Week 10: Fun Experiments and Starting the Post-Survey

Welcome back to my blog!

This week I did a milk experiment and an oobleck experiment. I worked with around 30 elementary and middle school students. They all had lots of fun!

The milk experiment consisted of whole milk, dishwashing liquid, food coloring, and cotton swabs. Students added food coloring to the top of some milk and put cotton swabs in dishwashing liquid. Then, students manipulated the food coloring in the milk with cotton swabs in order to create an interesting ripple effect in the milk. Students were enthralled with the visual nature of this reaction. For the oobleck experiment, I paired students up in groups of 3-4. Students then combined cornstarch with some water and food coloring. The mixture became a non-newtonian liquid (A substance that changes viscosity under force). So, when students tried to pick up the oobleck it behaved like a solid, but when they let it behave without pressure it acted like a liquid. Students had lots of fun playing with the oobleck and they took some home!

Additionally, I explained the science behind these experiments to students. I was able to explain what a non-newtonian fluid is and the different phases of matter. Furthermore, I talked about why food coloring floats on the top of milk and how dishwashing liquid reacted with the food coloring due to particle charges. Students were not only interested in these visual reactions, but the explanation behind them too!

Next week I plan to create snow fluff and rubber slime with students. I have also created my post-survey to give to students. I look forward to reporting back on fun experiments and quantitative results. Stay tuned!

-Luc