Transcript COLOUR SPLASH

Let’s find out about whether or not
water and oil mix by using food
colouring
Materials Needed
•
•
•
•
•
3 clear plastic cups
water
cooking oil
liquid food coloring
pencil
Instructions
• Fill one cup about 2/3 full of water and another about
2/3 full of oil.
• Add a few drops of food coloring to each cup. Leave
space between the drops so they don't touch. What
happens?
• Fill the third cup about 2/3 full of water. Pour in
enough cooking oil so it forms a thin layer on top of the
water.
• What do you think will happen if you add food coloring
to this last cup? Make a prediction and then test it out.
• Touch one of the drops of food coloring in the last cup
with the tip of a pencil. What happens?
What did it look like when we were
doing this experiment?
So what did we discover?
• Here's why this works. When you add food coloring to
water, it mixes in. When you add food colouring to oil,
it stays in a little ball and does not mix in. Why? Food
colouring is mostly made of water, and water and oil
don't mix. Even if you stir them, the oil separates and
forms a layer on top of the water. So when you add
food coloring to the cup that has water and oil, each
drop is coated with oil. That is why the drops sit in the
oil layer. The oil is like a raft that helps the food
coloring float. If you poke a drop with a pencil, the oil
layer is broken. Then the food coloring mixes with the
water and makes a cool design.
We also made a
LAVA LAMP…
Make Your Own Lava Lamp
Here’s what you’ll need:
Bottle, Vegetable Oil, Water, Food Colouring, Alka-Seltzer (or any effervescent antacid)
Here’s what you’ll do:
1. Fill the bottle ¾ of the way with vegetable oil.
2. Use water to fill the bottle the remainder of the way, just below the bottle’s
neck.
3. Place 10 drops of food coloring into the bottle.
4. Break the Alka-Seltzer into four pieces. Place one piece in after the other
until all have been added.
5. Place the cap on the bottle. Now watch what happens—you have a lava
lamp!
What’s happening:
This experiment proves that water and oil don’t mix. The carbon dioxide gas
created when you dropped the pieces of Alka-Seltzer tables into the mixture
causes the coloured water blobs to push to the top through the oil.