Erika Bonham dot com

October 16, 2009

science, originally uploaded by Ladygirl.

So I love this! Isn’t it beautiful?? Ethan and I went on a date last night and he chose to go to Chik-fil-a (of course). He got a bowl in his kid’s meal. At first I was a little confused and thought it was a little lame. But! It was for science! It came with a few experiments to do with the bowl. Ethan was very excited and wanted to go home and immediately begin doing science. I made him wait until today.

Here is the directions for the experiment in the picture. Even Tegan did it. Ethan actually wanted her to try it! Progress???

Food Coloring Fireworks

What you need:
dish, 4 tbsp milk (whole milk works best), food coloring (3-4 colors), liquid soap, tablespoon

What you do:
Step 1: Fill dish with 4 tablespoons milk and let it sit for 10 minutes.
Step 2: Add a few food coloring drops. Make sure to use different colors!
Step 3: Put a single drop of liquid soap in the middle of your dish.

What happens?? Your milk colors explode! Milk contains fats and proteins in solution. Any change in the solution affects these fats and proteins. The surface tension is the watery film that holds the liquid’s molecules together. Adding soap to the milk weakens the surface tension, causing the food coloring to twist, bend, and swirl.

Way over a 4 year old’s head… kinda over mine. But it sure was pretty and lots of fun!

Thanks Chik-fil-a!

♥