One of the first units I teach at the beginning of the year is on the scientific process. I was reflecting on some of the experiments that worked last year and some that didn’t do so well. I’m also on a search for some new experiments to add to the unit.
Perhaps one of the best experiments we did was called Color Changing Milk. I’m sure some of you have done this before, but if I remember correctly, I believe I altered it a bit from the original directions. I obtained the experiment from this website: Color Changing Milk. Let me tell you what I did…
First, I only had skim milk at home, so I used that instead of the 2% or whole milk it requested. I think it worked just fine with the skim. I filled a small bowl with about an inch of the milk. I had students in groups of 4. Each student put 3 drops of food coloring right in the middle of the bowl. I told them it didn’t matter if the drops overlapped and blended together. Then, I went around and put about 2 drops of Dawn dishwashing soap right in the middle of their food coloring. The students were amazed to see the food coloring explode out into all directions in their bowl. Here are some examples (sorry they’re not great…iPhone) of what a few groups created. The first one shows what the blob of food coloring looked like before adding the Dawn. The second two are the after. I really love the one that looks like a star! We didn’t use cotton balls or q-tips to move around the food coloring. We just enjoyed watching them explode.
