::: 5 layer density tube
During the past week one of our Facebook friends Greg, told us about a 6 layer density test he had tried out with his children and we thought we’d give a 5 layer density tube a try. We settled on five layers as the sixth layer is lamp oil and we didn’t have any! We chatted to the children about what is heavier and what is lighter – easy when we use concrete items like blocks, corks, feathers etc.
It is not such an easy concept when we are discussing liquids. They all weigh the same, don’t they?
Well … no. But how do we find out which is the heaviest and which is the lightest? We probably could have weigh equal amounts of each liquid, but we wanted to show the children in a more graphic way.
We talked about which liquid they thought would be the heaviest and where it would end up – at the top or the bottom of the vase. The general consensus was it would all mix together into a concoction.
We used a tall skinny glass vase that is easy to see into. Then they poured in honey …
detergent …
NOW we had their attention!
Next came the water …
to which they insisted on adding some colour of course! …
We thought we were really clever using baby oil next but we probably should have used vegetable oil for the contrasting yellow colour …
because the children found it quite hard to differentiate between the oil and the next layer – metholated spirits.
We thought, again trying to be clever, that if the children coloured the metho’ green we would be able to see it better but NO! Liquid food colouring, being water based, went right through the metho, through the baby oil … and mixed with the red water …
and as usually happens in colour mixing experiments we ended up with that all familiar brown colour!
In the end though, it was very easy for the children to see that the honey was the heaviest and the metho was the lightest and everything else weighed something in between AND that food coloring weighs the same as water! We’ll leave the final word to Greg who pointed out, after the interesting result of his own experiment …
This post has been linked up to Science Sunday over at the Adventures in Mommydom blog.
Be sure to pop on over and see how others are playing with science this week!
Tags: baby oil, colouring, detergent, glass tube, heavy, honey, light, metholated spirits, water
Sherry and Donna – you won on the Brick by Brick “Pay It Forward” http://scottsbricks.blogspot.com/2011/05/winners.html
::: YAAAY US! … Thanks Scott! We’ll be in touch.
I don’t know what to say. I am humbled that I not only got a mention on your fabulous site, but you also referenced & quoted me. I’ve gone all gooey inside. We tried to add food colouring to the oil too with the same response, hence the brownish gunk. I did find lamp oil in a supermarket.
::: Awwww Greg how sweet! We totally understand that humbling feeling … we still experience it every single day! BTW all the men who comment on irresistible ideas are just big softies … so your amongst some exceptional company here!
[...] i liquidi hanno densità diverse, proprio come i solidi. Video: Fonti: http://www.playbasedlearning.com.au/ http://www.hometrainingtools.com/ http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/ [...]
Greg:
Just found your page. Posted on my blog under AUTISM. I home school my son with Autism. NOW it’s also posted on FB page and another lady saw it and posted on HOMESCHOOL page……YOU are VERY POPULAR! KEEP up the GREAT work……..we need TONS like you to keep posting for the children of the world to be excited about science!!!! Blessings on you. Virginia…..http://ourfamilymemories1996.blogspot.com/
::: Thank you Virginia for your VERY kind comment! We do love science and as we tell people all the time science is all about discovering new things which describes our young children perfectly … They’re ALL scientists!
That’s so kind of you Virginia.
Thank you very much