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Color Changing Milk Experiment

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Use milk, food coloring, and dish soap to do this engaging color changing milk science lab!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.

As I was browsing Pinterest today, I saw another experiment I’d like to try next year.  I’ve read about this one before, but never actually tried it.  This is called the Naked Egg experiment and can be seen here Naked Egg.  Basically, if you set a raw egg in a cup of vinegar for about 2 days, a chemical reaction occurs, causing the hard shell to disappear, leaving only the membrane.  The author of this post says that you can do experiments with it, such as seeing how far you can drop it before it breaks.  I would probably recommend doing that outside!  Hopefully it doesn’t smell!  Then, if you choose, you can put it in corn syrup for 2 days. Most of the water from inside the egg will transfer out of the membrane and cause the egg to shrivel up.  Here are some pictures.  Has anyone does this?  Will the eggs start to smell if left out for a few days?  This may just be something I try at home first.  
 
Melissa Mazur

Melissa Mazur

My name is Melissa and I am an educator, blogger, and curriculum designer.
I’m here to help offer you teaching tips and low-prep resources to help take some of the burdens off you so you can do what you do best – teach!

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learning lab resources- about

Oh hey there!

My name is Melissa and I am an educator, blogger, and curriculum designer.
I’m here to help offer you teaching tips and low-prep resources to help take some of the burdens off you so you can do what you do best – teach!  

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