemistry teachers. Steve also taught Ellen another classic science demonstration that shows what happens to sound when it travels through a gas that is six times heavier than air. Ellen was surprised when her voice was low and her vocal cords felt funny after taking a breath of the anti-helium SF6. Steve and Ellen finished the segment by blowing giant smoke rings at the audience and knocking cups off of audience members' heads.