Density Designs
What you need:
- food coloring
- 1 tall clear glass
- cooking oil
- dish detergent
- syrup
- honey
- vinegar
- tap water
- rubbing alcohol
What do you do?
- Pour some honey into the glass.
- Carefully pour some syrup down the inside of the glass. The syrup stays above the honey.
- Pour some vinegar down the inside side of the glass. The vinegar stays above the syrup.
- Next add some dish detergent -- be sure to pour it carefully down the inside side of the glass. The detergent stays above the vinegar.
- Add a few drops of food coloring to the tap water. Slowly pour the water on top of the detergent. Most of the water stays above the detergent, but the boundary blurs as they slowly mix.
- Pour some cooking oil down the inside side of the glass. The cooking oil stays above the water.
- Carefully pour the rubbing alcohol down the inside side of the glass. The rubbing alcohol stays on top.
How does it work?
Each of the liquids has a different density. One way to think about density is how thick and heavy it is.
The liquids with lighter densities will float. The liquids with heavier densities will drop to the bottom.
Some of the liquids will mix together because the chemicals will dissolve each other -- like the detergent and water.
Some of the liquids will stay separate because some of the liquids do not mix together -- such as oil and water.
What about trying to put the lighter density liquids in first? Do you still have layers?
