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Make food colours swirl with Fizzics Education | Kids Science Experiments

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Make food colours swirl

Make food colours swirl

Follow FizzicsEd 150 Science Experiments:

You Will Need:

  • One white Plate
  • One eyedropper, pipette or straw.
  • Water
  • Food Colouring
  • Rubbing alcohol/Methylated Spirits
  • Adult Help.
  • A well-ventilated room (or run it outside)

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Making food colours swirl experiment - ingredients needed
1 Making food colours swirl experiment - pouring the water into the plate

Fill the plate with water.

2 Making food colours swirl experiment - drops of colour in water

Add several drops of food colouring, evenly spaced near the centre of the plate.

3 Making food colours swirl experiment - making food colours swilr as we add methlyated spirits

In the middle of your square of colours, pour some of the the methylated spirits, or rubbing alcohol (in a well ventilated space)

4 Making food colours swirl experiment in action

Watch what happens!

5 Pouring a dirty water mixture in a clear plastic cup into another clear plastic cup that has a simple paper filter across its top (held in place by a rubber band)

Get the Unit of Work on Mixtures here!

  • How can we separate mixtures?
  • What are the different techniques?
  • From chromatography to magnetism, join us to explore the variety of ways we can separate mixtures!

Includes cross-curricular teaching ideas, student quizzes, a sample marking rubric, scope & sequences & more

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7 Teacher showing how to do an experiment outside to a group of kids.

Online courses for teachers & parents

– Help students learn how science really works

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Why Does This Happen?

All liquids have a property called surface tension.

Surface tension is like an invisible ‘skin’ that holds the liquid together. It turns out that the surface tension of water is much stronger than the surface tension of alcohol. The surface tension within the water is stronger, pulling the food colouring away from the alcohol and causing the swirling effect you see as the alcohol mixes through the water.

Surface tension is caused by cohesive forces between the molecules that make up the substance. The molecules right at the edge of liquid are pulled more strongly into the liquid than into the surrounding air. You see this whenever water is ‘beading’ on a smooth surface, with the water minimising it’s surface area to the surrounding air.

Variables to test

More on variables here

  • What happens if you fill the plate with methylated spirits and then add the food colours?
  • Try adding detergent to the water instead. What happens?
  • Chill the methylated spirits first. Does this make a difference?

A man with a glove above a liquid nitrogen vapour cloud

Learn more!

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