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| Our liquid density tower |
Over the past few weeks we’ve done a few experiments, but it’s taken me a while to get the pics onto the computer. I’ve seen this density experiment in many places, several books I have as well as several blogs.
I’m posting about it simply because it was fun, but also to show you can do this with several difference liquids, not necessarily needing to go by an official experiment ‘recipe’. (Just make sure the liquids you are using are safe to be used together as well as safe for your child.)
Density Experiment
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| Experiment Liquids: olive oil, dish soap, water, vegetable oil, food coloring |
What we used:
the same amount of olive oil, dish soap, water, and vegetable oil, a drop of food coloring, clean glass jar
What we did:
I asked the boys if they thought the liquids they had in front of them weighed the same.
One by one I slowly poured the liquids into the jar, letting them dribble down the side rather than pouring into the middle of the jar. (I dyed the water red so we could see it more easily.)
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| Final density tower with items at each level |
What we observed:
The liquids formed layers. (Cutie Pie loved this as he’d been learning about strata!)
It did not matter what order we poured the liquids. If a heavier liquid was added after a lighter one, it settled under the lighter one.
What we learned:
The liquids have different densities (or weights) and therefore do not lie in the same layer.
Further investigation:
After letting our density tower sit for a while to make sure the layers weren’t going to combine on their own, we gathered a few small items and carefully dropped them into the jar. It was interesting to see where they settled. We used a small LEGO, a toothpick, a raisin, and a small stone.
Cutie Pie had fun with this experiment, trying to guess which liquid would be lighter and therefore higher in our final tower. He also had a lot of fun coming up with the items to drop into our final tower and guessing where they would settle!
When you try this experiment please let us know what results you came up with!
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