You will need:

1 Pie Plate

Milk (Whole milk, if possible)

3-4 different bottles of food coloring

1 bottle of liquid soap

Directions

Step #1: Fill a pie plate with room temperature milk.

Step #2: Add a few drops of food coloring to the milk. Make sure to use different colors!

Step #3: Put a single drop of liquid soap in the middle of your plate, and watch your milk colors explode!

Why does this happen?

Milk contains fats and proteins in solution. Any change in the solution (for example, adding soap) affects these fats and proteins. By adding food coloring, we can observe the effect the soap is having on the molecules, which are twisting, bending and swirling into all kinds of different shapes. The soap has weakened the surface tension, which is the watery skin that holds the liquid’s molecules together. This creates the explosion of different colors!

Variations on a theme…

Try using cold milk… does the temperature of the milk have any effect? What happens when you use different kinds of milk, like skim or 2%? Be daring, and try half-and-half!, or even cream!

For older Children aged 7-9:

Benjamin Franklin, an American scientist and philosopher, was testing a theory he had that lightning was an electrical phenomenon when he set out into a storm with a key and a kite. Discover how to produce some electricity on your own with this shocking experiment!

Science concept introduced:

Static Electricity

You will need:

A Styrofoam dinner plate

A Styrofoam cup

A piece of wool cloth (wool works the best but you can try other fabrics too)

An aluminum pie plate

Scotch tape

What you do:

Step 1: Rub the Styrofoam plate with the wool cloth for a full minute. Place this charged plate upside down on a table or the floor.

Step 2: Tape the Styrofoam cup to the middle of the aluminum pie plate.

Step 3: Place the pie pan on top of the charged Styrofoam plate using the cup as a handle.

Step 4: Bring your finger near the pie plate and you will feel a little shock and hear a "snap." If the room is dark, you should see a little spark.

What happens?

When you rub the Styrofoam plate with a wool cloth, you charge it up! The Styrofoam attracts the electrons from the cloth due to friction when the two are rubbed together. The electrons cannot leave the pie plate because it is completely surrounded by insulating air and Styrofoam. If you touch the pie plate while it is near the Styrofoam, the moving electrons will be "pushed" off the pan and onto you causing you to feel a little shock, hear a snapping sound and maybe even see a spark of electricity.

Science concept introduced:

Carbonation

You will need:

1 large drinking glass

A couple of pieces of spaghetti

A teaspoon of baking soda

A teaspoon of vinegar

What you do:

Step 1: Fill a drinking glass with water and mix in a teaspoon of baking soda.

Step 2: Add a teaspoon of vinegar. This should cause some "fizzing" in the glass.

Step 3: Add a couple pieces of spaghetti and watch closely to see what happens.

What happens?

Baking soda is a chemical called sodium bicarbonate that reacts with vinegar (acetic acid) to form carbon dioxide gas. This is the gas that you breathe out from your lungs all of the time. Carbon dioxide gas is released from the solution and rises to the top of the glass in tiny bubbles. If there is something for the gas molecules to hang onto, they grab it. As more and more gas bubbles cling to the spaghetti, it starts to rise to the top of the glass. When it gets to the top, the gas is released into the room, and the spaghetti sinks to the bottom to pick up more gas molecules.

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