Oil

Underwater Fireworks

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Fireworks are fabulous! We love watching the colors explode and gently float down through the air, but we can’t watch fireworks all the time. Underwater fireworks are something we can watch any time, even in our kitchen!

The Experiment

Supplies: Water, vegetable oil, food coloring (any color), a large clear glass, a second smaller glass, a fork

What to do: Fill the large glass almost to the top with room-temperature water. Pour 2 tablespoons of oil into the other glass. Add 2 drops of food coloring to the glass with the oil. Vigorously stir the oil into the food coloring using a fork. Stop once you break the food coloring into little drops. Pour the oil and coloring mixture into the tall glass. Now watch! The food coloring will slowly sink in the glass, with each droplet expanding outwards as it falls.

What is happening: Food coloring dissolves in water, but not in oil. This has to do with the incompatibility of the molecular structures of the water and the oil. When you pour in the food coloring/oil mixture, the oil will float at the top of the water because it is less dense. The food coloring will begin to dissolve once it sinks through the oil and into the water.

Take It Further

Variations on this demonstration:

  • Try mixing in one drop each of two different food colorings.
  • What happens if you omit the oil and drop the food coloring directly into the water?
  • Try varying the size or shape of the water glass, the amount of the oil, or the amount of the food coloring. Just remember, when you are manipulating variables to only change one thing at a time!

Links

For a more detailed explanation of the miscibility of fluids, along with a more expansive version of this demonstration, head over to the Scientific American website.

Exploring Density

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Density describes the relationship between a substance’s mass, or weight, and its volume, or how much space it takes up. Things that are more dense take up less space than things with less density. To visualize density, let’s compare baseballs and marshmallows. A regular baseball weighs about one pound. It is small and compact and fits in the palm of your hand. A 16 oz. bag of marshmallows also weighs one pound, but because there is more air incorporated into the marshmallows, they are less dense. One pound of marshmallows takes up a lot more space, or volume, than a one-pound baseball.

When you combine substances that have different densities, the substances with the greatest density tend to move toward the bottom, while those with lesser densities tend to rise to the top. Gases tend to be lighter and less dense than liquids. Liquids tend to be lighter and less dense than solids. Even within these groups, there are a variety of densities.

The Experiments

Simple Experiment

Supplies: A clear jar with a lid, vegetable oil, water, food coloring (optional).

What to do: Fill the jar about half-full with water. Add food coloring, if desired. Pour in vegetable oil until the jar is almost full. Put the lid on the jar and MAKE SURE IT IS TIGHT. Give the jar a good shake so that the water and oil are thoroughly mixed. Set the jar where it won’t be disturbed and observe the liquid.

What is happening: The oil is less dense than the water, so it rises up to “float” on the surface of the water. The water and oil do not mix because of the molecular properties of each compound. Water molecules tend to want to “stick” to other water molecules, while oil molecules tend to want to stick to other oil molecules. This is because of something called molecular polarity, where the structures of the two molecules are not compatible. They push each other away, similar to a pair of magnets that won’t stick together. The longer the jar sits, the more the water and oil will sort themselves out, until they are completely separate again.

Complex Experiment

Supplies: A large jar or clear glass cylinder, liquid measuring cup with pour spout, a turkey baster, different colors of food coloring, honey or molasses, light corn syrup (Kayro), blue liquid dish soap, rubbing alcohol, yellow corn oil, water.

What to do: Pour 1 cup of honey or molasses into the bottom of your jar. Measure out 1 cup of light corn syrup and add some red food coloring. Stir until well combined. Carefully pour the corn syrup into the jar, making sure to avoid hitting the sides of the jar. Measure out 1 cup of dish soap. Slowly add the dish soap, again avoiding the sides of the jar. Measure out 1 cup of water and add to the jar, but this time use the turkey baster to slowly drizzle the water down the side of the jar. Measure out 1 cup of corn oil and add to the jar, again using the turkey baster. Finally, measure out 1 cup of rubbing alcohol. Add green food coloring and stir well. Add the rubbing alcohol into the jar using the turkey baster.

What is happening: Different liquids have different densities. Liquids like honey and dish soap are more dense than water, while other liquids, like rubbing alcohol and vegetable oil are less dense and will float above the water. Adding the food coloring helps distinguish the different layers. The various densities of the different liquids is what keeps the layers separate.

Links

You could take the Density Column experiment one step further by dropping in solid objects to see where they land, OR you could just watch this great video from the Bearded Science Guy.

Blobs in a Bottle

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If you have ever seen a lava lamp, you know how mesmerizing it is to watch the blobs rise and sink through the liquid. Most lava lamps contain a combination of water and wax. As a solid, wax is heavier than water and will sink to the bottom of the container. When wax melts into a liquid, it is lighter than water and will rise or float on top of the water. A lava lamp works by having a heat source at the bottom of the lamp to melt the wax. The melted wax rises through the water, but then sinks as it cools off and begins to harden again.

In this demonstration, we will re-create the effects of a lava lamp using common household items, with no electricity needed! The “blobiness” effect will wear off during the demonstration, but you can regenerate it whenever you want!

The Experiment

Supplies: A clean 1-liter clear soda bottle, tap water, vegetable oil or baby oil, fizzing tablets (such as Alka Seltzer), and food coloring.

What to do: Pour the water into the bottle until it is about 1/3 full. Use a measuring cup or funnel to slowly pour oil into the bottle until it’s almost full. You may have to wait a few minutes for the oil and water to separate. Add about 10 drops of food coloring to the bottle (red is nice, but any color will look great.) The drops will pass through the oil and then mix with the water below. Break a seltzer tablet in pieces and drop a piece into the bottle. DO NOT PUT THE CAP ON THE BOTTLE. Observe what happens. Continue to add pieces of the seltzer tablet as you see fit. What happened inside the bottle after you added the seltzer tablet pieces?

What is happening: The oil floats on top of the water because it is less dense (see the liquid density experiment for more information). The fizzing tablet contains a mixture of powdered acids and bases that begin to combine as they dissolve in the water (see the carbon dioxide experiment). As the tablet dissolves, it creates carbon dioxide gas. As the gas rises through the oil, it takes some of the water with it. When the gas bubble reaches the surface of the oil, the bubble “pops,” allowing the gas to escape, and the water sinks back down through the oil to the bottom.

Extra: Once your tablet pieces are completely dissolved and the reaction is over, you can store the oil & water mixture with the cap on to save for later. To make more blobs, simply add more tablet pieces!

Links

To see this demonstration in action, head over to BASF’s YouTube page.